‘Violent rumble’: 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattles New York City, northeast
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the northeastern US Friday morning, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, sending tremors along the Atlantic coast between Boston and Philadelphia.
The quake’s epicentre was about 45 miles (72km) west of New York City in Lebanon, New Jersey, rocking buildings in densely populated Manhattan and throughout the five boroughs. As many as 45 million people may have felt the shocks, according to the USGS.
Still, no casualties or major structural damage were immediately reported after the 10:23am local time (14:23 GMT) earthquake, according to the New York City Fire Department.
In a post on the social media platform X, the New York City mayor’s office said it was still “assessing the impact”. Authorities were scheduled to hold a news conference at 12pm local (16:00 GMT) to provide updates.
Meanwhile, the NYC Emergency Management agency urged anyone “in danger” to call the emergency 911 number, and to report any other non-emergency impacts to the city’s services hotline.
A spokesman for NYC Public Schools said that teams were assessing school building facilities out of “an abundance of caution”.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it was temporarily closing the Holland Tunnel, an arterial commuter route connecting New Jersey and Manhattan, for inspection.
Some flights bound for New York were also diverted to other airports, according to the tracking website FlightAware.
Residents of the city reported feeling their buildings shake for several minutes.
“I noticed the door trembling on its frame,” India Hays, a barista in lower Manhattan, told The Associated Press news agency. “I thought surely there couldn’t be an earthquake here.”
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so.”
“It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she told the Reuters news agency.
At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, Save the Children CEO Inger Ashing abruptly stopped an address to the Security Council on the war in Gaza.
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