An earthquake has shaken the densely populated New York City metropolitan area, the US Geological Survey says, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the northeast of the country.
The agency reported a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.7, centred near Lebanon, New Jersey, or about 70km west of New York City and 80km north of Philadelphia.
The New York Police Department said there were no damages or injuries reported.
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The New York City Fire Department said the quake hit about 10.30am.
“We are responding to calls and evaluating structural stability,” the department said. “There are no major incidents at this time.”
In midtown Manhattan, the usual cacophony of traffic grew louder as motorists blared their horns on momentarily shuddering streets.
Some Brooklyn residents heard a booming sound and their buildings shaking.
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.
In an apartment house in Manhattan’s East Village, a resident from more earthquake-prone California calmed nervous neighbours.
People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Connecticut and other areas of the East Coast unaccustomed to earthquakes also reported feeling the ground shake.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X that the quake was felt throughout the state.
“My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day,” Hochul said.
– with Reuters
