The earthquake that struck the East Coast earlier this month was felt by an estimated 42 million people and fortunately caused very little damage, but what are the chances of a larger, more powerful earthquake in the region? And if it does, what might it look like – and are we ready?
The April 5 event was a magnitude 4.8 earthquake that was centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, about 40 miles west of New York City.
The tremor was felt from Washington DC to Maine and was followed by a much smaller, 1.7 magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). January 2 in New York City,
there are earthquakes Rare on the East Coast, the most powerful hurricane in the last 100 years occurred in August 2011, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale. It was centered in Virginia and felt from Washington, DC to Boston.
4.8 magnitude earthquake hits New Jersey, buildings shake in surrounding states
A man walks through Lower Manhattan shortly after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck parts of New York City and New Jersey on April 5, 2024.
Earlier, the intensity of the earthquake that occurred in South Carolina in 1886 was measured between 6.6 to 7.3 on the Richter scale. There is no definitive measurement of that earthquake because the Richter scale has been around since the mid-1930s, but 60 people died despite the tectonic shift.
Professor John Abel, a seismologist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College, tells Fox News Digital that when an earthquake’s intensity starts at 5.0 on the Richter scale, damage begins to occur.
For example, that devastating earthquake Attacked Türkiye and Syria last year The magnitude measured 7.8 and resulted in the deaths of approximately 62,000 people as thousands of buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged.
Loma Prieta, California Meanwhile, the 1989 earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9 and killed 69, and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Golden State had a magnitude of 6.7, killing 57 people. Thousands of people were injured.
“As you go above intensity five, the shaking becomes stronger and the area over which strong shaking is experienced becomes wider,” says Abel. “So if you get a magnitude six, the shaking is ten times stronger than a magnitude five. If this month’s earthquake had been a magnitude 5.8 instead of a 4.8, we would have been looking at damage to unreinforced structures in the greater New York City area. “
The facade of an apartment building in San Francisco’s Marina District collapses after the October 1989 earthquake. (Photo by Jonathan Nowrock/AFP via Getty Images)
“Now I have to qualify this and say that over the last few decades, New York City has had earthquake provisions in its building code, while New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have all adopted some version of earthquake provisions in their building codes,” Abel explained. “So the modern buildings that are built today will actually work very well, even in strong earthquakes… if you have a magnitude 6 or even a magnitude seven.”
In terms of the Tri-State area, Ebel says there have been small earthquakes in the area, but none that have caused any damage.
The 1884 earthquake in Brooklyn caused limited damage and injuries. Seismologists estimate that its intensity would have been measured in the region of 5.0 and 5.2, while the 1775 Massachusetts earthquake was in the region of 6.0 and 6.3.
What to do and how to prepare during an earthquake
“There were some things falling off the shelves in 1884, there were some cracks in the walls, especially plaster walls, which break very easily when a building is shaken,” Abel said. “There were some brick walls that had some cracks and people got scared because of the very strong shaking.”
A magnitude-five earthquake hits the tri-state area about once every 120 years, says Abel, who wrote the book “New England Earthquakes: The Surprising History of Seismic Activity in the Northeast.”
A map shows the location of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, which the U.S. Geological Survey reports was the epicenter of the magnitude 4.8 earthquake that struck on April 5. (Fox News)
He said, “The question is can we do something bigger? And in my opinion, yes we can.” “We can’t predict earthquakes, and we don’t know when the next earthquake is going to happen, but we do have a low, not negligible, probability of a catastrophic earthquake at some point.”
Abell said the April 5 earthquake has baffled seismologists because it did not occur in the Ramapo Fault Zone, highlighting how difficult it is to predict when an event will occur. The Ramapo Fault Zone is a series of short fault lines that run through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Stretching for more than 185 miles, it was formed about 200 million years ago.
“It’s a seismic mystery right now,” Abel said. “There have been some earthquakes in our area where we haven’t mapped the fault. But the same is true in California. Not every earthquake in California occurs on a known or mapped fault, so there are still a lot of seismologists to learn about.” “The exact relationship between old faults and modern earthquakes is to be learned.”
Abel said buildings aren’t the only thing to consider when an earthquake occurs. In California earthquakes, overpasses collapsed while the electrical grid could also go down, causing electrical surges and fires.
Local residents walk in front of a destroyed building in Nurdagi, southeastern Turkey, on Thursday, Feb. 9. (AP/Petros Giannakouris)
Abel said that in 1989 toxic chemicals were spilled from shelves in a chemistry building and the building had to be evacuated.
“And you think about hospitals and some industrial facilities that are in that situation,” he explained. “So you have these things that are not necessarily catastrophic, but are going to be a real problem.”
And it is not necessary that there should be vibration in the ground for destruction by earthquake.
A shock at sea may trigger dangerous tsunamiAs it happened in 1929 on the shores of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada. It was felt as far away as New York City.
According to the International Tsunami Information Centre, waves up to 23 feet high hit the coast, killing 28 people.
“Tsunami is not necessarily a very high-probability event, but we have to think about it as well,” Abel says regarding the East Coast.
The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 was caused by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
The damage caused by the 2011 tsunami can be seen from a hill overlooking the town of Kesenuma. (Philip Lopez/AFP via Getty Images)
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Abel says a tsunami like the one in 1929 could cause a storm along the lines of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which killed 43 people in New York City.
“The earthquake risk is not as great as it is in California, but it is something we have to keep in mind and have emergency plans and building codes in place,” says Abel. “Our state and local emergency management agencies in all the Northeastern states do earthquake planning — what we call tabletop exercises — where they pretend an earthquake is coming.”
“So these types of preparations are done on a regular basis,” he concluded. “Building codes are constantly being reevaluated and approved, not only for earthquakes, but for fires and chemical spills and all kinds of things. So we’re getting more prepared all the time.”
Marina beach in southern India after tidal waves hit the shore in 2004.
