While the image used in the thumb­nail and the blog post is a lit­tle ridicu­lous, it illus­trates some­thing that “could” take place based on the recent 4.8 mag­ni­tude earth­quake as recent as a few weeks ago.

The North­east, not com­mon­ly asso­ci­at­ed with seis­mic activ­i­ty, was remind­ed of its vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty when a 4.8 mag­ni­tude earth­quake in NJ shook res­i­dents from Philadel­phia to Boston. The epi­cen­ter, locat­ed near Tewks­bury on April 6, 2024, at 10:23 a.m., marked the strongest earth­quake cen­tered in New Jer­sey since the 5.3 mag­ni­tude quake in 1783 2. Remark­ably, no seri­ous dam­age or injuries were report­ed, under­scor­ing the unex­pect­ed nature of earth­quakes in this region and the impor­tance of pre­pared­ness 2.

This event serves as a wake-up call for increased readi­ness in the North­east, a region where the seis­mic activ­i­ty NJ expe­ri­enced, includ­ing after­shocks in locales like Bed­min­ster and White­house Sta­tion, reveals a press­ing need for enhanced earth­quake pre­pared­ness. Despite the absence of imme­di­ate harm, the impact of the earth­quake and its after­shocks2 high­lights the crit­i­cal role of the Nation­al Earth­quake Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter and local author­i­ties in opti­miz­ing dis­as­ter response strate­gies. The dis­cus­sion ahead will com­pare East Coast and West Coast pre­pared­ness, shed­ding light on nec­es­sary steps towards bol­ster­ing safe­ty mea­sures against future seis­mic events.

Understanding Earthquakes in the Northeast

Geological Differences and Seismic Activity

The geol­o­gy of the east­ern Unit­ed States sig­nif­i­cant­ly influ­ences the behav­ior and impact of earth­quakes in the region. Unlike the West Coast, where earth­quakes are more fre­quent and often asso­ci­at­ed with tec­ton­ic plate bound­aries, the East Coast expe­ri­ences seis­mic activ­i­ty that is less fre­quent but can affect much larg­er areas. This is due to the old­er, denser, and hard­er rocks that allow seis­mic waves to trav­el more effi­cient­ly and over greater dis­tances 3. In con­trast, the Earth­’s crust in the West is seg­ment­ed by faults that are often younger and less healed, absorb­ing more of the seis­mic wave ener­gy 3. This fun­da­men­tal geo­log­i­cal dif­fer­ence means that earth­quakes in the North­east can be felt over broad­er areas com­pared to those on the West Coast.

Impact on Structures and Predictability

The dis­tinc­tive geol­o­gy of the North­east not only affects how far earth­quake tremors trav­el but also influ­ences how build­ings respond to the shak­ing. Earth­quakes in this region tend to cause high­er-fre­quen­cy shak­ing, which pos­es a risk to short­er struc­tures more so dur­ing fast shak­ing, where­as taller struc­tures are more vul­ner­a­ble dur­ing slow­er shak­ing 3. The unpre­dictabil­i­ty of earth­quake occur­rences in the North­east, cou­pled with the sparse his­tor­i­cal data, makes it chal­leng­ing for sci­en­tists to fore­cast the fre­quen­cy and mag­ni­tude of future earth­quakes 3. This unpre­dictabil­i­ty is com­pound­ed by the fact that many of the region’s geo­log­i­cal faults, such as the Ramapo Fault in New Jer­sey, are dif­fi­cult to pin­point pre­cise­ly 5.

Historical Context and Modern Monitoring

His­tor­i­cal­ly, the North­east has expe­ri­enced sig­nif­i­cant earth­quakes, such as the one near Min­er­al, Vir­ginia in 2011, which result­ed in sub­stan­tial prop­er­ty dam­age 4. Despite their infre­quen­cy, these events under­score the need for robust earth­quake mon­i­tor­ing and pre­pared­ness. In recent years, efforts have been made to enhance the seis­mic mon­i­tor­ing net­work across the cen­tral and east­ern Unit­ed States. The Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion and the USGS have added new seis­mic sta­tions, cre­at­ing a more com­pre­hen­sive net­work that aids in the detec­tion and analy­sis of seis­mic activ­i­ty 3. This enhanced mon­i­tor­ing is cru­cial for improv­ing the accu­ra­cy of earth­quake haz­ard maps, which play a vital role in inform­ing build­ing codes and pre­pared­ness strate­gies 8.

Impact of the Recent Earthquake

The recent seis­mic event in New Jer­sey, marked by a 4.8 mag­ni­tude earth­quake and numer­ous after­shocks, has under­scored the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty of the region’s infra­struc­ture and the urgent need for com­pre­hen­sive earth­quake pre­pared­ness. Despite the absence of major struc­tur­al dam­age, the earth­quake’s impact was sig­nif­i­cant, affect­ing a wide area from Wash­ing­ton, D.C. to Maine and stir­ring mem­o­ries of the 2011 Vir­ginia earth­quake, the strongest to hit the East Coast since World War II 1417.

Infrastructure and Emergency Responses

The earth­quake and its after­shocks prompt­ed imme­di­ate respons­es from emer­gency ser­vices, includ­ing the deploy­ment of police and fire depart­ments. Notably, three mul­ti­fam­i­ly homes in Newark suf­fered dam­age that led to evac­u­a­tions, affect­ing 25 res­i­dents. This inci­dent high­light­ed the chal­lenges posed by aging infra­struc­ture in dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas like Newark, where build­ings are not typ­i­cal­ly designed to with­stand seis­mic activ­i­ties 1517. Addi­tion­al­ly, the earth­quake led to tem­po­rary clo­sures of roads and bridges for safe­ty inspec­tions, although no sig­nif­i­cant dam­ages were found 10. Pub­lic trans­porta­tion sys­tems, includ­ing NJ Tran­sit rail ser­vice, expe­ri­enced minor dis­rup­tions due to nec­es­sary bridge inspec­tions 18.

Community and Governmental Reaction

In the wake of the earth­quake, local author­i­ties and emer­gency man­age­ment agen­cies have been active­ly review­ing and updat­ing their earth­quake response plans. Efforts to edu­cate the pub­lic about earth­quake safe­ty and pre­pared­ness mea­sures have been inten­si­fied, reflect­ing a proac­tive approach to mit­i­gat­ing the risks asso­ci­at­ed with such rare but poten­tial­ly dev­as­tat­ing events 10. The com­mu­ni­ty’s reac­tion was marked by height­ened aware­ness and con­cern, as evi­denced by the surge in social media activ­i­ty where res­i­dents shared their expe­ri­ences and sought infor­ma­tion about safe­ty mea­sures 10. New York City May­or Eric Adams and New York Gov­er­nor Kathy Hochul reas­sured the pub­lic by con­firm­ing the absence of major life safe­ty or infra­struc­ture issues, empha­siz­ing the resilience of the city’s emer­gency pre­pared­ness frame­work 1618.

This recent seis­mic activ­i­ty has not only high­light­ed the exist­ing gaps in the region’s earth­quake readi­ness but also demon­strat­ed the crit­i­cal impor­tance of ongo­ing mon­i­tor­ing, pub­lic edu­ca­tion, and infra­struc­ture assess­ment to enhance resilience against future earth­quakes.

Comparing East Coast and West Coast Earthquake Preparedness

Public Awareness and Education

The East Coast, tra­di­tion­al­ly not as prone to fre­quent seis­mic activ­i­ty as the West Coast, requires a sig­nif­i­cant boost in pub­lic aware­ness and edu­ca­tion regard­ing earth­quake pre­pared­ness. The Fed­er­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency (FEMA) has been piv­otal in this effort through its Ready cam­paign, which edu­cates the pub­lic on how to pro­tect them­selves dur­ing earth­quakes 3. This ini­tia­tive is cru­cial as it helps bridge the knowl­edge gap between the two coasts, where the West Coast ben­e­fits from a long his­to­ry of deal­ing with fre­quent earth­quakes and thus has a more earth­quake-aware pop­u­lace.

Building Standards and Emergency Planning

Com­par­a­tive­ly, the East Coast’s build­ing stan­dards and emer­gency plan­ning need to be rig­or­ous­ly updat­ed to match the lev­el of pre­pared­ness seen on the West Coast. This includes not only enhanc­ing the struc­tur­al integri­ty of build­ings to with­stand seis­mic events but also improv­ing the emer­gency response strate­gies by local and state author­i­ties 19. These updates are essen­tial to mit­i­gate the risks posed by earth­quakes in areas where such events are rare but poten­tial­ly dev­as­tat­ing.

Earthquake Insurance Awareness

Anoth­er crit­i­cal area where the East Coast lags behind is in the adop­tion of earth­quake insur­ance. Unlike in Cal­i­for­nia and oth­er parts of the West Coast, where earth­quake insur­ance is more com­mon due to the high­er fre­quen­cy of events, in the North­east, such cov­er­age is not typ­i­cal­ly includ­ed in stan­dard home­own­ers poli­cies and is sel­dom pur­chased 11. This lack of cov­er­age could lead to sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial impacts on home­own­ers and busi­ness­es in the event of a sub­stan­tial earth­quake.

Steps Towards Enhanced Preparedness in the Northeast

To ensure enhanced pre­pared­ness for earth­quakes in the North­east, a com­pre­hen­sive approach involv­ing both indi­vid­ual and com­mu­ni­ty efforts is essen­tial. The first step involves under­stand­ing and imple­ment­ing basic safe­ty mea­sures. Res­i­dents should prac­tice the “Drop, Cov­er, and Hold On” method, which is cru­cial dur­ing the shak­ing of an earth­quake 23. Addi­tion­al­ly, it’s impor­tant to secure heavy fur­ni­ture and appli­ances to pre­vent move­ment and poten­tial injuries 20. Prepar­ing an emer­gency sup­ply kit with essen­tials such as water, food, and first aid sup­plies, suf­fi­cient for at least three days, is also rec­om­mend­ed 24.

On a struc­tur­al lev­el, assess­ing and rein­forc­ing build­ings can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the risk of dam­age. Home­own­ers are advised to inspect their prop­er­ties for poten­tial weak­ness­es, par­tic­u­lar­ly focus­ing on areas like chim­neys and roofs, where loose tiles and bricks should be secured to pre­vent falling haz­ards 24. For more com­pre­hen­sive pro­tec­tion, strength­en­ing the con­nec­tions between beams, posts, joists, and plates in the home­’s struc­ture is advised to enhance over­all sta­bil­i­ty 24.

Com­mu­ni­ty and gov­ern­men­tal roles are equal­ly piv­otal in earth­quake pre­pared­ness. The acti­va­tion of the state’s emer­gency oper­a­tion cen­ter by Gov­er­nor Phil Mur­phy is an exam­ple of an imme­di­ate gov­ern­men­tal response to seis­mic events 15. Local author­i­ties, includ­ing the New Jer­sey Depart­ment of Com­mu­ni­ty Affairs, play a cru­cial role by advis­ing res­i­dents on struc­tur­al checks post-earth­quake 15. More­over, the par­tic­i­pa­tion in drills such as the Great North­East Shake­Out can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve pub­lic aware­ness and readi­ness 23. These com­bined efforts at indi­vid­ual, struc­tur­al, and com­mu­ni­ty lev­els are vital in build­ing a resilient response sys­tem against future earth­quakes.

How Can You Prepare for Future Earthquakes in the Northeast

When you think about earth­quakes in the Unit­ed States, your mind might nat­u­ral­ly drift to the tremor-prone West Coast. How­ev­er, as recent events in New Jer­sey have shown, the North­east is not immune to the earth­’s shud­ders. While less fre­quent, the quakes here can be felt over vast areas due to the region’s geo­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics. This real­i­ty brings to light the impor­tance of being pre­pared, espe­cial­ly if you’re inclined towards a prep­per lifestyle that pri­or­i­tizes readi­ness for any dis­as­ter.

Understanding the Risk

Before you can effec­tive­ly pre­pare, it’s cru­cial to under­stand the spe­cif­ic earth­quake risks in the North­east. Unlike the West Coast, where res­i­dents expect and pre­pare for seis­mic events reg­u­lar­ly, the infre­quen­cy of earth­quakes in the North­east may lead to com­pla­cen­cy. How­ev­er, the region’s dense, hard rock can trans­mit seis­mic ener­gy over long dis­tances, poten­tial­ly impact­ing a broad­er area. This geo­log­i­cal fea­ture means that even mod­er­ate earth­quakes can be felt over large swaths of ter­ri­to­ry, increas­ing the num­ber of peo­ple and infra­struc­tures affect­ed.

Personal and Home Preparedness

As a prep­per, the cor­ner­stone of your readi­ness strat­e­gy should be per­son­al and home pre­pared­ness. This involves sev­er­al steps:

  1. Edu­ca­tion on “Drop, Cov­er, and Hold On”: Every­one in your house­hold should under­stand and reg­u­lar­ly prac­tice this basic safe­ty pro­to­col. Dur­ing an earth­quake, you should drop to the ground, take cov­er under a stur­dy piece of fur­ni­ture, and hold on until the shak­ing stops.
  2. Secur­ing Your Home: Eval­u­ate your liv­ing space for earth­quake vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties. Secure heavy fur­ni­ture, such as book­cas­es and refrig­er­a­tors, to walls. Ensure that noth­ing heavy hangs over beds or seat­ing areas. Inspect your home­’s foun­da­tion and struc­ture for poten­tial weak­ness­es and make nec­es­sary repairs or rein­force­ments.
  3. Emer­gency Sup­plies: Main­tain a well-stocked emer­gency kit that includes water, non-per­ish­able food, a first aid kit, flash­lights, bat­ter­ies, and oth­er essen­tials. Store enough sup­plies to sus­tain each mem­ber of your house­hold for at least three days. Con­sid­er addi­tion­al items like a hand-crank radio, a mul­ti-tool, and emer­gency blan­kets.
  4. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Plan: Devel­op a fam­i­ly com­mu­ni­ca­tion plan that includes emer­gency con­tacts and meet­ing places in case you are sep­a­rat­ed dur­ing a dis­as­ter. Ensure that all fam­i­ly mem­bers under­stand the plan and review it reg­u­lar­ly.

Community and Structural Readiness

Prepa­ra­tion goes beyond per­son­al readi­ness and extends into com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment and struc­tur­al integri­ty:

  1. Par­tic­i­pate in Com­mu­ni­ty Drills: Engage in com­mu­ni­ty pre­pared­ness efforts like the Great North­East Shake­Out. These drills pro­vide an oppor­tu­ni­ty to prac­tice how to pro­tect your­self dur­ing earth­quakes and can help build com­mu­ni­ty resilience.
  2. Advo­cate for Updat­ed Build­ing Codes: Work with local gov­ern­ment and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to ensure that build­ing codes are up to date with the lat­est seis­mic stan­dards. This advo­ca­cy is cru­cial in areas with old­er infra­struc­ture not orig­i­nal­ly designed to with­stand earth­quakes.
  3. Sup­port Local Emer­gency Ser­vices: Famil­iar­ize your­self with the plans and resources of local emer­gency ser­vices. Par­tic­i­pate in com­mu­ni­ty meet­ings to dis­cuss dis­as­ter pre­pared­ness and sup­port ini­tia­tives aimed at improv­ing local emer­gency response capa­bil­i­ties.

Building a Mutual Assistance Network in Your Neighborhood

In the face of nat­ur­al dis­as­ters like earth­quakes, a tight­ly-knit com­mu­ni­ty can be one of your most valu­able resources. Col­lab­o­rat­ing with your neigh­bors to cre­ate a mutu­al assis­tance net­work can sig­nif­i­cant­ly enhance your col­lec­tive abil­i­ty to respond and recov­er from such events. Here’s how you can build and main­tain an effec­tive neigh­bor­hood net­work:

  1. Ini­ti­ate Con­ver­sa­tions: Start by dis­cussing earth­quake pre­pared­ness with your neigh­bors. Orga­nize a meet­ing, per­haps at a local com­mu­ni­ty cen­ter or someone’s home, to gauge inter­est and dis­cuss the ben­e­fits of hav­ing a coor­di­nat­ed response plan.
  2. Estab­lish Roles and Respon­si­bil­i­ties: In your net­work, iden­ti­fy indi­vid­u­als who have use­ful skills or resources. For exam­ple, some­one might be a med­ical pro­fes­sion­al, anoth­er skilled in ama­teur radio, and oth­ers might have con­struc­tion exper­tise or expe­ri­ence in emer­gency response. Assign roles based on these skills, ensur­ing that respon­si­bil­i­ties are clear but flex­i­ble.
  3. Cre­ate a Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Plan: Decide how you will com­mu­ni­cate dur­ing an earth­quake, espe­cial­ly if con­ven­tion­al meth­ods (like cell phones) are unavail­able. Con­sid­er using walkie-talkies or oth­er radio com­mu­ni­ca­tion tools that do not rely on cel­lu­lar net­works. Estab­lish a check-in pro­to­col to account for all mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty imme­di­ate­ly after an event.
  4. Devel­op a Resource Pool: Com­pile a list of resources that each house­hold can con­tribute, such as gen­er­a­tors, water puri­fiers, tools, and first aid sup­plies. Store this infor­ma­tion in a shared, eas­i­ly acces­si­ble loca­tion so that all net­work mem­bers know what’s avail­able and where to find it dur­ing an emer­gency.
  5. Reg­u­lar Train­ing and Drills: Sched­ule reg­u­lar train­ing ses­sions and drills for your net­work. Prac­tice your emer­gency com­mu­ni­ca­tion plan, and con­duct walk-throughs of dif­fer­ent sce­nar­ios to build con­fi­dence and trou­bleshoot any issues in your pre­pared­ness strate­gies.
  6. Cre­ate a Bud­dy Sys­tem: Pair up house­holds, espe­cial­ly ensur­ing that vul­ner­a­ble indi­vid­u­als, such as the elder­ly or those with dis­abil­i­ties, have some­one check­ing in on them. This sys­tem ensures that every­one has at least one oth­er per­son look­ing out for them, which can make all the dif­fer­ence in chaot­ic sit­u­a­tions.
  7. Share Edu­ca­tion­al Mate­ri­als: Make a col­lec­tive effort to stay informed about the lat­est safe­ty pro­to­cols and earth­quake pre­pared­ness tips. Share mate­ri­als from cred­i­ble sources, such as FEMA or the USGS, and invite experts to speak at your meet­ings.
  8. Com­mu­ni­ty Resource Map: Devel­op a map of your neigh­bor­hood that includes the loca­tion of resources, safe meet­ing points, and the homes of indi­vid­u­als with spe­cif­ic skills or needs. This visu­al tool can be invalu­able dur­ing an emer­gency when quick deci­sions need to be made.
  9. Engage with Local Author­i­ties: Con­nect with local emer­gency ser­vices to under­stand their response plans and see how your net­work can align with broad­er com­mu­ni­ty strate­gies. This engage­ment can also pro­vide access to addi­tion­al train­ing resources and sup­port.
  10. Review and Revise: Reg­u­lar­ly review and update your plans and pro­to­cols based on new infor­ma­tion or changes in the neigh­bor­hood. An annu­al review meet­ing can help keep the net­work active and respon­sive to the needs of all mem­bers.

By build­ing a mutu­al assis­tance net­work, your neigh­bor­hood will not only be bet­ter pre­pared to han­dle the imme­di­ate impacts of an earth­quake but also the recov­ery peri­od that fol­lows. Col­lec­tive pre­pared­ness can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the sense of iso­la­tion and help­less­ness that often accom­pa­nies dis­as­ters, and instead fos­ter a sense of com­mu­ni­ty strength and resilience.

Insurance and Financial Preparedness

Giv­en the poten­tial­ly cost­ly after­math of earth­quakes, par­tic­u­lar­ly in regions where such events are rare, con­sid­er your finan­cial readi­ness:

  1. Earth­quake Insur­ance: Inves­ti­gate options for earth­quake insur­ance. While not com­mon­ly pur­chased in the North­east, it can be cru­cial for pro­tect­ing your prop­er­ty from sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial loss. Under­stand what your cur­rent home­own­er’s pol­i­cy cov­ers and assess the ben­e­fits of addi­tion­al earth­quake cov­er­age.
  2. Save for Emer­gen­cies: Estab­lish an emer­gency sav­ings fund to cov­er poten­tial unin­sured loss­es or liv­ing expens­es if you are dis­placed. Finan­cial pre­pared­ness can sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce stress and uncer­tain­ty in the after­math of a dis­as­ter.

Continuous Education and Awareness

Keep informed about seis­mic activ­i­ty and advances in earth­quake pre­pared­ness. Fol­low updates from the US Geo­log­i­cal Sur­vey (USGS) and local uni­ver­si­ties that mon­i­tor seis­mic activ­i­ty. Edu­cate your­self and your com­mu­ni­ty about the risks and lat­est sci­ence to stay ahead of poten­tial earth­quakes.

As we face the real­i­ty of seis­mic activ­i­ty in the North­east, the key to resilience is com­pre­hen­sive prepa­ra­tion that includes per­son­al safe­ty mea­sures, home and com­mu­ni­ty readi­ness, and finan­cial strate­gies to han­dle after­math costs. By adopt­ing a proac­tive and informed approach, you can sig­nif­i­cant­ly mit­i­gate the risks asso­ci­at­ed with earth­quakes and ensure that you, your fam­i­ly, and your com­mu­ni­ty are safer and bet­ter pre­pared for future seis­mic events. Let’s not wait for anoth­er wake-up call; the time to act is now.

Conclusion

Through a com­pre­hen­sive explo­ration of the seis­mic event in New Jer­sey and its wake-up call for enhanced readi­ness, it becomes clear that the North­east­’s approach to earth­quake pre­pared­ness needs sig­nif­i­cant rein­force­ment. The recent earth­quake, with its neg­li­gi­ble struc­tur­al dam­age but sub­stan­tial out­reach, under­lines the crit­i­cal need for improved pub­lic aware­ness, build­ing stan­dards, and emer­gency plan­ning. Such mea­sures are essen­tial not only in safe­guard­ing infra­struc­ture and lives but also in bridg­ing the readi­ness gap between the East Coast and earth­quake-prone areas like the West Coast. By draw­ing lessons from this event and his­tor­i­cal data, we stress the impor­tance of adopt­ing robust pre­pared­ness strate­gies to mit­i­gate future seis­mic risks effec­tive­ly.

The sig­nif­i­cance of fos­ter­ing a cul­ture of pre­pared­ness can­not be over­stat­ed, par­tic­u­lar­ly in regions where the rar­i­ty of seis­mic events may breed com­pla­cen­cy. The col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts of indi­vid­u­als, com­mu­ni­ties, and gov­ern­ments in imple­ment­ing basic safe­ty mea­sures, rein­forc­ing struc­tures, and engag­ing in edu­ca­tion­al and emer­gency drills are para­mount. This approach ensures not only the resilience of our built envi­ron­ment but also the safe­ty and well-being of our com­mu­ni­ties. As we move for­ward, let this event serve as a cat­a­lyst for action, prompt­ing all stake­hold­ers to pri­or­i­tize earth­quake readi­ness and work togeth­er towards a safer and more pre­pared North­east.

FAQs

  1. How many after­shocks have occurred in New Jer­sey fol­low­ing the recent earth­quake?
    As report­ed by the USGS, New Jer­sey has expe­ri­enced 73 after­shocks fol­low­ing the 4.8‑magnitude earth­quake on April 5, which was the most sig­nif­i­cant seis­mic event in the state in over a cen­tu­ry.
  1. What caus­es earth­quakes in New Jer­sey?
    Earth­quakes in New Jer­sey typ­i­cal­ly hap­pen when the accu­mu­lat­ed strain with­in the Earth­’s crust is sud­den­ly released along a fault line. This process is detailed in the New Jer­sey Geo­log­i­cal Sur­vey’s pub­li­ca­tion titled “Earth­quake Risk in New Jer­sey.”
  1. Can you pro­vide details about the 2024 earth­quake in New Jer­sey?
    The earth­quake that occurred on April 5, 2024, was a sig­nif­i­cant event, reg­is­ter­ing at a mag­ni­tude of 4.8. It was the pri­ma­ry quake fol­lowed by sev­er­al after­shocks and was felt through­out much of the North­east Coast of the Unit­ed States.
  1. When did the last sig­nif­i­cant earth­quake occur in New Jer­sey?
    The most recent sig­nif­i­cant earth­quake in New Jer­sey hap­pened on April 5, 2024. This event was a notable quake, felt across a wide area and fol­lowed by numer­ous after­shocks.

References

[1] — https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/04/05/new-jersey-earthquake/
[2] — https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2024/04/05/nj-earthquake-house-shaking-lebanon/73215981007/
[3] — https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/east-vs-west-coast-earthquakes
[4] — https://whyy.org/articles/what-to-know-earthquakes-east-coast/
[5] — https://www.nj.gov/dep/njgs/enviroed/freedwn/e‑quake.pdf
[6] — https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-earthquakes-in-the-northeast/
[7] — https://theconversation.com/what-causes-earthquakes-in-the-northeast-like-the-magnitude‑4–8‑that-shook-new-jersey-a-geoscientist-explains-227296
[8] — http://aki.bc.edu/why_quakes.html
[9] — https://nesec.org/earthquakes-hazards/
[10] — https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/us/earthquake-nyc-nj-northeast/index.html
[11] — https://insuranceindustryblog.iii.org/n‑j-quake-a-wake-up-call-for-seismic-mitigation-resilience-investment/
[12] — https://loffacorp.com/the-ripple-effects-understanding-earthquake-risks-in-nj-ny-and-their-impact-on-markets/
[13] — http://newjersey.news12.com/earthquake-aftermath-46-aftershocks-strike-new-jersey-since-friday-usgs-says
[14] — https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/earthquake-aftershock-new-jersey/
[15] — https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-jersey-earthquake-epicenter-damage/
[16] — https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-earthquake-new-jersey-usgs/5293069/
[17] — https://abc7ny.com/newark-homes-damaged-during-earthquake-deemed-structurally-safe-nj-officials/14623263/
[18] — https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/earthquake-lebanon-new-jersey-friday
[19] — https://www.quora.com/Do-you-think-East-Coast-residents-are-well-prepared-for-earthquakes
[20] — https://www.ready.gov/earthquakes
[21] — https://capitalbnews.org/nyc-earthquake-disaster-preparedness/
[22] — https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-can-i-do-be-prepared-earthquake
[23] — https://www.shakeout.org/northeast/whyparticipate/
[24] — https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/prepared.html