According to NBC News, on April 5th 2024 an earthquake struck the East Coast of the United States on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, causing buildings to shake and rattling nerves from Maryland to Maine. The USGS measured the quake as a 4.8 temblor with its epicenter near Lebanon, New Jersey. It struck a little before 10:30 a.m. ET. An aftershock of magnitude 4.0 hit right around 6 p.m. ET. While earthquakes in the northeast U.S. are rare, Buffalo, New York, was struck by a 3.8-magnitude quake in February 2023 — the strongest recorded in the area in 40 years. According to The Conversation, There are many ancient faults in that part of New Jersey that extend through Philadelphia and along the Appalachians, and the other direction, past New York City and into western New England. These are fractures where gravity can cause the rock on either side to slip, causing the ground to shake. There is no active tectonic plate motion in the area today, but there was about 250 million to 300 million years ago. According to CBS,Residents across the Northeast were rattled by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area and much of the surrounding region on Friday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey was quick to release maps showing the spot where the quake was centered, in New Jersey, and the area where it was felt. People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Boston and other areas of the Northeast reported shaking. Tremors lasting for several seconds were felt over 200 miles away near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border. “We’re taking this extremely seriously and here’s why: There’s always the possibility of aftershocks. We have not felt a magnitude of this earthquake since about 2011,” Hochul said. People across the region were startled by the rumbling of the quake. One New York City resident told CBS New York’s Elijah Westbrook, “I was laying in my bed, and my whole apartment building started shaking. I started freaking out,” It’s not the first time the East Coast and New York City have been hit by an earthquake. A 5.0 quake was measured in New York City in 1884.

Source information: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/earthquake-shakes-us-east-coast-rcna146575 https://theconversation.com/what-causes-earthquakes-in-the-northeast-like-the-magnitude-4-8-t hat-shook-new-jersey-a-geoscientist-explains-227296 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earthquake-maps-northeast-april-5-2024/