[Music] now at 4:00 the question of the day did you feel it the strongest earthquake piit hit this close to New York City in more than a 100 years shakes the entire Tri State centered in New Jersey it was felt everywhere from Yankee Stadium to Albany and we've got live team coverage good afternoon on a busy day I'm David Usher and I'm Natalie Pascarella we haven't felt an earthquake that strong that close to the city in our lifetime so here's what we know right now the magnitude 4.8 earthquake h
it New Jersey just before 10:30 this morning it was centered in hun County it's about 40 Mi west of New York City now the USGS estimates that 42 million people felt it and despite the shaking the impact has thankfully been minimal yes so far no reports of any injuries just minimal damage as Natalie said the MTA says that subway service was not affected and New York City Schools did have regular dismissal today uh earthquakes don't happen every day in New York uh so this can be extremely we actua
lly felt it here in the capital in Albany people felt it on Long Island and our friends and colleagues here 30 Rock felt it as well so we have live team coverage across the State starting with news Force Jessica cunnington live near the epicenter Jessica yeah what a day it has been this was the strongest earthquake to hit New Jersey in 241 years but officials here in hunon County very grateful to report report that there was no one injured no one has been displaced but damage assessments are und
erway at this hour across this entire area they say that they are just now receiving some reports of um some structural damage at people's homes but I want to take you inside some people's homes with so much surveillance uh video camera footage that's been posted across social media where you literally could see what people felt you see the shaking of the camera this is in tberry the epicenter of this 4.8 M magnitude earthquake it's shaking around obviously the bleeped out words of people reacti
ng to what was going on in Middle sex you could see and hear when books and items fell off the shelves inside that home you could see how intense the shaking of the camera was and that's what people described feeling throughout their body at 10:23 this morning in this area at this point officials here in hunterton County urging people or business owners to report any damage that's occurred so they could get a sense of really how widespread the impacts are and by the way this is the second earthq
uake this area has experienced in about a month we saw that you know immediate influx of 911 call volume basically folks that were worried and you know uncertain as to what had happened uh but as quickly as that spiked we saw it it you know kind of uh wax and Wayne so to speak so at this point um you know it's certainly it's alarming it's it's the second earthquake that we've had within the last month or so in generally the same area I was just reading a book with the kids and next thing I knew
the whole house was shaking and I was trying to organize like get the kids in one spot so I could figure out what was going on cuz I really had no idea what was going on yeah pretty much the feeling across this area now the Town Administrator over in tberry told me that the governor's office gave them a call offering any support that they may need in the coming hours and coming days the lieutenant governor of New Jersey telling NBC that they've activated the state's emergency Operation Center an
d are at the ready to help any municipalities out for any support they've also been in communication with FEMA a wild Friday to say the least here in the burrow of Lebanon and the surrounding areas I'm Jessica cunnington back to you wild indeed Jessica and this might have been your first time feeling an earthquake like this yeah we want to bring st4s Dave Price to kind of explain some of the science behind this Quake Dave all right let's try and put it in Elemental terms and talk about what happ
ened today if we look at the magnetude of today's earthquake it was intense and it was rare for this region but when we examine recent footage of earthquakes like the one in Taiwan there are areas where more frequent and more powerful templers occur so let's take a moment to go through the anatomy of today's earthquake and try and explain what we experienced why we EXP experienced it and how people uh experienced this across the tri-state area earthquakes are the result of Rapid motion across a
fault line and in this case it's the Ramapo fault many people might not know that it exists but it does and there's a vertical shift in the earth sometimes deep and sometimes shallow which creates a quake and that movement releases stored up energy the Ramapo fault which is the uh the fault Zone on which the today's earthquake occurred was Active 200 million years ago like tectonics is still responsible for the the stress that builds up at the middle of plates it's like if you're stretching a ru
bber band slowly so that you can't feel it at any given instant but after a long time when you let go it will bounce back millions of years of Earth's movement contribute to what we're seeing today and what Professor Davis is referring to is elastic strain and that causes seismic waves that cause the Earth to shake now in the Northeast where the Earth's crust is brittle and earthquakes occur close to the surface they're often felt far and wide so a 4.8 earthquake can be felt hundreds of miles aw
ay like we saw in Albany today and Quakes typically last just about 10 to 30 seconds like this morning but depending on their int intensity and where they occur they can cause significant damage now what made today exceptional is not the strength maybe for our region but not in uh completely objective terms what made it exceptional was the fact that this is one of the most densely populated corridors in the country we have skyscrapers complex infrastructure not only above ground but below it so
it's all those things once you check and make sure everyone is okay it's complex to make sure everything is okay and that's what's taken most of the day and what may take several days more and don't forget we may still see aftershocks not only today but through the next several weeks as a result of this uh or even longer right we can also see some reports of damage too and luckily so far uh the only reports of damage so far from this earthquake are in New Jersey's biggest city the earthquake shi
fted some homes in nework they now seem to be leaning on each other news fors Adam Harding went out to take a look he continues our live coverage Adam and good afternoon to the both of you certainly a wild day throughout the state and here in Newark this neighborhood specifically still dealing with the after effects of this morning's 4.8 magnitude earthquake behind us here I want you to take a look at this row of homes here these are multif family Apartment Homes and I want you to pay close atte
ntion here to the roof line of these three homes homes that are now touching families not allowed to stay here at least right now they say the homes are now leaning in Middle sex County a family could be seen running out of their home after Friday's 4.8 magnitude earthquake about 30 mi from the epicenter police in newor called to 7th Avenue where families say their homes shifted take a look at these roots that are now touching I couldn't believe it until my daughter called me and say ma did you
feel that and I said what was it and she said it was an earthquake all they said was um they the earthquake and then maybe it shifted the house a little bit can you tell us shifted Paul Cary was able to get his two cats out the city safety director says 10 families including three children have since been relocated I heard some rumbling I figured just from the outside CU it was the house it was shaking a little bit I figured m from there I the wind City Hall and local recck centers now closed in
spectors today looking for any more damage as displaced families await word it's safe to return home and the big question now for those families again more than 25 displaced because of that earthquake is when will they be allowed to return home an inspector telling us a short time ago that's up to the city and right now there is no timeline we're live in Newark I'm Adam Harding news4 New York yeah difficult time for them Adam thank you earthquakes are rare in New York City but the city does know
how to handle an emergency yeah news fors Andrew C continuing our team coverage live in Brooklyn Heights with really closer look at the city's response you really had an inside look Andrew yeah as we'll explain in a moment it was a little bit of a coincidence for us now New York City's buildings commissioner said there are more than a million buildings in the city from highrises to low Rises factories schools everything in between and nobody is celebrating just yet there are inspections ahead b
ut for now New York appears to have dodged this earthquake unscathed within minutes of New Yorkers feeling it the file cabinet shook for a few seconds it was a little scary what was going through your mind what is happening the scene at the city's office of emergency management urgent we had arrived for a planned interview about the upcoming solar eclipse so while our cameras were rolling the watch command Hub became a beehive of activity this is the same watch command room by the way that they
typically employ during a snowstorm or a tropical storm and in The Situation Room OEM commissioner Zack isll led a call with dozens of agencies this is a great wakeup call for all New Yorkers earthquakes are something that can happen in this city reports emerged quickly no major injuries no major damage but still somewhat jarring advice from the mayor and if you feel an Aftershock drop to the floor cover your head and neck and take cover under a solid uh piece of furniture the Aftershock didn't
happen bolstering a decision by City officials not to cancel or shorten events most notably School parents do not need to pick up their child early as a result of today's earthquake additionally all after school programs will continue as planned but calls to 311 did spike 23% a smaller uptick of 911 calls and while most New Yorkers quickly went back to work it really felt like a train going by like I was like in the doorway and I'm like holding the doorway cuz it really just you know was just sh
aking the city's buildings commissioner said that inspections will ramp up this weekend cracks that you might see that that may materialize and manifest in a week or a month or um scaffolding uh retaining walls if you see something that is problematic please call 311 and the buildings commissioner telling us one of the reasons why they're ramping up inspections this weekend is they want to make sure they look at construction sites that may have been closed today they've got to take a look just t
o make sure there were no cracks and just to underscore the coincidental nature of our visit to Emergency Management we had our Eclipse eyewear protection ready to ask the OEM commissioner about it because after all the solar eclipse for Monday unlike the earthquake this one is planned we're live in Brooklyn Heights Andrew CF news4 New York oh yeah definitely didn't plan for this one Andrew thank you for that inside look now the NYPD quickly jumping into action to check our bridges for any struc
tural issues too let's get out to news fors Mark Santio with more on our coverage we've got an exclusive look at the patrols this afternoon mark let's go up and let's go see what we got over here taking off from the rooftop of One Police Plaza members of the NYPD technical assistance Response Unit launching a drone to check all the bridges over the East River for any possible issues that may have been caused by the earthquake first thing that popped into my mind was let's get these drones up so
we can start inspecting these buildings and our bridges Deputy Commissioner of operations Cass doy explaining how video from this close-up look is able to be shared with experts from across the city looking for any anomalies any stru deficiencies on our bridges loose cables bricks that were maybe about to come out but didn't fall that fall out right away nothing to report right now more from the roof to the river the team wanted a different look from a different angle of the bridges and climbed
aboard an NYPD Harbor boat hand launching the Drone for a glimpse under the Brooklyn Bridge and right now if they seen something we can shoot this right to I can send this a text message to the Department of Building Commissioner Jimmy AO and he can look and have his Engineers right there in his office look to see what's going on so far we have seen nothing again just to reiterate so far those drones they have seen no issues at all David and Natalie every single member of the NYPD across all fiv
e bus they've been asked to look for any structural issues buildings different locations while out on patrol again at this point we're told they have seen no issues live l Manhattan I'm Mark Sania news for New York all right good to know we keep their eyes wide open mark thank you for that now the earthquake hit while the Yankees were on the field getting ready for their home opener yeah news Force John chanler has been at the stadium all day with our coverage continuing it now live as the game'
s wrapping up John yeah and I was standing right in front of the Yankees Dugout when the ground started shaking I was right behind first base and we all kind of looked around in that moment not everyone felt it but those of us who did feel it wondered to each other what just happened did you just feel that and as soon as we quickly realized what had happened we started to then Wonder should we be out here and will they even play this game today the Yankees were taking batting practice at 10:23 t
his morning when with glaver Torres in the cage the stadium shakes you can see the center field camera rocking as the ground beneath rumbles and glaver just keeps swinging on the field at that moment our news4 camera rolls capturing the shake subtle but enough to make most look up and wonder I did feel some shaky stuff going underneath me I was like it felt almost like a train uh or something like similar to the subway Yankees third base coach Lu roas looked around to see who else noticed I look
ed around I did make make eye contact with uh uh trino and we both were like did you feel something he said yes roas pulled out his phone and texted his wife in New Jersey at the same time others were getting messages asking if they just felt that shake we were already in transit so we didn't feel it but we certainly felt all the phone calls that we got to alert us next thing you know I hear one of them say oh there's an earthquake in New Jersey my wife called me and said it was very bad in the
building the dog was barking and here we are for a good day Jim Montano and his family haven't missed the home opener in over 20 years they weren't about to miss this this one even considering the circumstances inside Yankee Stadium still shook this afternoon but in that man-made way we're used to in the Bronx by first pitch aftershocks had become afterthoughts let's go Yankees and so they did play baseball for the first time in the Bronx this season the result not what anyone was hoping for the
Yankees falling to the Toronto Blue Jays in their home opener 3 nothing the game just going final here as fans are filing out of the stadium behind me so a forgettable result and a uniquely memorable home opener here in the Bronx I'm John Chandler news4 New York back to you yeah a little something extra to talk about John for sure thank you on Long Island we spoke to people at the dicks Hills Diner this morning just hours after the earthquake where we heard from people who say they were stunned
by what happened I was getting my haircut and my chair just started the so I thought it was like a wobbly chair and then all of a sudden just kept going for 4 or 5 seconds and all I'm like what's going on all of a sudden two I checked my phone I got new news notification my friends are texting me there's an earthquake and I'm like I couldn't believe it definitely scary um but you know it was definitely scary I didn't know what to think at that point when this was all happening it was interestin
g cuz I wouldn't expect it here more like I hear stories about this stuff but I guess I lived it now yeah so it's very interesting and no damage has been reported in connection to the Quake on Long Island well Dave it's not just humans who got All Shook Up This Morning want you to take a look inside a home in Manville New [Music] Jersey yeah you hear the force of that quake as the dog stood at top a dining room table another one was if you could see it wandering down below their owner wrote on s
ocial media yes our husky sleeps on the dining room table while we're not home Natalie today's earthquake was so rare we had to call the big guy out of retirement former New Jersey reporter Brian Thompson he says he was sitting in the kitchen of his Monmouth Beach home when he felt The Rumble in my 27 years working at Channel 4 I covered several earthquakes in Western mostly Western and Northern New Jersey because of those fault lines up there uh close to the Appalachian Mountains and never felt
the earthquake that I was reporting on I did see somebody on social media say uh oh our dog started howling and my dog who's sitting right next to me basking in the sun didn't do a dog on thing um so I'm I'm thinking maybe maybe I should fire her and get a new dog no no no Brian calmed down and don't worry his dog is just fine likely still basking in the New Jersey sun relaxed pet not bad not bad nice to hear from Brian it the story especially with New Jersey is so much yes yes well I mean this
was a significant earthquake for us a lot of that has been put into context today we do see smaller Quakes in this region but to have something that large is significant this was one of the things that struck me about our earthquake data this goes back a long time for our weather records in Central Park for instance those go back to the 1860s our earthquake records look at this go back to the 1730s so we've been keeping track of this information a long time in around New York City even going ba
ck almost what 200 almost yeah more than 200 years we are talking about the fourth largest earthquake on record in this area and we felt it not just in New York City but from that epicenter in tubry down to Philadelphia up to Albany over to parts of Connecticut they felt this in Hartford today out through Long Island as well all those little dots on the map representing folks that raised their hand and said yeah I felt it too
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