Did you feel the earth move? Rhode Islanders react to earthquake reports

PROVIDENCE – Did you feel the earth move under your feet Friday morning in Rhode Island?

Good news - you weren't the only one. Better news - there actually was an earthquake, a 4.8 magnitude quake recorded in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Residents of Rhode Island have reported feeling the impact of the earthquake roughly 230 miles away, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Where was the earthquake?

The epicenter of the earthquake was in Whitehouse Station, Hunterdon County, at 10:23 a.m.

In addition to Rhode Island and New Jersey, residents of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Canada reported feeling the impact.

Of course, needing a consensus as to whether they actually did feel the shaking and that it wasn't actually a big truck or everyone racing out the door to beat traffic and get to a spot to watch the eclipse, Rhode Islanders took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to see if anyone else felt it.

Social media reacts to the earthquake

What geoscientists have to say about the East Coast earthquake

Brian Savage, a professor of geosciences at the University of Rhode Island, felt the earthquake on campus, as did some students.

Savage characterized the 4.8 earthquake as a "reasonably large event," capable of knocking items off shelves but unlikely to cause structural damage.

"In California, it would not be a big deal," Savage said. "Here, it is, of course, because we don't get them very often."

Savage wasn't surprised that people as far away as coastal Maine and northern Vermont could feel the impact of the earthquake. Earthquakes in the East may not be as frequent as those in the West, but they're felt at greater distance.

The USGS said, "East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast."

How often do earthquakes occur on the East Coast?

The earthquake happened in what the USGS characterizes as the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor.

"Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every 2-3 years," the USGS says on its website.

Earthquakes happen on faults in bedrock that allow the blocks to move relative to each other, according to the USGS. Unlike out West, it can be difficult for scientists east of the Rocky Mountains to determine which specific fault triggered an earthquake, the USGS says.

"The urban corridor is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected," the USGS says.

Savage says aftershocks are likely to follow the earthquake, but he doesn't expect them to be significant.

He said the earthquake would likely be a topic of discussion in an upcoming afternoon class.

- With reports from Eryn Dion, Journal Editor

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Was there an earthquake in Rhode Island? Shaking from New Jersey quake felt here