Minor earthquake shakes residents near New York City
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on May 19, 2023
(NEW YORK) — A small earthquake shook buildings across the New York metropolitan area Friday morning.
A 2.2 magnitude impacted the New York metropolitan area around 1:50 a.m., according to the United States Geological Service.
The tremor struck south of Hastings-on-Hudson, a village in Westchester County about 10 miles north of New York City. There were no initial reports of damage or injuries from the seismic activity.
Residents in New York and New Jersey described the quake’s impact as dramatic and noticeable, though it did not cause any damage.
Yonkers, NY, resident Sophia Balaj told ABC News that the quake produced a loud rumble for a few seconds, noticeable enough to prompt all the members of the video call she was on to ask each other if they felt the same shaking.
Englewood, NJ, resident Erica Diggs, a military veteran who completed two deployments to Iraq, compared the feeling of the earthquake to a mortar.
“What it felt like was a mortar, and what it sounded like was a mortar.” She later added the quake “gave me flashbacks of being in my trailer when I was in Iraq and the mortars would hit that close.”
White Plains, NY, resident Allison Solin added that her unfamiliarity with earthquakes as a New Yorker led to some panic about the source of the shaking that impacted her home.
“I was like, ‘That’s not wind,’” she told ABC News. “And then I thought, oh my god, is there a bomb explosion nearby?”
Like Solin, many residents near New York City took to social media early Friday morning to ask if others had felt a similar shake.
Earthquakes near New York City are relatively uncommon, though the occasional tremor has impacted the region.
A 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia in 2011, sending noticeable tremors up the eastern seaboard, including New York City. Another 3.9 magnitude earthquake in 2010 off the coast of Southampton caused similar alarm for residents in New York.
The New York earthquake occurred the same evening as a significantly stronger 7.7 magnitude earthquake generated a small tsunami in the Pacific Ocean.
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