The MTA is advising customers that the regional transit system is continuing to operate safely and normally following a 4.0 magnitude aftershock recorded in New Jersey at 5:59 p.m. on Friday, April 5, and felt throughout the service region.

 

Officials said that after the initial 4.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded on Friday morning at 10.23 a.m., as reported, the MTA completed inspections of infrastructure and there were no reported issues. Following the aftershock, they said standard follow-up inspections of MTA infrastructure will be conducted as necessary.

 

They said frontline staff across the transit system have been instructed to report any abnormalities, with none being flagged to date. They said the MTA will continue to monitor the situation closely and follow protocols in place when emergencies such as the earthquake and aftershock occur.

 

MTA leadership appeared with Mayor Eric Adams on Friday afternoon from New York City Emergency Management headquarters to talk about the incident with the media.

 

MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber and NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said they wanted to reassure New Yorkers that the service on the transit system and all aspects of the transit system continued to operate safely throughout the incident and still are. “I’ve been in touch with the president of all the MTA agencies, starting with Bridges and Tunnels,” Lieber said yesterday. “Cathy Sheridan, the president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is here, but also New York City Transit, Long Island Railroad, and Metro North.”

 

The leadership team said initial inspections of all facilities had been completed, and there were initial further inspections ongoing as of Friday, emphasizing that the seven bridges operated by MTA had also been inspected. Lieber sad, “I want to emphasize those were designed to withstand much stronger seismic impacts than we experienced today.”

 

He added, “Our frontline staff across the system have been instructed to report any abnormalities. There have been none so far flagged, and of course, we’re going to continue to monitor the situation very closely. We have an open communications bridge with all of our MTA agencies to report, as I said, any abnormality that they encounter. So far, the input on that has been zero.”

 

Lieber continued, “We’re going to let riders know if there are any impacts to service, but there are none. Just as the chancellor said the school system is operating fully, so is the MTA transit system without disruptions caused by the earthquake.”

 

Asked about the process for inspecting all the bridges as well as the tunnels in the subway system, Sheridan said, “We go out and do preliminary inspections. They were dispatched within about five minutes of the earthquake occurring. All the preliminary results came back negative, no impacts to our facilities. We have also mobilized all of our structural inspection teams, which do our biennial inspections on a regular basis. They are now out on the ground. We expect to have results from them by 4 p.m. But again, we don’t expect an earthquake of this magnitude to have any impact on our facilities.”

 

Asked again for the details of the process around the inspections, Sheridan said, “For our two tunnels, the Hugh Carey Tunnel and the Queens Midtown Tunnel, tunnels are very resilient for seismic impacts. They move with the ground. Again, it’s a hands-on inspection. We go and do visual inspection to see if there are any damages.”

 

Lieber added, “Yes, and it’s exactly the same in the subway system. We have folks who routinely walk the track and inspect structure as well as track, and those protocols are in place.”

 

Meanwhile, on Saturday, NYS Gov. Kathy Hochul updated New Yorkers again on safety precautions taken following the earthquake and reminded the public of best practices to stay safe during a seismic event. Over the past 24 hours, she said the U.S. Geological Survey had detected at least 25 aftershocks in Central New Jersey, many of which have been felt in New York City and across the region.

 

“My top priority is keeping people safe, and I have directed State personnel to take all necessary precautions following yesterday’s historic earthquake,” Hochul said. “At this time, we are aware of no injuries and minimal damage from this earthquake. We will continue monitoring the situation and updating New Yorkers as necessary.”

 

Meanwhile, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services officials said the New York State Watch Center is in enhanced monitoring mode and continues to track seismic activity in coordination with the U.S. Geological Survey. They said State Emergency Management staff remains in contact with, and is prepared to support, local counterparts with any potential needs.

 

NYS Department of Transportation officials said their inspection teams were deployed to assess hundreds of bridges and other critical infrastructure across the state. They said as of Saturday afternoon, April 6, there were no reports of any immediate damage to infrastructure, but they would keep the public informed of further developments.

 

Immediately after the earthquake, NYS Department of Public Service (DPS) staff said they contacted the major utilities in New York State — Con Edison, O&R, PSEG LI, Central Hudson, NYSEG, RG&E and National Grid — and said there continues to be no reported issues and or trouble indicators because of the earthquake on the electric, natural gas or steam systems.

 

They said DPS continues to maintain direct contact with utility leadership and will report if any issues arise. In addition, they said staff have been in contact with the operating nuclear power plants on Lake Ontario, all reporting no issues or indications of problems. They said the decommissioned Indian Point power plant in Westchester County confirmed no issues, and on-site personnel have been patrolling the site with no concerns found. In addition, they said no issues have been reported from the telecommunications sector.

 

After the initial 4.8-magnitude earthquake the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) completed inspections throughout its service area, including underwater subway tunnels, vehicular tunnels, bridges, and commuter railroad infrastructure, finding no reported issues. Following the significant evening aftershock, standard follow-up inspections of infrastructure were conducted, again finding no issues.

 

The New York Power Authority officials said they performed immediate inspections at its power generation assets and offices in the earthquake-impacted areas and no issues were identified. There were also no impacts to NYPA’s transmission assets resulting from the earthquake, they said.  

 

At Port Authority bridges and tunnels, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said there were no operational or physical impacts but engineering, maintenance and PAPD crews are performing additional inspections.

 

State officials said runways at all Port Authority airports were immediately inspected and cleared after the earthquake, and airborne planes inbound to JFK experienced minimal delays. They said airplanes bound for JFK that had not yet left their departure airports were held at those airports for one hour, from 10:21 a.m. to 11:22 a.m. They said AirTrain JFK service was not affected and there were no delays or diversions reported at LaGuardia or Stewart airports.

 

They added that the PATH service was not impacted either and there were no impacts reported at the Midtown Bus Terminal, the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, the World Trade Center campus, the ports or other Port Authority facilities.

 

Earthquake Report

2024-04-06T04:18:26.965EST	1.9	4 km E of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-06T04:09:18.260EST	1.7	6 km ESE of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-06T03:11:18.616EST	1.7	4 km WSW of Bedminster, New Jersey
2024-04-06T01:07:47.436EST	1.7	5 km SW of Gladstone, New Jersey
2024-04-05T20:51:18.307EST	1.5	5 km WSW of Gladstone, New Jersey
2024-04-05T20:39:11.635EST	1.8	4 km W of Bedminster, New Jersey
2024-04-05T19:39:23.815EST	1.5	5 km NE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T19:10:49.196EST	1.9	3 km SW of Bedminster, New Jersey
2024-04-05T18:16:18.281EST	1.9	5 km WSW of Bedminster, New Jersey
2024-04-05T17:59:13.778EST	3.8	7 km SW of Gladstone, New Jersey
2024-04-05T16:21:07.157EST	1.9	3 km ENE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T16:13:47.904EST	2	6 km NNE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T14:40:20.185EST	1.8	6 km ESE of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-05T13:32:13.627EST	2.2	4 km NE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T13:21:55.646EST	1.9	6 km E of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-05T13:18:48.029EST	2	5 km SSW of Chester, New Jersey
2024-04-05T13:14:13.044EST	2	4 km S of Chester, New Jersey
2024-04-05T12:49:49.389EST	1.8	6 km NNE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T12:31:50.989EST	1.8	7 km W of Bedminster, New Jersey
2024-04-05T11:49:36.690EST	2	5 km SSE of Long Valley, New Jersey
2024-04-05T11:37:10.448EST	1.8	6 km ESE of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-05T11:33:15.007EST	1.9	4 km ESE of Califon, New Jersey
2024-04-05T11:27:56.419EST	1.9	6 km NNE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T11:20:20.203EST	2	6 km NNE of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
2024-04-05T10:23:20.309EST	4.8	2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

 

Read our previous coverage on the earthquake here.