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In a New York Minute: The M4.8 Whitehouse, New Jersey Earthquake and Rapid Insights on the U.S. Geological Survey Response

Description: 

On April 5th, 2024, an M4.8 rattled New Jersey, New York and the surrounding population, startling many who had never felt a moderate shaking earthquake in this area. This area, having been recently upgraded in terms of hazard probability in the 2023 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Natural Hazard Seismic Model, rarely experiences such widely felt earthquakes, with the last similarly sized earthquake occurring almost two centuries ago. In February 2024 the USGS released a science communication publication entitled “In a New York minute” that outlines the hazard and preparedness information for this area. Given that this earthquake was widely felt by millions of people, interest from various audiences was high. The USGS released a variety of information products following the earthquake, including an aftershock forecast, which are typically released only for M5.0 and above in the United States and associated territories. USGS “Did You Feel It?” (DYFI) received over 183,000 responses for the M4.8 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey earthquake . This is the largest number of responses to DYFI for a single event since the program began in 1999, exceeding the previous record of 131,636 responses for the M5.8 Mineral, Virginia earthquake in 2011. For Friday’s earthquake, over 134,000 responses were submitted during the first hour, with the first response coming in only 2 minutes after the origin time. The submission rate peaked at 172 responses in one second. The M3.8 aftershock that followed 7 hours later garnered over 12,500 responses. Combined, the mainshock and aftershock yielded 205,000 responses so far, which is a record for the DYFI system. Compounding the complexity of the communication response regarding this earthquake included alternate theories regarding the relationship with this uncommon earthquake, the M7.4 Taiwan earthquake on April 3rd, and the full solar eclipse on April 8th. This presentation explores early response insights and media response from this uncommon earthquake sequence in a highly populated area and explores early research questions regarding this rare event.

Session: The 5 April 2024 Magnitude 4.8 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake - I

Type: Oral

Date: 5/3/2024

Presentation Time: 02:00 PM (local time)

Presenting Author: Sara

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors