Earthquake shakes New York: no immediate injuries reported
Sylvie Claire / April 6, 2024
A rare magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck very close to New York City on Friday, the US Geophysical Institute (USGS) reported, with the megalopolis shaking for a few seconds in various places.
The quake occurred "at (10:23 a.m.local time) 7 km north-northeast of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey", the state bordering New York on the other side of the Hudson River.
The earthquake struck at a depth of 5 km, according to the USGS. No major damage or injuries were immediately reported. "We have no information at this stage relating to significant damage (but) we are continuing to assess the situation," wrote New York Mayor Eric Adams' spokesman Fabien Levy on X. "I'M WELL," the account for the iconic Empire State Building also assured X.
The mild tremor was felt in many parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, triggering a deluge of messages on social networking platforms. At UN headquarters, the cameras filming the Security Council meeting on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza began to shake. The representative of the NGO Save the Children, Janti Soeripto, interrupted her speech describing the famine and deaths. "Is this an earthquake?" she asked.