The earthquake that rocked the area and beyond Friday morning caused minimal damage, according to officials.
The 4.8 magnitude earthquake was centered below Whitehouse Station in Readington Township and Lebanon, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The location is about 25 miles from Newtown.
The tremor started at 10:23 a.m. and lasted for a short time. It was felt from Boston to Maryland.
Despite the widespread tremors, there have been no reports of serious damage or injuries in the area.
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In Bucks County, residents experienced glasses rattling, picture frames falling, and pets acting confused, alongside a low-humming noise that accompanied the shaking.
Following the initial earthquake, several smaller aftershocks were reported. At 6 p.m. a 4 magnitude aftershock was felt by man in the region. The U.S. Geological Survey cautioned more aftershocks are possible.
“There have been no current reports of damages or injuries relating to this quake within our borders. Please report any damages to your local, municipal emergency management office,” Bucks County Emergency Management officials said.
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency had been in touch with local governments, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
A White House spokesperson said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the earthquake and federal and local governments were in communication. The president later told reporters the situation appeared to be “under control.”
The Council Rock School District reported no serious damage to its buildings.
“Central office has confirmed that all students and staff are safe, and the building administrators have completed accountability checks. Each school was contacted directly for a check-in, and building mechanics are conducting a thorough inspection,” the district said.
Nearby, students at Neshaminy High School in Middletown Township noticed minor cracks in the building after the shaking stopped.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we asked a representative from Middletown Township EMA and the Middletown Building and Zoning Department to inspect those areas, which they did. They believe that those cracks were not new and not caused by the earthquake. They also determined that the cracks were minor in nature and posed no structural concern,” district spokesperson Chris Stanley said.
Bridges managed by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and rail tracks operated by Amtrak, SEPTA, and New Jersey Transit were checked with no damage reported. Utility companies also conducted inspections on equipment.
Bucks County and municipal officials said there were a number of 9-1-1 calls from concerned residents in the minutes after the quake.
The Upper Makefield Township Police Department thanked 9-1-1 staffers and said: “Between 10:24 a.m. and 10:49 a.m., 25 dispatchers handled 238 calls from across Bucks County related to the earthquake. That stat does not include the other 911 calls they received.”
The unusual seismic event took many by surprise, with residents sharing their experiences.
“Whole house shook in Wrightstown PA. Lasted a few seconds,” Carolyn Gaudioso Crawford wrote on NewtownPANow.com‘s Facebook page.
“I was working and I heard this loud low rumble noise from outside and I’m thinking that it’s nothing more than an airplane passing by, but it grew intense, like severely intense to the point where my home was shaking, and I’m in a two-story building on the second floor,” said KC Carter, who was in Middletown Township’s Levittown section. “Getting a giant shake like this is very scary indeed.”
A NewHopeFreePress.com reader who was running errands in the City of Lambertville, which sits about 19 miles from the epicenter, said she became unsteady as she walked on a pathway and stopped. Being a former West Coast resident, she realized an earthquake was hitting.
“Whole house shook, knocked a picture frame over and a closet door shook open!,” Todd Zuber wrote on the NewHopeFreePress.com Facebook page.
Experts from the U.S. Geological Survey explained the earthquake resulted from shallow crust faulting, a rare but not unheard-of phenomenon in the intraplate setting of the eastern U.S. The quake is noted as the largest within 155 miles of Friday’s earthquake since 1950.
The last notable earthquake in the region was in 2021. However, in August 2011, a 5.8 magnitude tremor shook much of the East Coast and was centered in rural Virginia.
