1 confirmed report of structural damage in Philadelphia after New Jersey earthquake shakes region
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – No significant issues were connected to Friday morning's 4.8 magnitude earthquake, according to Philadelphia city leaders.
Police did confirm one report of damage to a Northeast Philadelphia home, but there were no other reports of damages or injuries.
Throughout Center City, it looked like any other day. Many were out enjoying the sights near Logan Square and down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
"We were actually coming out of the elevator of our hotel and I kind of felt a little disoriented," Bobby Devencenzi said.
According to officials, the earthquake, although jarring, didn't cause any damage to City Hall or other nearby buildings.
"Every relevant and city agency are coordinating and working together to ensure everyone is safe," Mayor Cherelle Parker said.
Dr. Abieyuwa Aghayere, a Drexel University structural engineering professor, thinks the impact on buildings in our area will be minor.
"The damage is quite light," Aghayere said. "So, you don't expect structural or major structural damage. You might have things falling off the shelf, you might have maybe some cracks in architectural fixtures."
At St. Joseph's University, Sophomore Annalee Hennessy quickly learned construction outside wasn't what shook her classroom.
"We all were kind of looking around because we thought it was construction," Hennessey said.
For St. Joe's Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor, Usha Rao, she turned it into a teaching moment.
"My students and I just stopped dead and looked at each other. And I said, okay, let's talk about earthquakes instead of chemistry," Rao said.
Wesley Robinson with the Pennsylvania Department of Conversation and Natural Resources said the Pennsylvania Seismic Network detected the activity from the Garden State on their seismographs.
"We felt that as far as Beltsville in Carbon County and Washington Crossing in Bucks County, and there was some like minor damage. Some gifts fell off the shelves at the gift shop," Robinson said.
The shaking and rattling was reported from Maryland to Massachusetts. All around the Temple University campus on Friday, almost everyone had been asking each other: did you feel it?
"I was just standing in my room and I felt the ground shake a little and then my jewelry stand started shaking, all the things on my wall were clinking together," Sage Spohn said.
"I was just lying on my bed, and I was certain it was just rowdy neighbors," Aaron Fry said.
"I never experienced something like that before, so I didn't really know what to expect, it was like unexpected because it was pretty fast," Alaina Givner said.
The shaking caused a wave of about 200 911 calls.
Shortly after the quake, the Office of Emergency Management activated its Emergency Operation Center and alerted the public.
"We've been intensely focused on public safety operations, infrastructure, transportation, our healthcare facilities as well as our community and culture centers," OEM's Dominick Mireles said.
OEM also said the community should be aware of the rare possibility of aftershocks. If one were to happen, they urge people to drop, hold on and take cover.
However, there were impacts elsewhere, PATCO suspended service leading crews to assess the integrity of their lines.
Many said they're thankful the earthquake didn't lead to serious issues in our area.
"It felt minor, I didn't really notice it," resident Aaron Devencenzi said.
"I'm not surprised that there's not big structural impacts especially if it was like further away," Ronald Simms said.
