Rare 4.8-magnitude earthquake leaves little damage after rattling Northeast

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled buildings across parts of the Northeast Friday morning, according to the US Geological Survey, with reports of shaking being felt from Washington, DC to New York City to Maine.

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled buildings across parts of the Northeast Friday morning, according to the US Geological Survey, with tremors felt from Washington, DC to New York City to Maine. It was the third largest earthquake recorded in the area in the last five decades and the strongest in New Jersey in more than 240 years, the USGS said. The rare quake was felt by millions of people across hundreds of miles, disrupting work and school life and jolting nerves momentarily before an early spring day seemed to return to normal. In a region unaccustomed to earthquakes, stunned residents across large swaths of the Northeast described initially thinking of a passing tractor trailer or freight train before realizing it was something more. With authorities reporting little or no damage, and minimal travel disruptions, people soon resumed their everyday lives. “At first I thought it was a big truck driving down a nearby road or the oil burner shaking inside my house,” said Jeanne Evola, who described her whole house shaking in Franklin Square on Long Island. She ran outside as the quake intensified. She found her neighbors describing the same rattling, realizing they had experienced an earthquake in a suburb about 20 miles east of New York City. The New York Police Department said there were no damages or injuries reported.