New Jersey has been hit by a 4.0 aftershock hours after the Garden State and New York City were rumbled by a more severe 4.8 earthquake.
Residents of the tri-state area reported the tremor around 6pm ET Friday. NYC Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy confirmed the shock on X. He wrote: ‘We just felt what we assume is a small aftershock in New York City to today’s earthquake.’
He said he was awaiting further confirmation on its magnitude, some eight hours after a 4.8 magnitude quake rocked the city at 10:32am, causing mayhem for unsuspecting residents.
That said, in a true New York minute, citizens were already shilling merchandise boasting about surviving the event by sundown. One person called it one of the ‘quickest merch turnarounds in history,’ as others also let their opinions known.
A New Jersey barber, meanwhile, was filmed carrying a boy to safety mid-cut , picking him up in his arms. Other similar scenes made rounds on social media, before the aftershock quake reignited fears.
Aftershocks are small tremors that occur in the days, months or years near the site of an initial earthquake. This one had a magnitude of 4.0 – considered to on the lower end of the minor-to-moderate range, with 4.9 being the highest.
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New Jersey has been hit by a 4.0 aftershock hours after the Garden State and New York were rumbled by a 4.8 quake. Video was captured by NBCPhiladelphia just as reporter Brian Sheehan was about to go live – interrupted as ground started shaking in Tewksbury Township
Gov. Kathy Hochul and several other city officials confirmed the earthquake in posts to social media
Meanwhile, souvenir earthquake t-shirt is pictured on sale in NYC Friday, shortly after the initial 4.8 earthquake. Aftershocks are small tremors that occur in the days, months or years near the site of an initial earthquake
As of 6:30pm, another notable aftershock has yet to occur – with this one’s epicenter traced back to just southwest of Gladstone, in North Jersey
‘An aftershock earthquake has occurred in the NYC area,’ officials at NYC’s official emergency notification system said in an alert issued at 6:12 pm.
‘Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 if injured.’
Levy, about ten minutes before, added: We are waiting on confirmation from [the United States Geological Survey]. @nycemergencymgt will have an update shortly.’
The update, seen above, advised New Yorkers to remain in their homes in the case of another tremor is felt.
Video of the aftershock was captured by NBCPhiladelphia just as Emmy award-winning reporter Brian Sheehan was set to go live – interrupted as ground started shaking in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.
The town was at the epicenter of the earlier quake, and video shows how the visible shaking left the journalist befuddled.
‘We just had another one. We just had another one,’ he says, looking around in a mix of fear and confusion.
‘Were you recording?’ he asks the cameraman, as other residents were seen running for safety.
‘You heard that?’ he asks again, before checking on one of those residents.
He then turns to the camera to confirm: ‘We just had an aftershock.’
‘An aftershock earthquake has occurred in the NYC area,’ officials at NYC’s official emergency notification system said in an alert issued at 6:12 pm. ‘Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 if injured’
Before that, at least 10 aftershocks, all between the 1.8 to 2.2 magnitude range, occurred across New Jersey, though none of them were severe enough to be felt
As of 6:30pm, another notable aftershock has yet to occur – with this one’s epicenter traced to just southwest of Gladstone, in North Jersey.
Before that, at least 10 aftershocks, all between the 1.8 to 2.2 magnitude range, occurred across New Jersey, none of which were severe enough to be felt.
However, the aftershock at 5:59pm was different, with residents reporting moderate shaking similar to that seen eight hours before.
Experts say there is a 50 percent probability of magnitude 3+ aftershock following such a quake, and a 15 percent chance of quakes of magnitude 4 and above.
Moreover, there still exists a 3 percent a chance for an earthquake of similar or larger magnitude – meaning the Tristate, after decades of quakes no bigger than 4.0, is not out of the woods yet.
But New Yorkers are notoriously resilient, as were the UN Security Council diplomats shaken in their chairs, as planes got briefly grounded, and furniture rattled across New York just after 10:30am.
No one was hurt, though, and New York’s iconic skyline remained intact.
‘I AM FINE,’ reported the Empire State Building on its X account.
Also fine was store owner Kerry Colley, who was seen posing with his custom quake shirts at Big Frog Customs on the Upper West Side, proudly touting each’s emblazoned slogan ‘I survived the NYC earthquake.’
Friday’s date followed, as well as a silhouette of New York’s seminal skyline.
The proprietor told the Associated Press of his new venture, launched just before the 4.0 aftershock – I looked at my store manager and I said “Design a shirt”.
‘We had it out in 10 minutes.’
Store owner Kerry Colley poses with an earthquake themed T-shirt being sold at Big Frog Custom T Shirts
People browse earthquake themed T-shirts at Big Frog Custom T Shirts after an earthquake shook New York City
Onlookers online were subsequently impressed, and made their approval known.
‘This is the fastest merch turnaround I’ve ever seen in my life,’ wrote one user at 1:03pm, attaching a photo of the installment outside the shop.
‘Only in New York,’ added another, only a few hours after the first quake shocked much of the city, and Jersey as well.
Others praised the shirts relatively cheap price tag – which, given the cost of living in the City That Never Sleeps, is definitely a deal.
‘Honestly not that unreasonable given the price,’ wrote one such user.
‘The earth’s tectonic plates work hard, but New Yorkers work harder,’ another clever commenter sniped, while another asserted: ‘I’d buy it simply out of respect for the game.’
Another, meanwhile, marveled at how fast the shirts went up for sale, writing: ‘Someone was designing this in adobe illustrator as the aftershocks were still rolling out.
‘Not gonna lie I’d probably buy it just for the speed and fun of wearing it that day,’ someone else said.
Featuring slogans that boast about surviving the first quake, the shirts are currently selling for $10 apiece
Featuring slogans that boast about surviving the first quake, the shirts are currently selling for $10 apiece.
Storeowner Colley was seen propping one of the tees right outside – spurring the stream of comments on social media.
Another piece of virality produced by the quake was footage taken from Urban Style Barbershop in Bedminster, New Jersey, that showed a barber by the name of Steven heroically carrying a kid out of the shaking salon when the first tremor hit.
It shows how the quick-thinking citizen jumped into action when the Richter scale suddenly tipped, stopping his cut short to rush the child to safety.
He posed for a photo with DailyMail.com after the deed earned him hero status on sites like Twitter, where the clip has garnered thousands of views.
Meanwhile, cones cordoning off fallen debris were seen outside the historic Taylor’s Mill in Lebanon, just a few miles away.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a quake eight hours earlier, centered near Whitehouse Station, 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philly
A New Jersey barber, meanwhile, is being hailed as a hero – after he was captured on a camera carrying a child to safety during the initial quake, by picking him up in his arms mid-cut
Urban Style Barbershop Steven is the one seen in the now viral footage. He’s pictured here outside his shop in Bedminster, NJ
General view of Urban Style Barbershop, where the initial 4.8 earthquake was felt
Cones cordon off fallen debris from the historic Taylor’s Mill in Lebanon, N.J., Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a quake at 10:23 a.m. with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Whitehouse Station, 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philly
Near the epicenter in Lebanon, New Jersey, store supervisor Dominika Uniejewska, 50, said “I’m still shaking” after being woken up by the quake.
“I’ve never experienced such a strong earthquake. I did experience some before, but it was nothing compared to that. The whole house was really shaking. The bed was shaking, the house was making rumbling noises,” she said.
“I ran to check on my dog. The dog was okay.”
In Brooklyn, buildings shook, rattling cupboard doors and fixtures, an AFP correspondent reported.
“I’m nervous, I’m shaking. Many people are scared right now,” said Brooklyn resident Ana Villagran, 62.
At the United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York, a Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza was temporarily paused after the tremor.
‘Is that an earthquake?’ said Save the Children representative Janti Soeripto who was speaking at the time. One diplomat joked: ‘One for the memoirs.’
At the United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York, a Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza was temporarily paused after the tremor
A short time later many diplomats’ cell phones blared with the sound of the emergency alert system confirming the quake.
‘Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 if injured,’ the emergency alert said.
Flight operations were halted at several airports in the region including New York’s La Guardia, Philadelphia and Newark in New Jersey.
‘Air traffic operations are resuming as quickly as possible,’ the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Social media users reported feeling the earthquake from Philadelphia up to New York and eastward along Long Island.
Several users posted images of knocked over garden furniture captioned ‘we will rebuild.’
Cell phones blared with the sound of the emergency alert system confirming the quake
‘Earthquakes are uncommon but not unheard of along the Atlantic Coast, a zone one study called a “passive-aggressive margin” because there’s no active plate boundary between the Atlantic and North American plates,’ the USGS wrote on X.
US President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake, his spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
‘With regard to the earthquake, I spoke to the governor, he thinks everything’s under control and is not too concerned about it. The governor of New Jersey. So things are alright,’ Biden said later.
The USGS says that moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every two to three years.
Social media users jokingly questioned whether an earthquake coming days before the April 8 solar eclipse, which will be visible across swaths of the northeastern United States, heralded the end of the world.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged New Yorkers were ‘not accustomed’ to earthquakes and – at a hastily convened press briefing – warned residents to be wary of any possible aftershocks.
Hours later, she issued an update concerning the aftershock, which is still being vetted by the geological commission.
Please check back for more updates.