New York City residents rattled by rare quake

Motorists in New York City have blared their horns on momentarily shuddering streets during a quake. Photo: AAP
An earthquake has shaken the densely populated New York City metropolitan area, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the northeast of the country.
The US Geological Survey 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.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference that no injuries had been reported but urged city residents to take cover under furniture, in a doorway or next to an interior wall if they feel any aftershocks.
“New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” he said.
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 building 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.
At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, the Save the Children CEO abruptly stopped addressing the Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict as cameras began shuddering.
“You’re making the ground shake,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour quipped.
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.
“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in the last century,” she said.
AAP with Reuters