A rare earthquake struck the Northeast on Friday morning, with the epicenter about 45 miles away from New York City. With no major damage or injuries reported, residents were quick to log on to social media and group texts to express and process their reactions together.
New Yorkers, especially, seemed shocked about the 4.8 magnitude earthquake, with many saying it was their first time experiencing one. It was the largest earthquake felt in New York City since the 2011 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia.
But once the dust settled, they flooded social media with quips, memes and other reactions — which has become customary following major events.
I AM FINE
— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) April 5, 2024
There were the extremely New York-centric reactions.
Yelling "I'M WALKING HERE" at a tectonic plate
— Robby Slowik (@RobbySlowik) April 5, 2024
The Mets win ONE GAME and the damn rapture happens in New York City
— Dylan Hornik (@_Hornik_) April 5, 2024
thank god this happened in the morning imagine how many espresso martinis would have spilled
— Drew Austin (@kneelingbus) April 5, 2024
After the earthquake I couldn’t help but wonder… pic.twitter.com/v8xjV5sfVv
— eric schwartau (@ericschmerick) April 5, 2024
NYC Earthquake?
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) April 5, 2024
Nah, that was just Lisa From Temecula cutting up a steak for breakfast pic.twitter.com/Ey1uF384jY
it’s incredible New Yorkers experience an earthquake and everyone is like “was that a train?” “did our laundry machine break?” “is that a truck passing by?” and now I realize we hAVE NEVER KNOWN A MOMENT OF PEACE
— Kalhan (@KalhanR) April 5, 2024
If this isn't your third NYC earthquake I'm sorry you're a gentrifier
— Huge Ma (@turbovax) April 5, 2024
First of all, it was a NEW JERSEY earthquake. Bad enough they try to claim the Giants.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) April 5, 2024
LA Twitter is about to hate us
— Kevin Fallon (@kpfallon) April 5, 2024
Then, as the West Coast woke up and people logged on, more X users started rolling their eyes at the reactions.
Flying to New York so I can be insufferable online about the earthquake.
— Scott Nover (@ScottNover) April 5, 2024
NEWS ALERT: deadline for all jokes about the earthquake in New York is 12pm ET
— Megh Wright (@megh_wright) April 5, 2024
Californians NYers questioning
— Nicholas Leung 🍁🌕 (@fencernick) April 5, 2024
sleeping thru mortality after a
earthquakes baby quake
every night pic.twitter.com/hGhKcAsvuQ
Californians watching New Yorkers react to a 4.8 earthquake pic.twitter.com/maF0LRpr5m
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 5, 2024
Native Californians reacting to a 4.7 quake on the East Coast: pic.twitter.com/bEQb0AYO1t
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) April 5, 2024
With the eclipse happening on April 8 — an event that is already spurring several end-time conspiracy theories — some attempted to connect the two natural events.
For a lot of human history, an earthquake followed a few days later by a total eclipse would be taken as a pretty good sign of the end times
— Bill Mahoney (@mahoneyw) April 5, 2024
you think you're dramatic? manhattan wasn't in the path of totality for the eclipse so it had to re-main character itself with a whole earthquake
— emma lord (@dilemmalord) April 5, 2024
the earthquake following the path of the solar eclipse is actually wild lmfao
— 5hahem aka Dr. Durag (@shaTIRED) April 5, 2024
Mind you that’s the solar eclipse date 😭 https://t.co/YUMZxj7BMi
— odi (@sectionodi) April 5, 2024
Cover thumbnail photo via Getty Images, X.
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