Google suggests a 4.8 earthquake hit just west of Manhattan

[conuly]

and people felt it through Boston and Philadelphia as well.

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

People I talked to near the epicenter seemed to think it was just a helicopter or a big truck, so maybe 4.8 is a small cute earthquake, by earthquake standards?

[conuly]

The previous two times I felt an earthquake in this house I wasn't entirely sure what it was until near the end.

This time I was in no doubt, right from the start.

[frandroid]

Yeah, I was just hearing about my friend getting through the 7.x in Taiwan and I've gone through a couple 4.5-4.8 before so I know it's mostly a "feel a bit of vibration" earthquake that's unlikely to break anything but the most fragile objects.

[conuly]

Apparently earthquakes on the East Coast of the USA tend to feel worse than those on the West Coast due to our different ground composition - and, of course, don't forget that we are a lot less likely to have earthquake-proof buildings than people in the Ring of Fire are, because we don't get earthquakes here and our housing stock is pretty old.

So it's all pretty scary to us. It would be even if I didn't know that part about our buildings being built to a less-safe standard, quake-wise, than those in places around the Pacific.