By Michael V. Cusenza
Even the most jaded and industrious among us were rendered shocked and speechless late Friday morning after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the five boroughs and surrounding regions.
The city suddenly shook around 10:23 a.m. from the rare quake that originated in Lebanon, NJ, roughly 50 miles from NYC.
“We’re ready for the unexpected,” Mayor Eric Adams said on Friday. “This is New York City, and we respond accordingly.”
Adams noted that his administration had not received any reports of significant injuries or major impacts to infrastructure.
“But of course, we’re still assessing the situation, and we’ll continue to update the public. We’re in touch with the White House, the governor’s office, and local elected officials. I encourage New Yorkers to check on their loved ones to make sure that they are fine not only from the infrastructure damage, but this could be a traumatic moment for individuals going through an earthquake,” Adams said. “Earthquakes don’t happen every day in New York, so this can be extremely traumatic.”
Adams also praised the quick reaction and work of first responders and City Emergency Management staff.
“As soon as it happened, we convened here at New York City Emergency Management in order to be able to send out guidance. The team acted immediately. We convened our emergency response teams and issued guidance to the public,” City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said. “The likelihood of aftershocks remain low, but we do remain vigilant, and we ask all New Yorkers to remain vigilant as well. We activated our protocols for this earthquake. We immediately started coordinating with all city, state, federal, and our utility partners. Public notifications were sent out both by NotifyNYC and our wireless emergency alert system.”
City Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo noted that the agency had not experienced an influx of calls regarding building damage.
“We want all New Yorkers to know that our team is ready,” Oddo added. “We are putting on additional construction and engineering professionals from this point on over the weekend so if reports do come in, we will be ready to respond. Our construction enforcement unit is out doing inspections similar to what we do prior to big storms.
“There are 1.1 million buildings in this city, which means we need cooperation from construction professionals. We’ve messaged that to them but let me take this opportunity again to remind all of our construction professionals you need to go out and check on your buildings, even if those sites are closed, and determine that the sites are secure. And if you see any conditions that are troublesome, please reach out to the department.
“This is a time for that tried-and-true saying: If you see something, say something. To New Yorkers, we at the Department of Buildings are concerned about some of the downstream possibilities, cracks that you might see that may materialize and manifest in a week or a month, or scaffolding, retaining walls. If you see something that is problematic, please call 311.”
