New York:
UN Safety Council diplomats have been shaken of their chairs, planes bought briefly grounded, and furnishings rattled throughout New York Friday when an earthquake jolted town that by no means sleeps.
Nobody was harm, although, and New York’s iconic skyline remained intact.
“I AM FINE,” reported the Empire State Constructing on its X account.
The tremor had a 4.8 magnitude, in keeping with the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Close to the epicenter in Lebanon, New Jersey, Dominika Uniejewska, a 50-year-old retail employee, mentioned “I am nonetheless shaking” after being woken up by the quake.
I AM STILL FINE
— Empire State Constructing (@EmpireStateBldg) April 5, 2024
“I’ve by no means skilled such a powerful earthquake. I did expertise some earlier than, but it surely was nothing in comparison with that. The entire home was actually shaking. The mattress was shaking, the home was making rumbling noises,” she mentioned.
“I ran to examine on my canine. The canine was okay.”
In Brooklyn, buildings shook, rattling cabinet doorways and fixtures, an AFP correspondent reported.
“I am nervous, I am shaking. Many individuals are scared proper now,” mentioned Brooklyn resident Ana Villagran, 62.
Shortly earlier than 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) the area was shaken by an aftershock which the USGS mentioned was 4.0 magnitude.
“I AM STILL FINE,” the Empire State constructing wrote on X.
On the United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York, a Safety Council assembly on the state of affairs in Gaza was quickly paused after the preliminary tremor.
“Is that an earthquake?” mentioned Save the Kids consultant Janti Soeripto who was talking on the time. One diplomat joked: “One for the memoirs.”
‘Underneath management’
A short while later many diplomats’ cell telephones blared with the sound of the emergency alert system confirming the quake.
“Residents are suggested to stay indoors and to name 911 if injured,” the emergency alert mentioned.
Flight operations have been halted at a number of airports within the area together with New York’s La Guardia, Newark in New Jersey and in Philadelphia.
“Air site visitors operations are resuming as shortly as doable,” the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned in a press release.
Social media customers reported feeling the earthquake from Philadelphia as much as New York and eastward alongside Lengthy Island.
A number of customers posted pictures of knocked over backyard furnishings captioned, “we’ll rebuild.”
“Earthquakes are unusual however not unprecedented alongside the Atlantic Coast, a zone one research known as a ‘passive-aggressive margin’ as a result of there isn’t any lively plate boundary between the Atlantic and North American plates,” the USGS wrote on X.
Reasonably damaging earthquakes strike someplace within the city hall roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly each two to 3 years, USGS mentioned.
US President Joe Biden was briefed on the state of affairs, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned.
Social media customers jokingly questioned whether or not an earthquake coming days earlier than the April 8 photo voltaic eclipse, which might be seen throughout swaths of the northeastern United States, heralded the top of the world.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul acknowledged New Yorkers have been “not accustomed” to earthquakes and — at a rapidly convened press briefing — warned residents to be cautious of any doable aftershocks.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)