DELHI - At 10:23 a.m. Friday, April 5, the United States Geological Service (USGS) reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded approximately 5 kilometers, approximately 3.1 miles, north of Lebanon, New Jersey.
It was felt in Delaware County by residents in both Walton and Delhi, and as far as Endwell in Broome County and Maryland in Schoharie County.
In Delhi, at 10:24 a.m., staff members at The Reporter felt their chairs and walls “shaking,” and office dog Winston began dry-heaving. The shaking was felt for “a few seconds.”
The New York Unified Court system issued a broadcast to all employees confirming the report of the earthquake and directed staff not to leave courthouses unless directed by court security.
In East Fordham Road in the Bronx, eye witnesses at Walgreens/Duane Read, reported store shelves were swaying and cellular phone service was interrupted.
From USGS website
An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter.
Sometimes an earthquake has foreshocks. These are smaller earthquakes that happen in the same place as the larger earthquake that follows. Scientists can’t tell that an earthquake is a foreshock until the larger earthquake happens. The largest, main earthquake is called the mainshock. Mainshocks always have aftershocks that follow. These are smaller earthquakes that occur afterwards in the same place as the mainshock. Depending on the size of the mainshock, aftershocks can continue for weeks, months, and even years after the mainshock.
The magnitude range of an earthquake is up to 8.0 and can result in slight damage to buildings and other structures, to total destruction of communities near an epicenter.
