Brian Lehrer: This is WNYC. I'm Brian Lehrer with special coverage of the earthquake that hit the New York metropolitan area, and really well beyond the New York metropolitan area at 10:23 this morning. Joining me in the studio for ongoing coverage, at least for a little while, is our Sean Carlson. Hi, Sean.

Sean Carlson: Hey, Brian. It feels like one thing after another, doesn't it?

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Then an eclipse on Monday. Do you have any immediate update for us? We did take the governor's statement live saying there are no reports of any major damage anywhere, and that the MTA is continuing to run. They're doing inspections, there may be delays on various things while they do some inspections, and obviously, we want everybody to do due diligence, and not worry about getting somewhere five minutes faster in place of that. Anything new to report?

Sean Carlson: Yes. As you'd imagine, with an earthquake like this, you'd think things would be more disrupted. Right now, and I should say WNYC reporters are working hard, pounding the pavement to get all this information, and folks can listen throughout the afternoon. We'll have more during All Things Considered with continuing coverage of this. Right now, NJ Transit reported at 11:00 AM that there were 20-minute delays so they could inspect bridges. The Holland Tunnel briefly shut down for an inspection, but it reopened 15 minutes later. I actually just went through the Holland Tunnel, so I can report that it is currently open.

NYC public schools are operating as normal. In fact, they did send out a text that said dismissal will happen as normal today. We should say and I heard you just mentioned, Brian, we did all get that notice on our phones about the potential for aftershocks. Of course, authorities are urging us to be safe and take precautions if we do feel those.

Brian Lehrer: I do want to acknowledge, I guess the word is, that our listeners have a sense of humor. These texts that are coming in, one person writes, "Curious if this quake will affect our upcoming 20 years cicada awakening." Another one writes, "What's next? Locusts?" Another, who really wanted us to know where he was, writes, " I was on the toilet." Another one writes, "My wife is leaving her job of 15 years today and starting a new job Monday. Clearly, that's what the quake and eclipse are about." I guess it's all unserious enough so far that our listeners who always have a good sense of humor are getting some laughs about it.

Sean Carlson: Yes. Thankfully, again, we are hearing reports, and Governor Hochul, as we just heard, said that there's no reports of major damage, but we are checking with all of the places that we should, whether it be power plants or transit, of course, bridges and tunnels are things that folks worry about. As you've been saying, too, we're waiting for the mayor here. He's supposed to come on at any moment, so we'll be sure to go to him as it happens. We should say, too, Brian, I neglected to mention that in terms of airports, conflicting notices about flights coming in and out of JFK and LaGuardia, they posted on X, that they are open landing planes, but Governor Hochul, as we just heard, said, both had full ground stops in effect. We'll continue to get information on that and tell folks as we know it.

Brian Lehrer: Right. We should check on Newark again, too. I had heard of a ground stop at Newark earlier. I don't know if that's still in effect, but I guess that's the most major transportation infrastructure impact so far is whatever is going on at the airports. Another snarky listener writes, "How long before the religious extremists start trying to associate the earthquake to God's directive?" There we go. Do you have anything on the Yankee game? I brought this up earlier, but opening day at Yankee Stadium at one o'clock, that means 50,000 people are there or headed there. There's no indication that I've heard that they're going to postpone that game, but do you have any specific confirmation that they're going to go ahead?

Sean Carlson: No. It seems like things are going as normal. The Yankees are still posting on X about the game. Presumably, that is still happening, but we can confirm that and let you know.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. We're waiting for Mayor Adams, as you said. We're also waiting for Governor Murphy. In a way, it's surprising that Governor Hochul went out first because the epicenter was in New Jersey 40 or 50 miles west of the city, so this is very much a New Jersey event. Have you gotten any word about when we might hear from Governor Murphy?

Sean Carlson: No. We do have WNYC's Nancy Solomon reporter from the newsroom. She's headed to Lebanon, which is preliminarily, and we should say, Brian, and I suppose on your show, I've been saying, this is all preliminary. We're reporting things as we get it from the official sources, but these things are subject to change. That said, Lebanon New Jersey is the epicenter or seems to be the epicenter. We're going to talk to WNYC's Nancy Salomon, whether it will be shortly or later this afternoon, potentially on All Things Considered, but we'll have more information from there, and when Governor Murphy does indeed say something live.

Brian Lehrer: Well, let's take a caller who was from relatively near the epicenter. Deb in Hunterdon County. Deb, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Deb: Hi, Brian. They said the epicenter was just a couple miles northeast of Lebanon, and I'm five miles northeast of Lebanon.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. You're in it.

Deb: I'm sitting at my kitchen table. I immediately knew it was an earthquake because it was just that intense of a shaking. A glass jar fell off my kitchen counter and smashed on the floor, so that made a crash, which was startling and stuff was falling off shelves everywhere, books falling off shelves, paintings falling off the wall, the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, the door opened and stuff fell out of there. I had spackle that fell off the ceiling.

Sean Carlson: Oh my.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Deb: The spackle where you have the tape between sections of the wallboard, the spackle fell off the ceiling in two different places. I have a mess.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, you have a mess. This is the biggest mess that we've gotten reported to us by any of our callers today. Obviously, you're right there at the epicenter.

Deb: Yes. I'm right there. Like I said, 5 miles northeast of Lebanon.

Brian Lehrer: You sound a little bit shaken, Deb. Are you okay?

Deb: Yes, I'll be okay. I'm going to have to get out the vacuum and vacuum up the little shards of glass and vacuum up the little bits of the spackle that fell down. It's just very unsettling.

Sean Carlson: Hang on, Deb.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. Hang in there.

Deb: We've had earthquakes here before, but it was kind of like a nothingburger. Whereas this, my whole house really shook for half a minute. It was very unsettling.

Brian Lehrer: Have you spoken to any of your neighbors about their experiences yet?

Deb: No, I have not gone outside. I've been on hold for an hour.

Brian Lehrer: Well, thank you for your patience. It was useful for our listeners for sure to hear your report from there. Hang in there, be safe, clean up safely. Treat yourself to something later and call us again. Okay?

Deb: Yes, thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Deb.

Deb: Thanks for your coverage. Bye.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Well, Sean, there's the epicenter.

Sean Carlson: I know. I should say, Brian, I am following in real time what the WNYC newsroom is reporting. The USGS did say there was a small aftershock less than half the magnitude of the initial quake. It was approximately an hour later about four miles from the original estimated epicenter. Probably very close to where Deb is out there in Lebanon, New Jersey. I should say, too, we're just talking about airports, Brian.

We have folks checking on the local airports. Right now, according to the FAA's National Airspace System Status, there's a ground stop notice for Newark Airport. That will be in effect until 12:30 today. A Port Authority spokesperson says they'll be sending out more details shortly, so I or someone else here at WNYC will be sure to let folks know when that does happen.

Brian Lehrer: Here's another caller from near the epicenter. Donna in Tewksbury Township. Donna, you're on WNYC. Thank you so much for calling in. Donna, are you there? Donna might have moved.

Donna: Oh, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. Hello.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, wait. Hang on Donna one second. Yes, I know you had to get back to your phone. I think we have Mayor Adams starting. Is that right?

Sean Carlson: Yes. It looks like the presser is starting. Mayor Adams is not yet at the podium, but it is about to start. As we've been saying, we are waiting for Mayor Adams to speak on the earthquake today.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Well, let's get Donna in Tewksbury's report until the mayor actually starts. Hi, Donna.

Donna: Hi. My kids reported that the episode is said to be Old Turnpike Road and Hill and Dale Road, which is in Tewksbury, which is right down the hill from where we live. I drive past that every day.

Brian Lehrer: Donna, I apologize, but we're going to go live to New York City Hall now. This is Emergency Services Director Zach Iscol speaking first.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Lots of major impacts at this time. Our teams moved quickly to coordinate across city and state agencies and make sure that New Yorkers were safe. We've brought together key leaders to provide people with more information about the earthquake and ongoing efforts. We're joined today by Mayor Eric Adams, chief adviser to the mayor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, Police Department Commissioner Edward Kaban, and senior members of the NYPD leadership, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh, Public Schools Chancellor David Banks, Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Otto, Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rit Aggarwala, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manny Castro, Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Adolfo Carrión, Mayor's Office of Community Affairs Commissioner Fred Kreizman, New York City Health and Hospital Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer Dr. Eric Wei, NYCHA Executive VP of Operations Support Services Keith Grossman, MTA CEO Janno Lieber, ConEd President Match Ketschke. First I'd like to introduce Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Thanks so much, DM Levy. I'm sure there are many questions that need to be answered. All of us felt in some way or another the earthquake that hit our city around 10:23 AM. We felt the impact of this 4.7 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was in Lebanon, New Jersey, about 50 miles from New York City. As you know, this is a developing situation where you're always concerned about aftershocks after an earthquake, but New Yorkers should go about their normal day.

First responders are working to make sure the city is safe, and one thing we do so well in our city is bring together all of the agencies that are involved and our partners and other entities, everything from the MTA to the Department of Buildings. The parents who are concerned about their school children, Chancellor Banks would be here to report on that, but we say over and over again, the safest place for our students, we believe, will continue to be in school.

At this point, we do not have any reports of major impacts to our infrastructure or injuries, but of course, we're still assessing the situation and we'll continue to update the public. We're in touch with the White House, the governor's office, and local elected officials. I encourage New Yorkers to check on their loved ones to make sure that they are fine, not only from the infrastructure damage, but this could be a traumatic moment for individuals going through an earthquake.

If you feel an aftershock, drop to the floor, cover your head and neck, and take cover under a solid piece of furniture next to an interior wall or in a doorway. I want to thank the emergency staff and first responders for their work to keep New Yorkers safe. Earthquakes don't happen every day in New York, so this can be extremely traumatic. The number of texts, calls, and inquiries that people sent out to not only our administration, but to family members checking on them, we know how this can impact you, but we're ready for the unexpected. This is New York City, and we respond accordingly. We will continue to update New Yorkers as we get more information. I will now turn it over to Commissioner Iscol.

Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol: Great. Thank you, sir. Thank you all so much for being here today. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to my colleagues for their quick and speedy response to this. I'm pleased to report that there are currently no major impacts or safety events related to this earthquake. We're asking all New Yorkers to call 311 to report damage or any issues that you're having. Also, if you have any need for disaster assistance due to damage or anything like that, please call 311. That is the best place to refer those needs. If you have a life safety issue, please use and call 911 immediately, but preserve 911 for those life safety events.

The team acted immediately. We convened our emergency response teams and issued guidance to the public. The likelihood of aftershocks remain low, but we do remain vigilant, and we ask all New Yorkers to remain vigilant as well. We activated our protocols for this earthquake. We immediately started coordinating with all city, state, federal, and our utility partners. Public notifications were sent out both by NotifyNYC and our wireless emergency alert system. You can hear some of the phone buzzings and delays from that, that have been issued.

As soon as it happened, we convened here at New York City Emergency Management in order to be able to send out guidance. As soon as it happened, we convened here at NYCEM to send out our guidance for what happens during an earthquake, including on the possibility of aftershocks. We contacted our City Hall and agency commissioners, as well as all of our partners at the federal and state level. That also includes all of our utility partners, our transportation partners at the MTA, Port Authority, and the airports.

While there is a low likelihood that there will be aftershocks, we always want to be on the safe side, so if you are outside during an aftershock, please move to an open area away from buildings, trees, and power lines. If you are driving, pull over to a safe location. We're asking people to check in on their relatives, on their loved ones, neighbors, especially the children and their other individuals.

I think that this is also an incredible time just to remind us all to make sure that we're prepared. If you are a New Yorker, if you're visiting New York, we encourage you to sign up for NotifyNYC. This is available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language, over a million subscribers. You can sign up by calling 311. You can call up by downloading the app or by going to nyc.gov/notify. We also encourage people to make sure that they have an emergency kit and to make sure that they know the guidance for earthquakes, which, as the mayor said, to drop, cover, and to get under furniture, sturdy furniture, or in a doorway to make sure that you are safe.

Please also make sure that you're checking your utilities, that you know how to turn them on and off, especially if you are a property owner. With that said, who am I turning it over to?

Deputy Mayor Levy: Chancellor Banks.

Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol: I'll turn it over to Chancellor Banks for an update on the schools. Thank you.

David Banks: Thank you, Zach. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon, everyone. The earthquake was felt across the entire city and across many of our schools, across all five boroughs. In fact, I was at LaGuardia High School at an event this morning when the earthquake hit. I did not personally feel it, but many people in the room felt it.

First and foremost, what's most important to understand is we want to emphasize that we've received no reports of any injury to staff or students. That's the most important thing, and safety is our top priority in ensuring that everyone is safe in our schools. Immediately following the earthquake, our teams, both within New York City Public Schools and across the city, immediately jumped into action. We've been in close and constant communication with City Hall, the Office of Emergency Management, School Construction Authority, and other agencies as well.

At this moment, there is no indication that any of our buildings were compromised. Our facility staff at the School Construction Authority are quickly and thoroughly inspecting buildings to ensure safety. Out of an abundance of caution, we've assembled all of our building response teams as well.

We've instructed all of our school principals to continue operations and dismissal as normal. We ask the school staff and families to remain calm and to model that for all of our students, all of our children. Parents do not need to pick up their child early as a result of today's earthquake. Additionally, all after-school programs will continue as planned. If conditions change, our schools will communicate directly with families. We also will post updates on our social media pages, which can be found @NYCSchools.

I want to thank all of our school staff and our facility staff for keeping our students safe during times like these. Their professionalism in the face of an emergency is a role model for all of our students. Again, the top lines, all of our students across the school system are safe. All of our staff are safe. We have no reports of any structural damage to any of our school facilities, while many schools have, in fact, felt some tremors from the earthquake. Thank you so much.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you, Chancellor. Next, we'll hear from Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Otto.

Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Otto: Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Let me say right at the outset that we at the Department of Buildings have not seen an influx of calls regarding building damage, but we want all New Yorkers to know that our team is ready. We are putting on additional construction and engineering professionals from this point on over the weekend. If reports do come in, we will be ready to respond.

Our construction enforcement unit is out doing inspections similar to what we do prior to big storms. There are 1.1 million buildings in the city, which means we need cooperation from construction professionals. We've messaged that to them, but let me take this opportunity again to remind all of our construction professionals, you need to go out and check on your buildings, even if those sites are closed, and determine that the sites are secure. If you see any conditions that are troublesome, please reach out to the department.

This is a time for that tried and true saying, if you see something, say something. To New Yorkers, we at the Department of Buildings are concerned about some of the downstream possibilities, cracks that you might see that materialize or manifest in a week or a month, or scaffolding, retaining walls. If you see something that is problematic, please call 311. This weekend, we will have an increase in our emergency response team. We've mobilized our borough operations and our special ops folks so that if our sister agency, the Fire Department, or any of our partners in government or the public report an increase in locations, we are at the ready to respond.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you, Commissioner. Next, we'll hear from ConEd President Matt Ketschke.

ConEd President Matt Ketschke: Hey. Thank you. For our energy delivery system, energy infrastructure, there were no impacts from this event. We continue to monitor them. Our critical energy infrastructure is continuously monitored. During the course of the event, we saw no change in status for our energy infrastructure. We do have a series of protocols for after an earthquake event. We have initiated those. Those involve inspecting our critical facilities and working through all our facilities for inspection. Those inspections are ongoing. We haven't identified any issues.

In the case of an earthquake, one of the things that from the energy side we would be concerned about is the potential for gas leaks. I encourage, if you smell gas, either call 911 or 1-800-75-CONED and report the gas leak. Do not assume that somebody else has reported it. If you smell gas, call us or call 911 immediately. Otherwise, we'll continue our inspections, and all looks good.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Next, we'll hear from MTA CEO Janno Lieber.

MTA CEO Janno Lieber: Good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor Adams and Commissioner Iscol. I want to reassure New Yorkers that the service on the transit system, all aspects of the transit system, maintain continuously operating safely throughout the incident and has continued right to now. I've been in touch with the president of all the MTA agencies, starting with Bridges and Tunnels. Cathy Sheridan, the president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is here, but also New York City Transit, Long Island Railroad, and Metro North.

Initial inspections of all facilities have been completed, and there are further inspections ongoing, emphasizing that the seven bridges operated by MTA have been inspected, and I want to emphasize those were designed to withstand much stronger seismic impacts than we experienced today. 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.

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. I want to thank Mayor Adams, your entire team, and also Governor Hochul, with whom I've been in touch, for their leadership throughout this challenging moment for the city and the region. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Levy: Thank you very much. Finally, we'll hear from Manny Castro from the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs for a few words in Spanish.

Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro: [Spanish language]

Brian Lehrer: This is WNYC live coverage of the earthquake in New York City. Obviously, since we're an English language station, we don't need to take the Spanish language translation or the Spanish language notes on what the previous speaker said since we heard all of them, and that is going to be the last thing we were told in Mayor Adams and his team's news conference there.

Basically, almost no damage. Almost everything is normal. Chancellor Banks, this is very important. A lot of parents listening now, I'm sure the schools are open. The Mayor's office says the safest place for kids who are in school today to be is in their school buildings, so that schedule is not being affected for the rest of the school day unless something changes. We just heard Janno Lieber there, the head of the MTA, saying, after initial inspections, nothing found to be wrong with the transportation infrastructure.

We will continue our coverage in a minute. We're going to hear from Nancy Solomon, our New Jersey person who has gone out to right where the epicenter is. We imagine that now that Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams have spoken that Governor Murphy will, too, epicenter being in New Jersey. More coverage till one o'clock here on WNYC. Brian Lehrer with Sean Carlson. Stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage of the earthquake that hit the New York City metropolitan area. We know that at least down to the Bucks County, Pennsylvania area and at least up to the New Canaan, Connecticut area this earthquake was felt. 4.7, 4.8 is what they're saying, which is a relatively mild earthquake. We did have our caller a short time ago from near the epicenter near Lebanon, New Jersey, about 50 miles west of New York City, who said spackle fell off her ceiling. At least one jar fell off a shelf and shattered. There is some damage being reported.

I see somebody texting us that News 12, but I'm not sure which News 12, so I'm not sure exactly in which part of our region this is. It says, "News 12 is reporting a house that got shifted and is leaning on the house next door." Brian Lehrer along with our All Things Considered anchor, Sean Carlson. Sean, anything else to report at this moment?

Sean Carlson: Hey, Brian. Yes. As we've been saying, everything is preliminary at this point, because information is coming fast. It changes often, so everything, obviously take with a grain of salt here. The preliminary report right now says that that was a 4.8 magnitude quake, the epicenter in northwestern New Jersey. The preliminary epicenter location is near Tewkesbury Township, as you said, Brian, about 50 miles west of Manhattan. New Jersey power companies JCP&L and PSE&G were reporting few power outages across the state in the immediate aftermath there. JCP&L reported about 2,000 customers without power at about 10:45, mostly around [unintelligible 00:27:59] Warren, Sussex, Morrison, and Middlesex counties.

As we've been saying here, very little impact to transit. We just heard MTA Chair Janno Lieber saying that there was no impact, but they are continuing to be on alert. They inspected the seven bridges that the MTA operates and says that they're good to go. Right now, JFK LaGuardia airports are now landing planes there, but Newark Airport had grounded planes. That was in effect until about 12:30, so we'll get an update on that. Brian, I also know that you were interested in the Yankees game. That appears to be going on as usual, too.

Brian Lehrer: All right. 50,000 people in the Bronx right now are happy about that, I'm sure. Just before the news conference started with the mayor, we were starting with a call from Donna in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, which you just reported, Sean, was the actual epicenter of this earthquake. I'm going to go back to that call. Donna, thank you for being so patient. Are you still with us?

Donna: I am, Brian. I am a big fan of yours. I listen all the time.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you so much. What can you report? How are you?

Donna: It was very frightening, extremely frightening. I thought trees were falling on the house. Then I kept looking out the window and running around. I don't know how long it lasted, but we've had many aftershocks. I had one big one and many small ones and nothing like the earthquake. According to the geological survey, we are right up the hill from the epicenter, which is on Old Turnpike Road and Hill and Dale Road, and we are just up the hill from there. I'm a Jersey girl, so I've never had that kind of-- I remember the one in like 2011, I was in an office building in New York, that was very shaky. The wine glass fell, things fell off my walls. Nothing like the other lady. My husband checked the perimeter, checked everything. It seems to be okay. It was frightening.

Brian Lehrer: You're reporting aftershocks though not as strong as the original quake.

Donna: No. They're sort of like boom, and then one was boom, boom. That was it. You know they're aftershocks. They have a certain sound. The initial, I thought it was a really big explosion or something. I didn't think earthquake, and I thought, maybe this is an earthquake, but afterwards, yes.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. I'm glad you're okay. Thank you very much for checking in with us from so close to the epicenter. Sean, that's interesting for people who have never really been in an earthquake you think the earth is going to shake, but you don't think it's going to sound like explosions. We've been getting so many people reporting that experience.

Sean Carlson: The thing that's really stuck out to me, both from talking to folks and then also just listening to your show, is how many people thought it was a truck going by outside their house. You have a big truck and it rattles and everything rattles for a couple of seconds. Then when it goes on for longer than a few seconds, it's, this is something that's clearly not just a 18-wheeler going by my apartment. Interesting experience and so widespread, too. Again, this is 50 miles west of New York City that we're talking about. Folks all over the immediate New York City area felt it. My family in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, right over the border there, they felt it. Just a big area here.

Brian Lehrer: On those trucks or the feeling that it was like a truck going by, somebody wrote, "Before I realized it was an earthquake, I thought it was an enormous truck rumbling down the street." Then this listener writes, "That says something about trucks in our environment and noise pollution." Routinely, trucks could be as loud as what was actually an earthquake in this case. I think we have Nancy now, right? WNYC's Nancy Solomon, who of course also hosts Ask Governor Murphy on the station once a month. Nancy, you with us?

Nancy Solomon: Yes, I am. Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: I heard you were being sent out to around the epicenter. Where are you?

Nancy Solomon: Yes, I'm in Lebanon Borough, which was the early reports put the epicenter here. I guess it's moved a little bit from here to Tewksbury, not too far away. I am currently in Lebanon. I went to town hall and spoke to the borough administrator, Karen Romano. She said there is no damage in town, but everybody got a very good scare. It was very scary. Their houses and the town hall building shook for 30 to 35 seconds. They're grateful. So far, no reports of gas lines broken, no water lines broken, and no serious damage to any of the very quaint, cute houses they have out here.

Brian Lehrer: What you're saying is very consistent with the calls we've been getting from right around there. People reporting some minor damage, like glass jars falling off shelves, things like that. The main thing they were reporting was how frightening it was when it was taking place because they really didn't know what was happening or how bad it could get.

Nancy Solomon: Yes. I'm not at all surprised by that because I was feeling it at home in Essex County, a good, what, 20 miles from here or so, 25 miles. It was scary. It was scary. The house was jiggling and shaking and you just didn't know whether the ceiling was going to come down on you or whether the floor was going to drop out. I looked out the window to see if maybe the house was sliding down the hill into my neighbor's yard because that's what it felt like.

Brian Lehrer: We're continuing to get reports from our listeners of how far and wide. Listener just texted, "Felt in Hillsdale, New York." That's up the Taconic lot of the way toward Albany. "Windows and house rattled, thought it was the gale force winds kicking up again at first." Oh yes, that storm that we had that felt so bad just in the last two days. "Dog Unfazed, LOL," writes that listener. Another one felt in Chicopee, Massachusetts. That's pretty far. Another one saying they felt it east of New Haven where they are in Connecticut. Being felt far and wide, to be sure. Nancy, a number of people are texting, where's Governor Murphy? Somebody writes, "I just saw Chris Christie on CNN, where's the actual Governor?"

Nancy Solomon: He is in state. I've heard a statement from him saying, I can't remember where I heard this, but that he had put out a statement saying, don't call 911 unless you have a real emergency. That the emergency services, the state FEMA, is on it and coordinating. I think maybe it's just taking some time to get him out into the media, but I think he is on the job.

Brian Lehrer: I'm being told now by my producer, Mary, that Governor Murphy is doing a series of individual media hits. He's been on apparently at least three different local television stations, but one at a time just not doing it in the same way that Governor Hochul did it, or Mayor Adams did it, holding a news conference for all the media to cover at once.

Nancy Solomon: Yes. I will point out that Karen Romano, the borough administrator for Lebanon, said that she was very grateful that they had state assistance immediately. That the state police checked in with them, and that water lines and gas lines are being checked. They felt like there was an immediate response from the state so far.

Brian Lehrer: Sean, anything you got for Nancy? You want to ask Nancy a question?

Sean Carlson: Actually, to what Nancy was saying in terms of damage out there, we can report now that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities says it's been in contact with the state's electric and gas distribution companies and the regional grid operator, that's PJM. They say no impact or damage to utility infrastructure on the grid resulting from the earthquake have been reported at this time. I am curious, Nancy, when you're out there, have you seen any damage at all, or is it just life as usual out there?

Nancy Solomon: I have not seen any damage. When I got inside, there's the the rescue, what is it, twelve o'clock? No, it's after 12:00. Anyway, the rescue siren is going off here in town. When I got into Borough Hall, I said, "Maybe there were more reporters here than Damage." Karen Romano said, "Exactly." There is a helicopter flying overhead. I ran into a couple of other reporters. When I saw live bodies out, I went up to interview them. They turned out to be reporters. This is definitely as significant of a scare as people got there doesn't seem to be much aftermath.

Sean Carlson: I should say, Brian, as well, one thing that we were poking around on, obviously something of great concern to a lot of people, the area's nuclear power plants seem to be unaffected as of yet. We're continuing to ask about that. I know folks were asking about the Indian Point Plant up in the Hudson Valley. We'll continue to ask about the state of those, but those seem to be okay at this point.

Brian Lehrer: Our listeners with senses of humor, just keep checking in with text messages. One writes, "Our new state slogan, New Jersey, you can shake us, but you can't rattle us." Another one in Manhattan writes, "Hi, I live in Lenox Hill on the Upper East side of Manhattan. My whole building was shaking, and my cat Tutti started freaking out." Now we know their cat's name. Probably named after a music designation in classical music.

"My cat, Tutti, T-U-T-T-I, started freaking out, and the mouse that is hiding in my rolled-up Moroccan rug came running out. I thought it was some messed up construction work or a bomb. I ran to the window to try to see what was going on. People in the street were looking around. It was very loud in my building from the 1920s, definitely affected." There's a listener with enough lack of shame to admit that they have a mouse at the moment. Nancy, I'm told that you were as a young reporter in the 1989 Earthquake in San Francisco, in the Bay Area. Is that right?

Nancy Solomon: Yes, exactly right. It was an amazing experience. I was on my way to Candlestick Park for the opening game of the World Series between the Oakland As and the San Francisco Giants. I was going as a reporter to cover the fans and provide color, not to cover the sports event per se. I was running late. The earthquake struck, it's 5:04, and I think the game was supposed to start at 5:05 or something like that, 5:10. I was on my way there. I was in the car, and my car started to roll to the point where I looked at the pavement in front of the car truly expecting to see that I had hit a road that had waves of bumps just like rolling waves because that's what my car was doing.

Of course, there were no bumps and then I saw kids running out of their houses and dropping to their knees and crossing themselves and praying and I thought, "Oh my god, it's an earthquake." Then I continued on to Candlestick Park and the place was just an amazing scene. From the top of Candlestick Park, you walk on the outside of it, so you could go all the way up to the top and you could see the smoke rising where the Bay Bridge had collapsed and you could see the smoke rising in the Marina District where they had had a lot of problems, a lot of houses had collapsed, there were a lot of fires. I worked all night that night. It was an incredible experience, and of course a horrible one in terms of all the damage to the city and to lives in the city.

Brian Lehrer: Obviously this was nothing like that.

Nancy Solomon: No, not at all, but you do have that-- there's that 30 seconds of terror of like, "Oh my God, what is happening?" You just don't know whether the house is falling down around your ears or what's about to happen. I will say, Brian, I was listening to the show when the guy called in who said that he and his dog looked at each other at the same time and I had that exact experience. I looked at my dog and my dog looked at me and we were both like, "Oh." It was really a funny little moment like, "What's going on here?"

Brian Lehrer: We need to invent an emoji for a dog saying WTF.

Nancy Solomon: You know the emoji where you put your hands, palms up above your shoulder like huh?

Brian Lehrer: Like, huh. Yes.

Nancy Solomon: It was that like.

Brian Lehrer: That earthquake happened at 10:23 in the morning. Another listener writes, "Was laying in bed listening to you when the earthquake hit. My platform bed's framing is attached to three walls. Knew it must be something. Not no truck rumbling." Then this listener writes, "Know your show is impactful, Brian, but what the heck." There we go. Nancy we're going to let you go in a minute and we're going to talk to a seismologist next about some of the science of this and what if anything to expect next. They have been warning that aftershocks are still possible, but do you think there's any policy implication from this event regarding infrastructure in New Jersey or anywhere else in the region that flows from it, or assuming there is no major damage, do people kind of shrug and go on?

Nancy Solomon: That's a hard one, Brian. I'm not sure. I thought it was interesting the geologist from Rutgers talking about how rare this is. Because it's so rare, we have a lot of aging infrastructure that hasn't been tested. I don't mean tested for safety so much as like we haven't had events where the weak segments of the infrastructure have now collapsed on us or have been at least shown to hold up to an earthquake. I think there probably will be some fallout in terms of looking at how safe are the things that are the most important to be safe like the Holland Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge. It really was a magnitude of earthquake that wasn't going to test our infrastructure to its fullest. It'll be interesting to see if now there's a sense of like, "Oh, we better go out and check all this stuff and know what magnitude of earthquake we can withstand."

Brian Lehrer: WNYC's Nancy Solomon dispatched to the epicenter around Lebanon and Tewksbury Township, New Jersey. Nancy, thanks a lot.

Nancy Solomon: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Sean Carson and I. I keep saying Carson. I know you for years now and I know it's Carlson.

Sean Carlson: It's a stressful day, Brian, I get it.

Brian Lehrer: That L just doesn't want to jump. Sean Carlson and I will continue in a minute with our coverage. Sean, if you can get an update on the status of the airports that would be great. We knew there was a ground stop imposed at Newark that was supposed to last until 12:30. It would be interesting to find out if you and y'all in the newsroom can find out if that has, in fact, been lifted. We had had that conflicting information earlier as you reported regarding Kennedy and LaGuardia whether they were going or being halted for inspections at the moment.

It'd be great to get an update on the airports since that seems to be the only part of the infrastructure, the transportation infrastructure, that's actually being affected right now. We are going to talk to a seismologist, Sean and I, and maybe take more of your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage on WNYC of the earthquake that hit the New York City metropolitan area and beyond. This morning Sean Carlson from the WNYC newsroom is with me. Listeners, we're going to continue this coverage until two o'clock. I had said one o'clock, but we're going to go for another hour. There's a lot to say, there are a lot of people who want to talk. People are calling in with their reports, there's a lot of information we can pass along to you. We're on the alert for aftershocks as well, so we're going to stay with you until two o'clock this afternoon. It was going to be a pre-recorded edition of All Of It anyway today, so under the circumstances, we're going to stay with you live instead until two o'clock. Sean, you got some stuff, right?

Sean Carlson: Yes, so we have reporters who are out in the field who are out there trying to get as much information as they can so that we can report it to you on everything that is important, the things that we should be on top of. We were talking about airports. At 11:40, we heard Governor Hochul actually on our air talk about the state of the airports. JFK and Newark bBoth had full ground stops in effect, but those begin to lift by 12:30. Right now what we have is a Port Authority spokesperson says they'll be setting up more details shortly, so we will have information on that soon and we'll be sure to tell folks when we know about that.

Some of our reporters are in the field just talking to folks and getting their experiences of as this happened. Wahed Karimi is a cart vendor at Foley Square in Manhattan. He says this was the first time he's ever felt an earthquake.

Wahed Karimi: In the beginning, I thought maybe is it a train, but it was a little longer than normal. I said it's an earthquake. People keep coming and say, "You feel that earthquake?" I say, "Yes, I did."

Sean Carlson: There's one reaction there. We also talked to Kate Ferrell who's 25, lives in Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn. She feels and hears things like the neighbors walking upstairs in the rumble, the subway all the time, like we all do, but then she walked into her living room right when the tremor began and felt something a little different.

Kate Farrell: I was confused and when it went on longer than three seconds, I was like, "Oh, that's definitely not Crown Fried Chicken doing construction."

Sean Carlson: A lot of that, things that we've been hearing from the callers on the air about when it happened and thinking that it's just things that we experience every day in our lives. Of course, earthquakes in our area not really being one of them, so of course people assume it's a truck or it's some other loud thing happening outside. Again, preliminarily right now 4.8 magnitude earthquake, the epicenter northwestern New Jersey, preliminarily the epicenter locations near Tewksbury Township that's about 50 miles west of Manhattan.

Brian Lehrer: You want to hear a conspiracy theory?

Sean Carlson: Of course.

Brian Lehrer: Listener texts, "You know what's in Lebanon, New Jersey? Trump Golf Course."

Sean Carlson: How interesting.

Brian Lehrer: Joining us now Dr. Antonios Marsellos, geologist at Hofstra University. Dr. Marsellos thank you very much for giving us some time today. Hi. Do we have Dr. Marsellos?

Dr. Antonios Marsellos: Yes, can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: There he is. Now we have you. I apologize for whatever that technical snafu was. Hi, there. Thank you for joining us on WNYC.

Dr. Antonios Marsellos: Thank you for inviting me.

Brian Lehrer: What just happened here?

Dr. Antonios Marsellos: Something that is going to be a great story for our kids. Very uncommon, very rare. I have to say also that an aftershock also happened at 2.0 for magnitude Richter at a little deeper just about 7 to 8 kilometers depth at the same region of the same fold. This is something very rare. 4.8 I said that to my wife and to my friends, we will describe this story to our kids. It's something that doesn't happen very often.

We are at a passive margin not where is California, not where is Japan or Taiwan, where is the remote fire, where all the plates are getting distracted. New York is in a place where a plate is not getting distracted. It just moves and as it moves, it's getting a little bump from adjacent regions. That's about it. It's a very rare phenomenon.

Brian Lehrer: You know what a lot of our listeners must be thinking right now, Dr. Marsellos? If it happened once, why can't it happen again? Or so much changes on planet Earth and under planet Earth. We know that we have all these weather events that we didn't used to have because of climate change. If it happened this time, why not think that it might happen, and maybe even worse, another time?

Antonios Marsellos: That is true. Well, the frequency of those earthquakes, they didn't say that it's not going to happen again. It will happen and even greater than 4.8. I doubt that it will happen in our lifetime, greater than 4.8. The last earthquake was 1.7 a few months ago, and back in 2011, 2013, we had also another one. It's something that we're not expecting greater than 5.0, but when it happens, and I'm talking about New York City, to be affected.

In places like in Upstate New York that we had other situations, we had some earthquakes. It's not something that we see very often. Plate tectonics doesn't work in Atlantic Ocean, basically close to the northeastern United States as it is in California. The ring of fire is showing evidence of destruction of the Pacific Ocean, which means that it has to be smaller, and it has to destruct, recycle, let's say, the plates. In the Atlantic Ocean, we are having the opposite situation, where the ocean gets bigger.

When it gets bigger and there's no obstacle to bump, we don't see lots of earthquakes as we see in California or in Japan. The strain accumulation, as we can call it here, is at a very minimum pace. 4.8 from the same fault, again, it needs some extra time to accumulate.

Sean Carlson: Doctor, a question that I have, this is Sean Carlson, in hearing about the relative lack of damage, both to buildings and infrastructure, compared to a place like Tokyo, or anywhere that sees more earthquakes. I know even in Istanbul, it was a big deal in their mayoral election this year, the response to the big earthquake that happened in Turkey, and how prepared they were for that. Are our buildings prepared for that? Are they fit to be able to withstand an earthquake that's bigger than a 4.8?

Antonios Marsellos: I live in White, New York, and the house that I live in is not what I used to live in Greece. I was raised in Greece, and I have experienced a 5.1, a 6.9, a 6.1. I do remember all those, and the infrastructure is completely different. The foundations and the budget that requires each house to be built is completely different in New York from seismic active areas. We do not expect surface deformation of that magnitude, and of those causes like earthquakes.

We may experience a house that sometimes tries to settle down, and we see little joints on the walls, but that's about it. We're not going to feel the tremor that we felt today. I have also a joint in my second-floor room, almost a fracture of, it should be about two millimeters of opening, and I wasn't expecting that in New York. The infrastructure for a 4.8, I think, has held it really well. I've seen 5.0 Richter scale effects in Greece, and I've seen houses getting more damages, which I was surprised, to be honest. The sound and the tremor, I think, was really strong, and many people have also felt it.

Brian Lehrer: Were you at your home in Whitestone in Queens, or were you out at Hofstra on the campus?

Antonios Marsellos: I was working from home this morning, and I felt it, and after the third second, at the beginning, I thought it was a truck, but after the third second, I said, wow, that's amazing, a New York earthquake. I knew it, that it's going to be a unique day. I'm sorry that I speak with an amazing feeling. It's just my science, and it's very unique to experience such a thing at a passive margin. It doesn't happen many times, and if it happens, the damages are very, very limited.

It's not like a California event, or Japan, or Taiwan. From what I have heard, we haven't heard any significant, like buildings collapsing, or strong accidents on the roads that I have seen in other earthquakes. I have driven with a 6.9 earthquake, and I have changed two lanes in the highway, and I was so lucky that I didn't get injured. I'm very glad that it was a 4.8 and not bigger. I'm saying not bigger because, yes, it may happen bigger, but I doubt it will happen in the next couple of years. It's a very rare event, very rare.

Brian Lehrer: Dr. Antonios Marsellos, a geologist at Hofstra University, who studies earthquakes and floods. Thank you very much for your insight, and pretty reassuring insight. We appreciate it. Brian Lehrer with Sean Carlson on WNYC. Our live coverage continues. This is special coverage on WNYC of the earthquake, 4.8 magnitude, that hit New York City in a wide area, east and west and north and south of the city. The epicenter was in Lebanon, or Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, right around there, about 50 miles west of the city.

No major damages being reported. Mayor Adams said he didn't feel the quake himself. Chancellor Banks from the New York City school system said he didn't feel the quake himself, though other people in the room that he was in did feel the quake. As the AP reminds us, speaking at a noon news conference, Mayor Adams reiterated that there had been no reports of major impacts to infrastructure or injuries. Jack Iscol, Adams' emergency management commissioner, said the likelihood of aftershocks remains low, but urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant.

As far as how it's impacting East Coast travel, the AP reports that it slowed travel along the East Coast with some flights diverted and traffic on roads and rails snarled for runway, bridge, and tunnel inspections. Flights to Newark, New York, and Baltimore were held at their origins for a time, while officials inspected runways for cracks. At least five flights en route to Newark were diverted and landed at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

New Jersey's transit commuter rail service, that is NJ Transit Service, the commuter rail, of course, reported delays of up to 20 minutes because of bridge inspections. Traffic in and out of the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan was stopped for about 10 minutes, only about 10 minutes for inspections, and we know that has resumed. New York City's transit agency reported initial inspections showing no infrastructure damage. On first blush, Sean, and Sean Carlson remains with us, we dodged a bullet here?

Sean Carlson: Yes, sure sounds like it. We should say, though, and this is important public service information that ConEd is saying, there is a potential for gas leaks. If you do smell gas, ConEd is saying you should call 911 or 1-800-75-CONED. They are saying, again, that there are no impacts on energy infrastructure. As we've been saying, too, we've been checking up with the region's nuclear power plants. Everything seems to be okay in that department as well.

Again, we do have WNYC reporters asking all these questions, getting in touch with the right people, and we'll continue to give you the information as we get it throughout the afternoon into this evening.

Brian Lehrer: Since you brought up ConEd, I'll note that a number of people have called in or texted asking about Indian Point. We did see a ConEd official at the news conference with the mayor. He didn't refer to Indian Point, specifically the nuclear power plant upriver from the city that I heard, but he did say all the power utility infrastructure seems basically undamaged as far as they could tell. Sean, that's a really important point to check your building, check your house, check your local infrastructure because gas leaks are possible if things get shaken up a bit. Is anybody saying that you've got yet on how to do that?

Sean Carlson: No. As far as I know, it's always the smell test. If you smell it, you should call that in. What they did say in that press conference again just call 911 or call ConEd directly. The DOB Commissioner Jimmy Otto, he said that they are being diligent about making sure that all of the 1.1 million buildings in the city will be checked out in some fashion, of course, making sure that they're all okay. He did say that he needs the cooperation of construction professionals. He didn't necessarily elaborate on that, but that was something that he was calling for in that press conference around noon today.

Brian Lehrer: Our housing reporter, David Brand joins us now. I see David. Hi. You've been watching Governor Murphy make a few rounds on local TV stations, and you've also been in touch with the New York City Buildings Commissioner. What can you report?

David Brand: I was listening in on Murphy on CBS and ABC earlier. He's actually out of state now. He's said, "It's so far so good that more than two hours into this, there's no reports of major damage and so far no reports of injuries." Seems like you had said Dodge the bullet. I think we're all thinking that now.

Brian Lehrer: The buildings commissioner for the city.

David Brand: Yes, the city's buildings department is saying no reports of major damages either. To continue on what we were saying, New York City infrastructure seems okay right now.

Brian Lehrer: We're going to talk to Janno Lieber, the chair of the MTA in five minutes. Let's take another phone call from somebody near the epicenter. Here's Matthew calling in from Huntington County. Matthew, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Matthew: Hi, Brian. It was a really interesting experience. I just happened to be working from home today. I live and work in northwestern, New Jersey. I was actually on the phone with a colleague at the time who was probably maybe about 30 miles from the epicenter because he is up in Northern Warren County. Both of us we quickly realized we were both experiencing the exact same thing and then it had to be an earthquake, which was a surreal experience. The house definitely shook pretty violently, pretty rapidly. Things on the shelves were rattling which was an interesting experience.

I remember the earthquake in 2011, I was actually at a meeting at Rutgers University at the time, and I was probably on the sixth or seventh building. That was just a gentle swaying. You heard absolutely nothing, whereas this, you could actually hear the shaking. We all looked around at each other because it felt like being on a boat and we all were looking at each other wondering if we were imagining it or if everyone was feeling it. It's my second earthquake and much different experience.

Brian Lehrer: Sounds like more intense this time, but I'm glad you're okay, and sounds like nothing major. Thank you very much. Here's another example of how far and wide this seems to have been felt. We're getting a call from Michael in Elizabethtown, New York. Michael, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Michael: Hello. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. I should tell people, I know that area and I should say that you are all the way up in the Adirondack. You are near Lake Champlain across from Vermont all the way up there, right?

Michael: Yes. Elizabethtown is the county seat of Essex County, New York. Probably the most famous town there is Lake Placid. All I want to say is that I heard a loud thump at the time that turned out to be the earthquake, but what really was the snow dislodging from our roof? Since then, I've heard other people in this area that did feel it. Also, I've heard reports from Northern Vermont and from Central New York.

Brian Lehrer: Wow.

Michael: It spread wide.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for reporting in from Elizabethtown. I think Michelle in the East Village is going to have a little complaint about how the city is handling part of this. Michelle, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Michelle: Hello, Brian. Yes, it's a funny little story. At 11 o'clock, the city sent out their emergency notice via text when all our phones started screaming. It said, "Stay in your house or where you live. Stay inside." I was already outside getting ready to get into my car parking and so people mingling on the street, we all went inside. I just took my dog out a half an hour ago. The whole street got tickets.

Brian Lehrer: No. Oh.

Sean Carlson: Wow.

Michelle: [unintelligible 01:06:00] we parked all of our cars.

Brian Lehrer: This is alternate side of the street parking, right?

Michelle: Yes, yes. Nobody stayed in their car or for the people, but this was at 11 o'clock. I just happened to be out at 11:00. You get a five-minute grace period. The people who were out went back inside to their apartments and there were other people who didn't even come out. Like I said, I had to take my dog out about an hour ago and everyone had a ticket. I would say if you got a ticket to plead not guilty.

Brian Lehrer: I think so.

Sean Carlson: There's a conspiracy theory for you.

Brian Lehrer: Guilty with an explanation. Michelle, thank you very much. How about that?

Sean Carlson: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Right? It's going to be a time suck for those people. It's the problem to fight your parking ticket, but it is funny. The city sends an emergency alert telling everybody to stay indoors while the NYPD is ticketing your car for staying indoors and not moving during the alternate side period.

Sean Carlson: These are the kinds of things because we don't get earthquakes here that often, finding those local stories and those local twists on this strange day we've had so far. It's so fascinating to hear just because we're not equipped to deal with this kind of thing because how often do we get an earthquake here in New York City or New Jersey or apparently in Vermont and Central New York apparently? My cousin in Boston texted and she felt it up there too, so.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Oh, even in Boston, huh?

Sean Carlson: Apparently so.

Brian Lehrer: How about that? All right, let's take a quick break. We'll come back and continue our coverage until two o'clock. We'll take more of your phone calls. We're definitely looking for anybody who has anything unusual to report. We know so many people in our area felt some shaking for up to about 30, 35 seconds at 10:23 this morning. If there was any more damage to anything around you than the usual, you can report it because the damage that's been reported has been next to nothing actually, or if you have any concerns and questions, we will have various people on between now and two o'clock who might be able to answer your questions.

212433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. We're expecting Janno Lieber, the head of the MTA. Certainly, we're all concerned about transportation infrastructure after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake. Continue with Janno Lieber, my partner, Sean Carlson during this whole rest of this hour and more of your calls and texts. Stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage on WNYC, the earthquake that hit New York City and vicinity, and by vicinity, we mean a really big vicinity. We know into Pennsylvania up to the Adirondacks, out apparently to Boston. We heard from a listener in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Somebody else told us they were told that it was felt also in Boston. No major reports of damage, thank goodness.

Sean Carlson and all things considered host along with me for the rest of this hour. Also joining us now for about five minutes is the chair of the MTA Janno Lieber. Mr. Lieber, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. For our listeners, we know it's an extremely busy time for you right now.

Janno Lieber: Yes, thanks. Good to be with you, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Anything to report other than no damage?

Janno Lieber: No. Actually, I just got off the train myself coming from that press conference with the mayor in Brooklyn and service has been running throughout the incident. Obviously, within five minutes of the event, we were checking the MTA bridge and tunnels, the triborough, the RSK, the battery tunnel, and so on, and so far, literally no evidence of damage at all, and the system is operating fully.

Brian Lehrer: How do we know this quickly that there's no damage to, let's say, some of the elevated subway line infrastructure?

Janno Lieber: The first thing is we check obviously the tunnels and the bridges. They are designed to withstand much greater seismic events than took place today. That's one thing I want to reassure the public about. We have a large workforce of folks who routinely walk the tunnels and the tracks and do inspections, so that is routine. That has been accelerated today to make sure that we're checking.

I spoke at length to the buildings commissioner at the press conference the Mayor held, and he reported no activity whatsoever, no damage whatsoever in New York City buildings so far. That's consistent with what we're seeing throughout the system. Obviously, we established our communications and emergency protocol where we have an open line and we are instructing all of our operating personnel who are out there to report any abnormalities at all. So far, the response has been zero. We're pretty optimistic about what we're seeing and the evidence so far.

Sean Carlson: Mr. Lieber, this is Sean Carlson. I was curious about what you said, both in that press conference and just now, in that these bridges and tunnels are built to withstand much stronger earthquakes than a 4.8 magnitude.

Janno Lieber: Yes.

Sean Carlson: How do we even test for something like that? Is that something that we know how strong an earthquake it could handle?

Janno Lieber: Sure. Listen, this is very specific in the engineering world that they're designed for certain kinds of events. With all due respect, Sean, I'm not going to talk about it as the specifics, but modern bridges and tunnels are designed for much, much greater seismic events that took place today. Of course, we were 50 miles east of the center of activity. The seismic level diminishes significantly and that's why you're seeing the reports that the damage so far has been minimal to non-existent. We design these things to withstand much, much greater events. That is very standard in the engineering profession for major destruction.

Brian Lehrer: Chairman Lieber, we have a listener who called in saying he's a consulting engineer, and that after listening to you and to Governor Hochul, that he noticed that he didn't hear anything about inspections on the East River tunnels, Long Island Railroad, and Amtrak in particular, and the Hudson River tunnels going into Penn Station, noting that those are controlled by Amtrak, not by the MTA. Do you have any report from them?

Janno Lieber: No. Our team has been in touch with them, and I'm certain that I would've heard reports if there were any impacts. Let me reassure your listeners that we have inspected Long Island Railroad facilities, and as you described, the East River tunnels, which is the Midtown Tunnel and the Hugh Carey Battery Tunnel. Those have been part of that initial inspection that I referred to earlier, but where there are elements of infrastructure that are controlled by other agencies, we coordinate with them, but we do rely on their expertise, and the feedback so far has been positive.

Brian Lehrer: I know you're making the rounds and you're giving us five minutes, which means we have about a minute left. We know you're going to go on to brief other people. We totally get that. Just tell us what, if anything happens next from your end with the MTA given the possibility of aftershocks.

Janno Lieber: Listen, so far the seismic professionals, the geological professionals have indicated that the probability of aftershocks is minimal, but we, as part of this inspection, we're looking for any weaknesses in the system that could be subject to aftershocks. That is routinely part of this inspection process, and we're going to continue and execute fully on it.

Brian Lehrer: Chairman of the MTA, Janno Lieber, thanks for a few minutes today. We really appreciate it.

Janno Lieber: You bet, Brian. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Well, all very reassuring, Sean. I hope he turns out to be right, but he sounds very confident that business as usual on the buses and the trains, and the bridges, which the MTA also controls.

Sean Carlson: Yes. Again, my biggest concern getting into the station today when this happened and said, "Oh no, I have to be on the air very quickly," was the Holland Tunnel, which did shut down, but as we've been saying, very briefly, 15 minutes and it was back up and running again and I had no problems getting through. Maybe a little bit more congestion than there would be at that time of day, but other than that, that was the biggest disruption to my schedule personally today.

Brian Lehrer: When Chairman Lieber was ready, we interrupted our housing reporter, David Brand, who we were talking to. Let's bring David back on with us. David, are you still there?

David Brand: I'm still here.

Brian Lehrer: We got through a few tidbits with you, particularly, I think regarding Governor Murphy in New Jersey, but for you as a housing reporter, you were also in touch with the New York City Buildings Commissioner and you were starting to talk about that. What kind of a day did they have ahead of them with building infrastructure in New York being so variable? I don't have to tell you so many really old buildings, as well as a lot more modern buildings. Different kinds of buildings from different areas might have different strengths and weaknesses in an event like this.

David Brand: I think it's going to be an all-hands-on-deck day for the department and I think that doesn't just include people working for the city. I think it's going to include anyone doing projects anywhere in New York City. The Department of Buildings just put out some new guidance just a couple of moments ago that they are urging all contractors to inspect their work sites for any potential damage or unsafe conditions and to report any issues immediately to the Department of Buildings.

Built that includes construction sites, cranes, suspended and supported scaffolding, hoists, any other building of pertinence is how they put it, that may have come loose as a result of the earthquake. I guess that's something to consider too. We've seen in the past those cranes that are hanging off buildings and stuff like that. I think that's something that DOB is taking really seriously right now to make sure everything is secured on construction sites.

Brian Lehrer: We may be learning how 4.8 might sound scary to people who've never been in an earthquake even that big before, because when we get them in this area, maybe it's a one, maybe it's a two, but when we hear about big earthquakes like the big California ones or Japan or elsewhere in the world, they tend to be seven and above.

Those ones that make news far and wide. Even 4.8 does not seem to have caused much damage around here at all. I just hope that that continues to be the case. There just seems to have been so much quick work inspecting things, but you can't do a very deep inspection of things in this short of time.

David Brand: I was talking to a building engineer earlier and he said he was looking out his window and he saw construction crews up on like the 10th floor continuing to work through the earthquake. He wasn't even sure they felt it, but he was saying that these kinds of vibrations will often cause us to take a look at our own building conditions.

You look around your house, you look around your apartment, and maybe you notice cracks that you never thought of before. You can compare those to earlier pictures and stuff he said, to see if that's new or not. City agencies, inspectors, engineers are just encouraging anyone, if they have concerns about stuff like that, to contact 311.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Sean, do you have anything else for David?

Sean Carlson: This is unrelated to David's reporting, but just in talking about the actual quake, I am fascinated with the idea that we don't use the Richter scale anymore. I feel like our editor-in-chief, and I'm going to add her here, she's from San Francisco and of course, is well-read into this issue [laughs] and of course, knew that we don't use Richter scale anymore, but us on the East Coast here, we so rarely talk about these things.

I'm learning so much today about how an earthquake even works and how we grade these things. The idea that it's a logarithmic calculation. It's not just a straight. If you go from 4.8 to 5.0, it's not just a 0.2 whatever increase. I'm learning a lot today, as I think we all are throughout this process.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely. I got corrected on the air earlier by a seismologist guest when I was saying Richter scale when this first happened, and he said, no, no, those numbers sound like Richter scale numbers, but we don't call it the Richter scale anymore, but we are saying 4.7, 4.8 magnitude. David, what were you saying?

David Brand: I would just say we're used to talking about the Mike Richter scale, I guess, and that's Rangers playoff success in the early, mid-'90s.

Brian Lehrer: Somebody just texted, hope 4.7 was enough to shake up the Mets to start the wind. Oh, geez.

David Brand: I think we all hope that, all the Mets fans in the building here.

Brian Lehrer: David, thank you very much.

David Brand: Thanks a lot, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Just by way of comparison, here's a USA Today story from today about the massive earthquake in Taiwan this week, which killed nine people and injured over a thousand. That was Wednesday. This says, rescuers in Taiwan, we're combing through the rebel today to find scores of people missing or trapped while experts say a slew of aftershocks could make the search and rescue even more dangerous. Well, that was a 7.2 magnitude. Just over that number seven, which our earlier seismologists guest told us, is where death starts to become much more likely.

7.2 and at least nine people killed. It sounds like a lot of people still missing in Taiwan, but I think Sean, that goes to the point that you were just making about the math of earthquake magnitudes. It's not out of 10, like 4.7 out of 10 versus 7 out of 10, it's logarithmic, so it's a multiple each time. It's that many times four in order to get to seven and that's why there's that big a difference in effect.

Sean Carlson: Yes, we will continue to update folks as we get more information. For the past hour or two, it looks like 4.88 is again, preliminarily what we're saying this was, but that is subject to change, and if it does, we'll be sure to let you know. As we've been saying to that epicenter, the preliminary epicenter location is near Tewksbury Township, that's about 50 miles west of Manhattan.

As I have been saying here over the past hour or so, we have a lot of WYC reporters out in the field. Also, in-house here, you just heard from David Brand. We're going to continue to get all of the information that we need and we'll give it to you throughout the afternoon. Then of course, we'll have more all things considered at four o'clock this afternoon and we'll break it down even more. How we move forward here from this is just a very interesting day, let's call it.

Brian Lehrer: With us right now, is Benjamin Fernando, a seismologist at Johns Hopkins University, a postdoc fellow in planetary sciences. I am told Professor Fernando Benjamin, welcome to WNYC. Thank you for coming on.

Professor Fernando Benjamin: Thank you for having me.

Brian Lehrer: How do those things relate? When people hear planetary sciences, they may think, "Oh, this is the guy who's going to talk about the eclipse coming on Monday," but then I see you also tagged as a seismologist. Talk about your field. Give our listeners a little bit of a day 1, 101.

Professor Fernando Benjamin: Yes, sorry for any confusion. I actually work on earthquakes from other planets, hence the sort of planetary link and the seismology link, but today, I guess I'm here to talk to you about this magnitude 4.8 event, which seems to have occurred in New Jersey this morning, which is obviously something that people all around the region Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have felt and appears to be one of the largest earthquakes in that particular area, perhaps in the last few years.

Brian Lehrer: What would cause an earthquake this big if it's so rare for it to happen in our area?

Professor Fernando Benjamin: Earthquakes happen on what we call faults, which are basically fractures in rocks where there are stresses that occasionally give way and those explosive releases of energy are what we call earthquakes. Most people probably think of the faults like the San Andreas fault running through California, but there are also faults running through Appalachia all across the Northeast. Some of those are associated with ancient mountain-building events. Some of them are associated with the formation and opening of the Atlantic Ocean and most of them are quite quiet.

They're a lot quieter in the faults you might get in the Pacific Northwest or Alaska or California, but occasionally, they do give way in such a manner to cause an earthquake of this intermediate size, so somewhere between say magnitude 4 or magnitude 5. And that appears to have been what's happened this morning in Central New Jersey.

Sean Carlson: Professor, may I ask, this is Sean Carlson. We hear a lot about New York City being on bedrock. That's something that I grew up hearing all of the time. Does that mean that we are relatively safe from this kind of thing?

Professor Fernando Benjamin: In some ways, yes. One of the advantages of being on bedrock is you tend to get less shaking for the same-sized earthquake. If you imagine the amount that your house, your building shakes when you have an earthquake is dependent on lots of things. One of those is the magnitude of the earthquake, how much energy is released. Another thing is how far away from it you are.

The third thing has a really big influence is local geology. Being on bedrock is great because it tends to minimize the amount of shaking you get. If you're somewhere like the San Francisco Bay Area or LA Basin where there's lots of sediments, in certain areas, you can get really strong shaking associated with those sediments and that can cause much bigger amplitudes, which are much more destructive.

Lots of New Yorker is built on bedrock, which is great. For example, lots of Long Island isn't, so you might have experienced greater shaking there even though you were slightly further away than you'd have been in say, Central Manhattan.

Brian Lehrer: Let me put a caller on with you, Benjamin, who has a question that you might be able to answer, it's Cliff on Staten Island. Hi Cliff, you're on WNYC.

Cliff: Hi, Brian. Longtime fan and listener.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Cliff: The question is, well, first of all, a background in '77 to '78 on the South Shore, Staten Island, I experienced a minor quake. It was attributed to, I believe a Ramapo Fault in New Jersey. I was wondering what fault this quake emanated from. If it was the same one and what are the other major faults around here?

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin?

Professor Fernando Benjamin: Really great question. You are very correct that the Ramapo Fault does run through Central New Jersey and it's possible that this quake originated on that fault because it seems to have come from a similar area, but we're not 100% sure yet because we're only two and a half, three hours post the event. To be absolutely sure, we need to really undertake a bit more of a detailed analysis.

If you imagine this quake was about five kilometers below the surface, so that's what, three miles, trying to understand exactly what we see on the surface, the expression of that fault on the surface corresponds to what's deep underground is really tough and that will take a little bit of time, but the Ramapo Fault is really interesting. That's what we call a Precambrian fault. It's about 700 million years old and it's been reactivated a few times in that intervening time and it runs all the way down towards the Maryland area.

This particular earthquake does appear to have originated in that location. You're quite right. It's possible that it's associated with the same fault that you might have experienced an earthquake with, I guess nearly 50 years ago, which is a great record to have that continuity, but we are not 100% sure yet, and it's just a preliminary finding.

Brian Lehrer: Cliff, thank you very much for your call. Did you say Cheesequake, New Jersey?

Cliff: Brian, yes. My other question was does anyone, your guest, or anyone else know the significance of the name of the town Cheesequake in New Jersey?

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] That's a really great question.

Sean Carlson: Good question.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe Nancy Solomon, who I think is going to rejoin us in a few knows the answer to that. Maybe it was named after a Hogie gun bad rather than anything having to do with tectonic plates. I don't know.

Sean Carlson: Sure, it makes sense. Plausible.

Brian Lehrer: We know it's a rest stop, so a lot of people see it as they drive along. Cliff, thank you very much for your call. Benjamin, seriously, these particular tectonic plates that are responsible for the earthquake, they'd also be responsible for some of the land formations and geological features of the area. I'm curious where we can see evidence of those tectonic plates existing at rest in our region if there's anything like that that we would even be able to see once we become sensitized to it.

Professor Fernando Benjamin: Yes. The entirety of this part of the US is all sitting on one tectonic plate. That's the North American plate. This particular part of the North American plate that we're sitting on in this part of the country is very old. Certain parts of it are up to hundreds of millions of years old or perhaps even older than that. If you want to see some of the tectonic forces that have shaped the landscape, you don't need to go very far from New York. You can see it all across the state, the Appalachian Mountain range, for example.

In New York City as well, you see some of this geology is associated with similar kinds of geologic processes to perhaps one of these faults that's been active this morning in New Jersey. That geology, you might not think of it, but even in say, Central Park, there's geology that directly corresponds to these parts of the tectonic plate. Hopefully, people are going up into strawberry fields this afternoon to take a look at some of the rock exposures there that is directly related to what we're talking about today.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. Sean, you have another question?

Sean Carlson: Professor, this is unrelated to today's earthquake, but because we have you and you said that you study earthquakes on other planets, I am very curious about how earthquakes here compare to ones on other planets. Are they similar in size or scale?

Professor Fernando Benjamin: No. The Earth is by far the most seismically active planet or indeed body if we include moon in our solar system. The dominant reason for that is that Earth still has active global plate tectonics. What that means is you've got new crust forming as it's happening quite far off the Atlantic Coast on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that runs through Iceland, you've got new crust being born, and like you have in California and the Pacific Northwest and Alaska you've got old crust being subducted down and disappearing into the Earth's interior.

There's nowhere else we know in the entire universe yet where that is happening as well. Those processes give rise to much, much stronger earthquakes than we've seen anywhere else. On the moon and Mars, the biggest quakes we've seen are no larger than about magnitude five or so. As you mentioned on your show earlier it's a logarithmic scale.

The biggest quakes we get on Earth are upwards of a magnitude now at nine, that's thousands of times more energy, more seismic energy being released in the biggest quakes on Earth as compared to the biggest quakes on Mars or the moon. Today's quake if it happened on Mars for example, that would've been seriously big news. It would've been probably the largest event we've ever seen there. Whereas, similarly in New York it was big but if it happened in California it would've probably gone pretty much unnoticed.

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin a listener asks in a text message, does all the rain and heavy weather wind we've been having in the last month play any role in the earthquake in Lebanon, New Jersey potentially?

Professor Benjamin Fernando: Lots of people have thought about whether weather or climate cycles might influence earthquake activity. The current consensus is that there's no direct impact between whether it's been raining a lot and whether there are earthquakes, because this earthquake happened nearly three miles underground and that rainwater really has no effect down there.

The rain obviously can have other effects if you have-- this didn't happen today, but in some areas, if you have really foggy wet ground that's not very strong, you can get more for example landslides occurring after an earthquake in wet ground. That's not really relevant to today's quake which hasn't been affected at all by the weather, and none of the consequences after that quake have been associated by the current adverse weather we've had either.

Sean Carlson: A question that's coming up from our newsroom here and folks at WNYC that is being asked. How large would an earthquake have to be to generate a tsunami on the East Coast?

Benjamin Fernando: The generation of earth of tsunamis by earthquakes is a complicated process, but it most commonly happens at subduction zones which happen offshore. Places Japan in 2011, Indonesia in 2004, and there you have a really substantial movement of the ground which displaces a huge amount of water and that water forms the wave which propagates, and as it gets closer to the coast it gets higher and higher and eventually breaks and causes all sorts of devastation.

You can get tsunamis from relatively small earthquakes. It doesn't need to be magnitude nine to give you that, but crucially it has to happen out at sea and this quake was a really long way inland. There's no tsunami risk at all associated with this quake, people don't need to worry about that at all.

Brian Lehrer: Well, is this really the biggest earthquake ever recorded in our area? Somebody said earlier that they think that it is and yet, I don't know how far records go back.

Professor Benjamin Fernando: Yes, so I think this is the largest earthquake that's happened in this particular part of New Jersey in quite some time. There was a larger earthquake that for example, happened in Virginia in 2011. Obviously, there are bigger earthquakes that happen in other parts of the country all the time, but it does seem like this is one of the largest earthquakes to happen on the regions associated or nearby to this particular fault in quite some time.

Brian Lehrer: Let me take one more listener question for you. Here's Marissa in the West Village in Manhattan. You're on WNYC with seismologist Benjamin Fernando. Hi, Marissa.

Marissa: Oh, thank you so much. I just wanted to mention because no one has said anything, but I felt something earlier than 10:20. I'm on the top floor and it's a walkup in an old pre-war building and I felt something in, it was quite shaky. I was about to call the president of my board. Then at 10:20, of course, I felt it was very intense and rattling.

I thought something was going to explode in my kitchen, and that's when I became really frightened. I didn't realize it was a quake. I thought it was work being done in the neighborhood because we have a lot of renovation in our neighborhood. I just wanted to point that out. No one has said that they felt anything earlier.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, except one person who said that his dog started barking as if something was happening about 5 to 10 seconds before the humans felt the earthquake and thought maybe the dog was a little more sensitive to it than people and that's a possibility. Benjamin, the idea that Marissa is raising here is that there are only aftershocks after a quake. There might be something like pre-shocks that are smaller than whatever the main quake is, that then comes. Is that a thing?

Professor Benjamin Fernando: Absolutely. Sometimes we get precursor events in the same way that we get aftershocks. Those when they do occur and have not seen a report of one happening for this event, tend to be smaller events that occur in the hours or days preceding the larger event. They're very similar to the aftershocks except they happen beforehand. It's certainly possible there were pres-shocks or indeed aftershocks from this quake or there might be in the future.

I haven't seen those reports yet, but if anyone did feel ground shaking I'd encourage them to go on the US Geological Survey website and log the shaking that they felt so that data can be used to help us study this quake and indeed other quakes that might occur in the area.

Sean Carlson: That brings the question too, basic question, but as we're all learning in real-time here what is an aftershock exactly and why do they occur?

Professor Benjamin Fernando: Really great question. Aftershocks are normally events that occur on the same fault after the main event, and they're often associated with just the continual release of stress. If you imagine the main earthquake is an explosive event that releases some of the stress on the fault, but it might not release all of it. It's a bit snapping your fingers, but not quite releasing all the energy that's stored up between your thumb and your middle finger.

Sometimes those aftershocks continue releasing energy after the main event. They tend to get progressively smaller as time goes on and progressively less frequent. You tend to get the biggest ones immediately after the main quake, but as I say I don't think we've seen any reports of aftershocks from this particular event yet.

Brian Lehrer: Benjamin Fernando, a seismologist who specializes in planetary sciences, that means earthquakes on other planets from Johns Hopkins University. Thank you so much for jumping on and coming down to earth with us for this.

Sean Carlson: Thank you.

Professor Benjamin Fernando: Thanks so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer and Sean Carlson on WNYC. Our special coverage will continue till the top of the hour. Stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer: This is special coverage on WNYC. The earthquake that hit New York City in a wide swath of the Northeast all around New York City. Brian Lehrer with you along with Sean Carlson until the top of the hour. It was a 4.8-magnitude of an earthquake. The good news is there do not seem to be any major reports of damage. At this point, all transportation, infrastructure seems to be working as normal. We have no reports yet that I've seen of any deaths or injuries.

The reporting on ConEd and other of the power companies in our area is that all seems normal although they are advising that everybody be alert for gas leaks. We're going to talk about that aspect and more now with Zach Iscol, who's the commissioner for the Department of Emergency Management for the City of New York. Commissioner, thanks for giving us a few minutes. Welcome back to WNYC.

Zach Iscol: Yes, it's great to be back with you. Thanks so much for having me on, and thanks for all the work you do keeping New Yorkers informed.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Is there anything other than what I just said that you want to start as a headline?

Zach Iscol: First off, I think this is a great wake-up call for all New Yorkers that seismic activity is something that occurs in New York City, and it's something that New Yorkers need to be prepared for. At the same time, that they've got an amazing group of men and women who work for the city, and I couldn't be prouder of the work that they did today. As soon as the earthquake occurred, they were running the [unintelligible 01:39:18]. They were out there addressing, fortunately, there weren't any, but the potential for life safety events.

Are there collapsed buildings, gas leaks, these types of things that could pose significant hazards to the public that we might need to address? Like getting information out to the public about what they need to do during an earthquake, or what they need to do in its aftermath. Then the other big piece of that is checking in with all of our partners across the city and the Tri-state area.

Are there impacts to transportation, to airports, to subway systems, to the grid utilities, buildings? Making sure that those inspections are taking place and making sure that we can get back to our normal activities as quickly as possible.

Sean Carlson: Commissioner, this is Sean Carlson. I'm curious, we had a seismologist on our air in the past hour and they were talking about how buildings and other things in our area aren't necessarily fitted for this kind of thing because we don't see earthquakes like this all that often. What can we do in our area that we're not already doing to prepare for this kind of thing that's not going to cost who knows how much money?

Zach Iscol: I think the number one, first off, earthquakes are rare in New York City and the Tri-state area. It doesn't mean they don't occur. We started off the year with a small earthquake in Randall's Island. We just had this earthquake today. There certainly have been some large earthquakes over the last couple hundred years in this area, but it is a low likelihood that these are going to occur. With that said, I think there's a couple of things. The most important thing is for people to know what to do in the case of an earthquake.

That you stay inside, that you get under furniture. That if that's not available, you get in a doorway. If you are outside, you get away from things that could fall down, like power lines that could cause damage or hurt you. That you have a plan in place to be able to check in on family and friends and loved ones, that you have emergency supplies. There's a lot that people can do at the individual level to make sure that they're prepared.

Then there's a lot that the city does. We have protocols in place to prepare for earthquakes. We fortunately don't have to use them a lot, but we do drill them and practice them. We did a series of drills last year around earthquake preparedness at our agency and with some of our partners. That's one of the things that we do is make sure that even while these events might be rare, we are prepared for them through training, education, and preparedness.

Brian Lehrer: As Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Management, I want to ask you why if the earthquake happened at 10:23, the emergency alerts that we all got on our phones didn't seem to go out until about 40 minutes later. Why did it take that long?

Zach Iscol: First off, there's a lot of steps that we have to go through. Number one is we have to confirm that was an earthquake. Everybody, it's easy to say if you live in New York City, "We felt the ground shake, it was an earthquake." We rely on our federal partners, the USGS to confirm that an earthquake took place. That took place at around 10:35. While that's going on, the number one concern we have is life safety events.

We're looking at are there and what is the guidance that when we send the messages out that we need to let the public know. Based on the impacts we're seeing that guidance can change. If an event like this, not a whole lot of guidance other than what to do, and an earthquake, but if there are collapsed buildings, if there are gas leaks, if we need to rapidly move first responders around the city, ambulances and fire trucks, that changes the guidance that we need to send out.

There's also a translation list. I think the first messages went out in about 15, 20 minutes which is pretty fast when you consider all the steps we need to take to make sure we're putting out the right information, the right guidance, and doing everything else we need to do to make sure that we're putting out the right guidance based on the cascading impacts.

Brian Lehrer: Then the warning about aftershocks didn't go out until hours later. No?

Zach Iscol: That was part of the original message. It was in the link that went out. Then the other thing that we need to do is check in with our federal partners to see what are we expecting. In the city, we have what we call notice events and no notice events. A notice event is one that you're aware is going to happen. You have a weather event, a coastal storm, a snowstorm. These are things that are forecasted that you prepare for ahead of time. You have things, it could be a parade, a large event, opening day at Yankee Stadium.

Then there are no notice events that we also prepare for. These are things like acts of terrorism, building collapses, steam pipe explosions, and earthquake. In these cases, you need to make sure that based on what the impacts are, you are putting together the right information to get out to the public because it can change. Not every earthquake is the same. Not every terrorist act or mass shooting is the same. Some of that information is immediate.

In the case of Frank James, we put out awe about staying clear of the area shelter in place, and there's other information that you need to put out based on how things evolve. In this case, one of the things that we needed to do was check in with our partners at the federal level, USGS to figure out what are the chances of additional seismic activity.

Is this something that we need to be prepared for for a larger earthquake that could be imminent based on their seeing or is this something that is unlikely? Again, making sure that we are getting the right information before we put it out to the public is critically important.

Sean Carlson: Commissioner, we're curious about if there's anything we can do to proactively check gas lines in the aftermath of this.

Zach Iscol: Yes. First off, ConEd, our utility partners are doing that. As you saw or heard at the press conference, there have been no reported or seen impacts to the grid or to gas, but if people smell gas, they should immediately report it. People can certainly-- there is resources available for identifying gas leaks that you can find on ConEd's website.

Their president spoke about that at the press conference. That is a big concern as things happen, but our utility partners are not seeing that. If you are a New Yorker and you smell gas please report it immediately and treat it as an emergency. Don't assume that somebody else is reporting it.

Brian Lehrer: Zach Iscol, commissioner for the New York City Department of Emergency Management. I know you're racing from thing to thing right now because of the earthquake. Thank you for giving us a few minutes.

Zach Iscol: Thanks so much and thanks for the work you do in keeping New Yorkers informed. It's great to be with you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Let's take another call from somebody who was near the epicenter this morning. Here's Evelyn in New Jersey. Evelyn, you're on WNYC. Hello?

Evelyn: Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear you.

Evelyn: Awesome. I literally work at the epicenter. I work for a large animal veterinarian and I was in our rehab facility and we have a large machine that's like a vibrating plate that we put our horses on. I was standing next to my coworker and we heard a boom and then everything started vibrating and we thought that the plate was malfunctioning. We're getting the horse off and we're looking at each other like, "What is happening?"

All our other coworkers came running in, "Was there an explosion? Was there an accident?" We have video footage of some of the horses reacting after, spooking in their stalls and spinning around. It was very intense to be with a 1500-pound animal trapped in a small space doing physical therapy for them while this earthquake was happening.

Brian Lehrer: That is quite a story. When we talk about earthquakes, we talk about plate tectonics. You're talking about working with these horses. They're also on something called vibration plates.

Evelyn: A vibration plate. Exactly. [laughs] Yes, pretty intense. We're battening down the hatches and preparing for aftershocks with these very sensitive, but large animals that react very, very bigly when something-

Brian Lehrer: Very bigly.

Evelyn: -scary goes on.

Brian Lehrer: Well, to make a segue from today's unusual natural event to the one that we're anticipating on Monday, is there anything that you would anticipate in terms of the behavior, the kind of spook behavior you just described with respect to this? I was one time in my life in a total solar eclipse and one of the things that I'll always remember is that the birds started freaking out when it started getting dark in the middle of the day because their bodies, I guess are programmed to expect a certain amount of daylight. Then they were like, "What's going on here? What's going on? That was the birds, anything you're anticipating for Monday?

Evelyn: Yes and no. I have seen several people posting about closing signs to protect your dogs and cats because they might react negatively when the sun goes away. We have two facilities on this particular large animal equine facility. One is a soundness center where we rehab equine athletes. The other facility is a hospital where we intake patients that need surgery or more intensive care.

The rehab facility turns the lights off at night and the clinic keeps its lights on continually so that the veterinary technicians that have to go from patient to patient can see. I'm curious when the outside light dims, it may not impact the clinic patients because the lights inside the clinic are continuously on, but it may impact the athletes that are being rehabbed at the other facility because those lights do not stay on continuously. That's an interesting question. I don't know.

Brian Lehrer: Right. I guess you'll find out on Monday. Evelyn, thank you so much for checking in. Really interesting experience. David in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Hi. Is that me?

Brian Lehrer: That's you?

David: I'm on. Hi. I just heard a reaction on the upper side of my apartment. I felt the shock. Obviously, my first reaction was shock, but then I was laughing because I'm planning to go upstate on Monday for the solar eclipse. Actually, I grew up on [unintelligible 01:50:11]. There's a somewhat famous part of the Book of Amos, which is one of the maybe-named the prophets, and it actually predicts end times with an earthquake followed by a solar eclipse. It's chapter eight if anybody wants to check it out. It said, "The end is-

Brian Lehrer: Oh.

David: -upon my people. Shall not the land scramble, and it shall come to pass in that day that I would call the sun to go down at noon."

Brian Lehrer: Wow. An earthquake followed by a solar eclipse.

David: Which is something to think about.

Brian Lehrer: That's spooky in its own right. I had also heard that in the Talmud, an earthquake is supposed to represent God's tears, and there's certainly a lot for God to cry about right now, but I don't know if you know that reference.

David: That certainly possible.

Brian Lehrer: David, thank you.

David: I'm not so familiar with that, but I agree with the sentiment.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's see. One more from near the epicenter. Spencer in Berkeley Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi Spencer.

Spencer: Hi, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. I was in the middle of a meeting with some colleagues at about 10:23 this morning, and all of a sudden, the floor started to shake. We are in a corporate park, so we thought maybe there was some heavy traffic or some nearby construction, and then it proceeded to get far more like if you're sitting in one of those video game vibration chairs, a rumble seat.

We work in a science lab, maybe there was some equipment that was just going into overdrive, and after two to three seconds of it continuing to be like that, we both pretty much came to the conclusion it was an earthquake because there was no way that this was getting softer. There was no sense of it letting up.

For me personally, I was fortunate, if you want to call it that, enough to have been in working for Verizon Wireless back in 2011 when the earthquake hit outside DC in Virginia. Back then some of us felt almost a vertigo effect as the earthquake shock traveled up the East Coast. I didn't completely panic, but it's really different to be on the outskirts of a 5.8 as opposed to being only five miles away from a 4.8 as it happened.

Brian Lehrer: Really, really interesting. Spencer, we have to leave it there because we're out of time in our coverage. Thank you very much for checking in from Berkeley Heights. Sean Carlson, there are many other questions we could answer. People want to know if fracking in Pennsylvania might have contributed to this.

Sean Carlson: Oh, interesting.

Brian Lehrer: It can contribute to earthquakes, we know. Somebody else wants to know if the eclipse coming on Monday might increase risk of any aftershocks because people say it can affect the tides. Probably not. I think we learned earlier in the coverage, but there we go. What you got for us on All Things Considered this afternoon?

Sean Carlson: As I've been saying throughout the afternoon here, WNYC reporters are all over the place getting any and all information we can get on this. Particularly again as it results, or relates to our safety and the working of our infrastructure-

Brian Lehrer: All right.

Sean Carlson: -things like schools. Be sure to tune in for that. That'll be at four o'clock this afternoon, but we'll have newscasts up until then. As always, be sure to stay with WNYC. We'll give you the latest.

Brian Lehrer: Sean will be listening. That concludes our special coverage of the earthquake. I'm Brian Lehrer.

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