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Reuters

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck near New York City on Friday morning, the US Geological Survey said, shaking buildings up and down the East Coast and surprising residents in an area that rarely experiences notable seismic activity.
The quake’s epicentre was in Tewksbury in central New Jersey, about 64km (40 miles) west of New York City. It occurred just after 10.20am at a depth of 4.7km (2.9 miles), the USGS said.
At 6.59pm there was a small but noticeable aftershock, which had a magnitude of 4.0, according to the USGS.
No major damage was reported, but engineering teams were inspecting roads and bridges.

“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in the last century,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a news conference.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference that no injuries had been reported but urged city residents to take cover under furniture, in a doorway or next to an interior wall if they feel any aftershocks.
“New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” he said.
People from Baltimore to Boston reported feeling rumbling and shaking, with some running outside to try to detect the source.
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, 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 said.
Japan braces for major quake ahead of 2011 Tohoku earthquake anniversary
James Pittinger, mayor of Lebanon, New Jersey, near the quake’s epicentre, said there were no reports of injuries or significant damage but that people were unnerved.
“I was sitting in my home office when things started to fall off the walls and shelves,” Pittinger said. “It was a crazy experience.”
US President Joe Biden spoke with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy about the earthquake, and the administration will provide aid if needed, the White House said in a statement.
At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, the Save the Children CEO abruptly stopped addressing the Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict as cameras began shuddering.
“You’re making the ground shake,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour quipped.

Flights were held at area airports in the aftermath of the earthquake but had resumed by 12.30pm, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Residual delays were expected.
Friday’s tremor was the largest felt in the city since the 2011 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Virginia that prompted evacuations of City Hall and other buildings and caused damage in Washington.
Earthquake magnitudes are measured on a logarithmic scale, which means the amount of energy released by a quake increases by more than 30 times for each whole number.
The 1989 earthquake that disrupted baseball’s World Series and rocked San Francisco was measured at a 6.9 magnitude, which would have made it more than 1,000 times more powerful than Friday’s quake.
Earthquakes in the eastern US are felt across a far broader area because the bedrock is much older and harder, transferring seismic energy more easily, according to the USGS. The rocks in the western US are younger and contain more faults that absorb earthquake energy.


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Natural disasters

New York area hit by rare magnitude 4.8 earthquake

People walk in New York moments after parts of the East Coast experienced a 4.8 magnitude earthquake on Friday. Photo: AFP

The epicentre of Friday’s earthquake is shown on a map of the East Coast of the US. Image: US Geological Survey via AP

Staff monitor media reports at command centre of the New York City Emergency Management Department on Friday. Photo: AP

Taiwan earthquake, Kobe Bryant’s lookalike in China, Singapore’s 34-year-old grandma: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

A mother-of-five influencer from Singapore, who has become a grandmother at the age of 34, says she will “support and guide” her 17-year-old son, the new father. Photo: SCMP composite

Buildings were shaken from their foundations in a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Hualien City, Taiwan on Wednesday morning. Photo: CNA

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk along the Colonnade of the White House in Washington on January 13, 2023. Photo: AP

Illustration: SCMP

Sheikh Ali Al Maktoum (left) and Alira, whose music career has been on a hiatus since 2023. Photo: SCMP

Senator Imee Marcos (left) with her brother, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, after he delivered his second state of the nation address at the Philippine House of Representatives in July last year. Photo: AP

A young man in China who resembles the late basketball icon Kobe Bryant has amassed 500,000 fans in two weeks by copying the sporting legend’s look and style in live-streaming sessions. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin/Getty Images

Taiwan earthquake: US, other Taipei allies send messages of support as rescue efforts continue

A man looks at the cordoned-off site of a leaning building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Hualien in eastern Taiwan on Wednesday. Photo: AP

People pray for victims in a car during a rescue operation in Hualien after the earthquake on Wednesday. Photo: AP.

Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai Ching-te (centre) shakes hands with rescuers as he visits Hualien. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP

Taiwan earthquake response early test for president-elect William Lai as he tells rescuers to ‘make the most of every minute’

William Lai Ching-te on an inspection tour of Hualien after Wednesday’s earthquke. Photo: Facebook/ William Lai

Rescuers are working to free people trapped in collapsed buildings. Photo: Bloomberg

News

World

United States & Canada

No major damage was reported, but the danger of aftershocks remains after the tremor shook buildings up and down the East Coast of the US
The quake was the largest felt in the city since a 5.8-magnitude one in Virginia in 2011


No major damage was reported, but the danger of aftershocks remains after the tremor shook buildings up and down the East Coast of the US.


Earthquakes

United States

New York area hit by rare magnitude 4.8 earthquake

No major damage was reported, but the danger of aftershocks remains after the tremor shook buildings up and down the East Coast of the US The quake was the largest felt in the city since a 5.8-magnitude one in Virginia in 2011

No major damage was reported, but the danger of aftershocks remains after the tremor shook buildings up and down the East Coast of the US

The quake was the largest felt in the city since a 5.8-magnitude one in Virginia in 2011