PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An earthquake shook New York City area Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the Eastern Seaboard. People in Baltimore, Philadelphia and other areas also reported feeling the ground shake.
The agency reported a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, about 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy activated the State Emergency Operations Center. It was deactivated as of 10 a.m. Saturday. He says there were no reports of major damage to structures, roadways, or infrastructure.
Here's what we know so far.
Some transit affected
PATCO suspended all service for about an hour “out of an abundance of caution.” All service has since resumed.
Rail service was delayed on NJ Transit.
SEPTA has not reported any disruptions.
No damage was reported at Philadelphia International Airport. Runways were closed for only about 10 minutes. Operations are running as normal.
Philadelphia officials concluded no significant issues resulted from the earthquake, but it was a good test run of the city's emergency preparedness.
The head of Emergency Management, Dom Morales, said the Emergency Operations Center was activated about 10 minutes after the initial shaking.
“Since the initial earthquake, OEM has been in touch with more than 25 safety, infrastructure, transportation and governmental partners to assess damages, potential damages or potential impacts as well as if there are any unmet needs,” Morales said.
Listen for live updates
Is a 4.8-magnitude quake high?
For the Philadelphia region, yes. “It may be the strongest instrumental earthquake we’ve ever had,” estimated Alexander Gates, a Rutgers University-Newark professor who has researched and written extensively about earthquakes.
The last major quake in our region was in 1884, he said. It measured at an estimated 5.2 magnitude. “So at 4.8, this is probably the largest one we’ve ever captured on seismographs in New Jersey,” he said.
Gates was surprised that the quake was felt from such far distances, like Baltimore.
“That’s a long distance,” he said. “The rocks up here tend to be very hard rocks and they transmit the waves very well. They don’t make it so that they bounce around a lot. Like in some areas, the waves really get amplified. They don’t get amplified here, but they do tend to get transmitted.”
Earthquakes with magnitudes near or above 5 struck the Northeast in 1737, 1783 and 1884, the USGS said. Friday's stirred memories of the Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake that jolted tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada. With an epicenter in Virginia, it left cracks in the Washington Monument.
Although it was not the strongest earthquake on the East Coast, the 2011 quake was likely felt by more people than any earthquake in North America’s history, USGS said.
Is this common?
Yes and no. Gates said our region was overdue for an earthquake of this size. Earthquakes do happen, they’re just usually very small. Quakes in the five-magnitude range in this region happen every 100 years or so.
“And we haven’t had one since 1884, so … we’re getting close to 140 years, where we probably should have had one within about 100 years,” he said.
Will there be aftershocks?
Yes. Gates said he expects there to be aftershocks over the next few days, but they’ll be smaller and harder to feel.
Around 6 p.m. Friday, USGS reported a 4.0 magnitude aftershock that shook 7 kilometers southwest of Gladstone, New Jersey. Dozens more were recorded and USGS officials say more are possible.
They say there's a chance an aftershock of around 4.0 magnitude or higher could hit in the coming weeks. They say it is nothing to be alarmed about, as that is very mild for earthquakes.