NYC officials ripped for sending earthquake emergency alerts nearly 25 minutes after the fact
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New York City officials were ripped Friday on social media when it took nearly 25 minutes for an emergency alert to go out after the earthquake struck — and residents then suffered through overkill warnings for nearly two hours.
The 4.8-magnitude quake struck near Lebanon, New Jersey, around 10:23 a.m. and was promptly felt across the tri-state area, according to the US Geological Survey, which confirmed at 10:34 a.m. that it happened.
But New York City didn’t issue an emergency Notify NYC phone alert about the tremor until 10:47 a.m.
The city then also issued a WE Alert, or Wireless Emergency message, to phones at 11 a.m. and 11:45 a.m., while the state’s WE Alert went out at 12:05 p.m. — messages that popped up at various times on people’s phones.
Phil Calçado wrote on X that his mother in Brazil called him before the first local emergency alert was sent out.
Zachary Iscol, head of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, told reporters at a press conference afterward Friday that the Adams administration needed to confirm the quake before alerting residents.
“We also need to make sure we’re putting out the proper guidance. The 20 minutes is very, very fast for a public notification,” Iscol said.
The city’s first notification — which was sent 13 minutes after the quake was confirmed — said the earthquake had already occurred in the New York City area and advised residents to “remain indoors and to call 911 if injured.”
The second alert noted that “aftershocks may be felt” but “New Yorkers can continue usual activities.”
The state Office of Emergency Management said in an email to The Post, “The purpose of the alert was to warn about aftershocks.
Follow The Post’s coverage on the NYC and tri-state earthquake
“Aftershocks can last for a week. We were not sending it to alert about the existence of the earthquake, as information about that was already widely reported and shared across social media.”
Critics were swift.
“I am concerned with the delay we experienced with the emergency alert system, with many reports saying that on some phones, including mine, New Yorkers did not receive emergency text for over an hour after the earthquake. This is unacceptable,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in a statement.
“New Yorkers deserve a system that provides them with critical information when they need it most. This earthquake didn’t cause major damage, but if this delay had happened during a more severe incident, the consequences could have been significant.”
Vish Burra wrote on X, “NYC sending out an emergency alert about the earthquake 30 minutes after the earthquake is peak NYC Adams administration.”
Another X user also mused, “getting an earthquake emergency alert a full 30+ mins after it happened is the best example of NY government.”
Brooklynite Clarence Patton wrote: “Look Miss Emergency Alert System, if this had been a bad earthquake, we would’ve all been dead and/or buried for 40 minutes by the time you got yourself together to send this.”
One New Yorker went as far as to compare the delayed emergency message to “taking yourself off mute at the end of a Zoom to say thanks.”
Ben Max, the program director for the Center for New York City Law, said he couldn’t “stop laughing about how long after the earthquake the emergency alert came.”
-Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks
