A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck the U.S. East Coast on Friday, and although officials say the epicentre was in New Jersey, New Yorkers took to social media to flex their trademark unflappability and to indulge in another NYC tradition — making it all about the Big Apple.
The quake’s epicentre was in Tewksbury in central New Jersey, about 64 kilometres west of New York City. It occurred just after 10:20 a.m. ET at a depth of 4.7 kilometres, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The agency’s figures indicated that over 42 million people might have felt the rumbling from as far away as Philadelphia and Massachusetts.
No injuries have been reported.
Some residents, in typical fuhgeddaboudit fashion, bragged that they were not phased by the quake, saying they initially thought the rumbling was the subway.
“I know nNYC has warped my brain bc the earthquake happened and for the first 10 seconds as my building shook i was like ‘is that a train? wait … i don’t live above the subway,’ a user said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter..
Another user, referencing the famous scene from the set-in-New-York film Midnight Cowboy, wrote: “Yelling ‘I’M WALKING HERE’ at a tectonic plate.”
Others on social were concerned for the Statue of Liberty, which shook dramatically on Friday and which had been struck by lightning just a day before.
“Lightning striking the Statue of Liberty yesterday, an earthquake in New York, solar eclipse in a few days, this new Ghostbusters movie might be going a little too far in their marketing,” an X user said.
Earthquakes in the eastern U.S. occur less often than on the West Coast, but are felt across a far broader area because the bedrock is much older and harder, transferring seismic energy more easily, according to the USGS. The rocks in the western U.S. are younger and contain more faults that absorb earthquake energy.
New Yorkers, on learning more about the earthquake on Monday, used their newfound knowledge on a cherished tradition — looking down on the rest of the U.S.
“You’re telling me I’m paying NYC rent prices just to be on the same tectonic plate as Philly and Boston? I’m feeling sick,” a user said on X.
“West Coast is like, ‘Guys we have these all the time ha ha ha.’ Okay but New York is actually relevant so let’s be serious please,” another user said.
“And remember that a five in NYC would be an eight almost anywhere else in the country,” said a third.
The last time a natural phenomenon sent New York City’s social media user abuzz was in the summer of 2023, when the city’s skyline glowed orange due to smoke from wildfires in Canada and briefly made air quality in the city the worst in the world.
When the orange haze eventually reached Chicago, one X user said at the time: “Notice how Chicago has ‘the worst air quality in the world’ right now and we aren’t having the most annoying day online about it.”
