I was studying Portuguese vocabulary on Quizlet as the school randomly swayed, causing waves of distress throughout the school. My first thought was, “Am I tripping out or something?” This was later disproved by an announcement by Mrs. Nemeth, stating that this strange sway was the fallout of an earthquake in the New York/New Jersey area.
An earthquake hit New Jersey at 10:20 a.m. on Friday, April 5, rattling surrounding towns. On X, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote “My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day.” The earthquake measured 4.8 mwr in magnitude and 4.7 km in depth.
This quake was reported as the largest earthquake felt by New Jersey. In an article from USA Today, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy states, “We have activated our State Emergency Operations center. Please do not call 911 unless you have an actual emergency.” Currently, no damage has been reported.
It is safe to say that this bout of seismic activity has shaken up our school. Allison Lewis, a sophomore, states, “What is this madness?” as our Portuguese class shared in mutual confusion. Comments such as, “Did you feel the shake?” flooded the halls. Lilia Martins, a freshman, said “I didn’t feel the quake, I’m sad.” Some have even gone so far as to create their own conspiracy theories. One such student is Sophia Alvaro who told me that “a TikTok rizz party started the quake.”
Sources:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000ma74/executive
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/earthquake-new-york-new-jersey/
