Magnitude 4.8 Earthquake Strikes New York Metro Area and East Coast

If this was California, no one would care. Most Californians feel a few of those a year.

Problem is, this part of the country does not normally get earthquakes. So the people aren’t used to feeling them, and a lot of structures are not built to move. And the latter issue can be dangerous.

I've no clue what would be an apt analogy, but the geology of the area is basically old basalt and clay-- much denser and therefore much more effective at transmitting seismic energy than the softer sedimentary rock out West. Add to that the fact that the prevailing architecture of the area is not constructed with significant seismic activity in mind. We have a lot of old stone or unreinforced brick-and-mortar structures, cast iron utility lines and tall iron frame or riveted steel buildings. All rigid structures that tend to be susceptible to shear or torsion forces. Also, earthquakes here of larger than a M3.0 are pretty rare, and people have no idea what to do when one occurs. M2.0+ is just freight trains and highway noise to us.

Not many people know it but there are several active fault lines through the region. Today's event likely arose out of the Ramapo fault system, which is an old but still active fault line.

Compare this to the situation on the West coast where softer, sedimentary rock and modern building practices that account for significant seismic activity mitigate damage because anything that didnt, didn't survive for that long.

I've no idea the geology of where you're posting from OP, but I know its prone to earthquakes. I'm sure the architecture in the area accounts for that, which mitigates damage.

So where a M4.7 might be just another Friday elsewhere, here in the Northeast they can be a pretty big deal, both for their novelty and for their potential to damage structures. I'm located within 20 miles of the epicenter myself, and I was genuinely concerned the structure might sustain damage. Pretty sure I see at least one or two new cracks in the spackle around a couple door frames in the corner of the house towards the epicenter.

As for what it felt like? Everything rattled pretty hard, glass was clinking and some small bric-a-brac items fell over. It was sustained over maybe 60 to 75 seconds. Longer and more than I've ever felt in any tremor I've ever been in. Any stronger, and I thing there would have been significant damage in my area.

I was in my lab when it happened and felt like a car with octagonal wheels was driving down the hallway. Its out of the ordinary for us in the NY area though so everyone got excited. Hope that analogy helps

There was no damage or disruptions so it wasn't terrible by any means.

It's definitely a rare event for the north eastern coast of north america.

I've never felt an earthquake, sometimes you can feel a 2.0 where we live - a little rumble.

So having a full on 4.8 is noteworthy because it's rare, novel, and many people did not know what was happening until it had passed. I was worried my house would be damaged from it but i don't think anything even fell off the shelves.

It doesn't sound like it did much damage, that area just (a) has a ton of people living in a small space and (b) doesn't typically have earthquakes. Like I literally can't remember NYC ever having an earthquake before.

On the west coast of the US, you don’t even flinch for a 4.8, on the east coast of the US, it’s a big fucking deal.

I was in Kathmandu when a big 7.8 earthquake hit in 2015. We’ve had hundres’ of aftershock of 4 to 5 degree magnitude for over more than 6 months lol.