On Tuesday morning, people living on Roosevelt Island were shocked by a group of scary events. This caused the New York Fire Department to quickly act and help. Many reports came in about a building moving and big, loud explosions. This made firefighters look into what was happening.
People started to wonder if these problems happened because of an earthquake or too much power. Thankfully, nobody got hurt in the event. People living on the island said walls shook in their houses. Some others many miles away said they were woken up by loud noises.
At approximately 5:45 am, the emergency department in New York City shared on social media that a small earthquake with a strength of 1.7 happened in the Astoria Queens area. It was just at a distance of 0.5 miles from Astoria heading east-northeast and it took place five kilometers under the ground level. The FDNY admits people’s concerns about earthquakes but hasn’t found exactly what caused the disturbances.
While they are looking into a string of fires in several maintenance holes on Roosevelt Island, firefighters are also working hard. This situation has caused some buildings to lose power, like those at 2 and 4 River Road which are near the Roosevelt Island Bridge. A tram is also there.
People said their buildings shook and called the events very powerful. They compared them to a big bomb exploding. Even though the FDNY said no buildings were harmed on the island, Con Edison is still looking into what happened.
Even though earthquakes are not often here, this is not the first time something like this has happened. In May 2023, a small earthquake with a strength of 2.2 hit parts of Westchester County and New Jersey. The recent thing that happened on Roosevelt Island is very strange, especially because it didn’t cause any harm or hurt anyone.
The scary event in New York City happens after many big shakes in western Japan earthquake. This has killed at least 55 people and caused a lot of damage. People in charge have warned that more shakes might happen as the affected regions keep having aftershocks.
On Tuesday morning in Astoria, Queens happened an earthquake of 1.7 strength. It’s the biggest one inside New York City since October 27, 2001 there was a stronger one with a power of 2.4 too. It shows the eighth quake within urban area since 1970. The last time a big shake in the city happened before yesterday’s event was a size 0.9 earthquake on Long Island City on June 25, 2019.
Interesting, this earthquake in New York City happened around the same time as a small size 2.3 quake near Washington DC and it was felt across Maryland and Virginia only hours before. People in charge are watching the problem very closely, telling residents to stay alert because it’s uncommon for earthquakes like these to happen nearby.
