What it felt like in sleepy tiny town near quake epicenter: ‘One of the craziest things’
The epicenter of Friday’s metro-area quake was around the sleepy, tiny, agricultural town of Lebanon, NJ — where the temblor sent residents running home from work to check their houses and loved ones.
The US Geological Survey confirmed that the rare historic 4.8 earthquake struck around 10.23 a.m. near the small borough in Hunterdon County — just a stone’s throw from Donald Trump’s National Golf Club in Bedminster, where a 2.0 magnitude aftershock was felt shortly after.
The incident caused buildings to shake everywhere from the Big Apple to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware.
“I was working from my home office in town, and everything started falling off the shelves,” Lebanon Mayor James Pittinger told The Post. “I felt a shake like I’ve never felt in the 30 years I’ve lived here.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced.”
Local Nancy Davidson, 62, said “it was like an explosion”.
“I thought Exxon blew up,” she told The Post.
“The building shook and that was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
“Then the stuff fell down and broke — china closet, pictures on the wall. All the teacups and glasses are broken.”
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Another resident, Rosemarie Gerber, 72, was in her bedroom when the quake shook the region but said that it took her a moment to realize what was happening.
“It almost felt like the building was coming down,” she told The Post.
“I couldn’t figure out what had happened — but luckily my neighbor ran my bell and said “We had an earthquake.
“It was very scary. I can’t believe nothing fell off the walls. I did have shattered glasses.”
One resident described the quake as feeling “like the pavement was sinking under me.
Ruth Kauffman, 70, who has lived in Lebanon for six years, told The Post she initially “thought a truck or something hit the building”.
“And then I said no, this is more than that. I thought the building was going to blow up,” she added.
Another resident, Lori Sullivan said it was the “scariest moment” she’d ever experienced and added that her dog, Zoe, appeared to feel the same way.
“She’s been so scared since the earthquake. She hasn’t been herself at all,” Sullivan explained.
“She jumped on the couch & she never jumps on furniture.
“She’s been trembling. Really stiff and frozen like — staring to space.
“I mostly felt the shaking. I didn’t hear much but I was just waiting for the floor to fall down. We live on the second floor and I was just waiting for the floor to drop out — I was waiting to crash.”
The mayor said residents rushed home mid-morning to check on things but that no major damage or injuries have so far been reported.
Local emergency crews also went home to home to check on elderly residents.
The earthquake — which originated at a depth of less than 3 miles — was the strongest to strike the metro region since 1884, according to USGS records.
In New Jersey, it was the strongest to hit since the time of the Revoluntionary War, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Pittinger said the township appeared to come out of the incident largely unscathed because it does “not have any significant high-rises that would have been susceptible.”
Lebanon is historically an agricultural community, now home to about 1,600 residents and a tiny business district.
It is located north of the Round Valley Reservoir, about 20 miles from the northern border of Pennsylvania.
Local and state officials from impacted areas said inspections had been launched to ensure that buildings, bridges and other infrastructure remained structurally sound and were not damaged.
The Post observed several fire trucks patrolling residential areas in Lebanon and checking in on senior citizens.
The mayor said the township was anticipating aftershocks but had not experienced any as of early-afternoon.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a post on X that the state has activated its emergency operations center and asked the public not to call 911 unless they are experiencing an emergency.
“It’s a significant earthquake, especially for this region,” said Borys Hayda, managing Principal at NYC-based structural engineering firm DeSimone Consulting Engineers, told The Post.
US Geological Survey figures indicate the quake might have been felt by a staggering 42 million people.
“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in the last century,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
