New York City registers 3.0 earthquake

A relatively mild, 3.0 magnitude earthquake shook the New York metropolitan area Saturday night. 

The earthquake hit in the New Jersey suburb of Hasbrouck Heights at about 10:18 p.m. Eastern time at a depth of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). It was felt fairly widely in northern parts of the state, southern New York and even in southern Connecticut.

There were no initial reports of serious injuries or significant damage in New Jersey or across the Hudson River in New York City. City officials said that as of late Sunday morning they had not been called to respond to any building-related issues. The Big Apple has more than 1 million buildings.

Many posts on social media reported the ground rumbling, and the U.S. Geological Survey reported more than 10,000 responses to its ‘Did You Feel It?’ website.

Though people in the United States might associate earthquakes more often with the West Coast, scientists say these types of incidents on the East Coast are not unlikely.

The area feels an earthquake about once every couple of years.

Since 1950, only 43 other quakes of this magnitude and larger have occurred within 150 miles of Saturday’s event.

A smaller, 1.7 magnitude earthquake that hit the Astoria section of Queens, New York, in January 2024 stirred residents.

A much larger, 4.8-magnitude quake that struck in New Jersey, a little farther west of the city, in April 2024 was felt as far away as Boston and Baltimore. 

The region sees a more damaging one only a couple times a century, if that. New York was damaged in 1737 and 1884 by earthquakes, according to USGS data.


(AP Photo/Pablo Salinas)