A 3.0 magnitude earthquake struck beneath Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey on Saturday night, sending tremors across parts of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island as residents reported hearing loud booms and feeling violent shaking for up to 10 seconds.
The United States Geological Survey confirmed the underground disturbance occurred at 10:18 p.m., originating six miles beneath the surface in the Bergen County community located approximately 13 miles from Midtown Manhattan.
Tremors from the Hasbrouck Heights earthquake reached residents in Upper Manhattan neighborhoods including Hell's Kitchen, extended north to Riverdale in the Bronx, and traveled south to Staten Island, The New York Post reported. Officials confirmed no injuries or structural damage occurred immediately following the seismic activity in New York City.
Ground movement persisted for as long as 10 seconds in certain areas of the Garden State, with residents also experiencing shorter duration shaking in Nutley, New Jersey, positioned roughly nine miles south of the earthquake's center, according to The New York Post.
"It sounded like a bang, followed by a shake and it lasted about two seconds," Erica Pirchio, 40, who was present in Nutley during the tremor, explained to The New York Post.
The 40-year-old resident described this particular seismic event as exceptionally intense compared to previous regional earthquakes. "I have experienced two earthquakes in New York and New Jersey and this was the most violent – I never heard an earthquake before that sounded like a thud," Pirchio stated to The New York Post. "I thought one of my parents fell."
Staten Island residents reported detecting an extraordinarily loud sound accompanying the ground movement. "It almost sounded like a car hit the side of the house, the house was swaying," Evan Ferrer, 33, who was viewing a film with his girlfriend at their residence near South Beach when the shaking commenced, told The New York Post.
Ferrer compared Saturday's earthquake to a previous regional seismic event from earlier this year. "The one from 2024 was longer, but didn't have a boom as extreme as this. It was a boom followed by swaying that lasted for a few seconds," the 33-year-old explained to The New York Post.
Regional residents experienced a significantly stronger magnitude 4.8 earthquake in April, which originated near Lebanon, New Jersey, but transmitted shock waves throughout New York City, according to The New York Post. The previous week witnessed six minor earthquakes – measuring between magnitude 0.7 and 2.0 – that affected Morris County, New Jersey, occurring within a single 17-hour period, The New York Post reported.
