2024 New York City / New Jersey Earthquake

Overview

The 2024 New Jersey Earthquake, also known as the 2024 New York City Earthquake or the April 2024 Northeast United States Earthquake, refers to a magnitude 4.8 earthquake that occurred on the morning of April 5th, 2024, near Tewksbury and Lebanon, New Jersey, affecting the tri-state area, including New York, New York City (NYC), Pennsylvania and Connecticut. After people felt the tremors, memes and reactions surfaced on social media platforms like Twitter / X, TikTok and Reddit, among others. Many made jokes about Californians reacting to New Yorkers' worried reactions because, for them, minor tremors were commonplace.

Background

At approximately 10:35 a.m. EST on April 5th, 2024, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake occurred near Lebanon and Tewksbury, New Jersey, resulting in tremors felt across the tri-state area, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York, among other states.^[1] Soon after the seismic event, users posted screenshots from the earthquake.usgs.gov^[2] website, revealing that the earthquake was a magnitude of 4.8 (shown below).

Developments

Around 6 p.m. on April 5th, 2024, an aftershock from the earthquake earlier that day was reported,^[7] resulting in further memes and reactions online (example seen below). The event also caused "#aftershock" to trend on Twitter / X.^[8]

Me just now feeling the #earthquake aftershock pic.twitter.com/Bv8jwnlNWO

— MightyCurly (@Mighty_Curly) April 5, 2024

Online Reactions

In the hour after the earthquake was felt in New York City, people took to social media to post memes and jokes about the event. For instance, on April 5th, 2024, X^[3] user @hailsmccloskey tweeted a video from iCarly captioned, "NYC EARTHQUAKE????" receiving over 1,200 likes in less than an hour (shown below).

NYC EARTHQUAKE???? pic.twitter.com/8fZcaX84fO

— hails (@hailsmccloskey) April 5, 2024

Also on April 5th, X^[4] user @Imakemyownshit tweeted the video of The Weeknd's Super Bowl Half Time Show, captioned, "me not knowing where to run after the earthquake," gaining over 9,800 likes in less than an hour (shown below).

me not knowing where to run after the earthquake #earthquake pic.twitter.com/PkwKRjo4MA

— left on seen (@Imakemyownshit) April 5, 2024

During the same timeframe, X^[5] user @j__43_ joked about the New York City earthquake occurring so close to the 2024 Solar Eclipse, writing, "The #earthquake hitting a couple days before the eclipse the world ending," receiving over 4,200 likes in less than an hour (shown below).

The #earthquake hitting a couple days before the eclipse the world ending pic.twitter.com/1s3TPc9kI4

— “J” (@j__43_) April 5, 2024

Discourse about the earthquake also ensued on Reddit, evident in a post shared to /r/nyc by Redditor^[6] TheTeenageOldman, who said, "EARTHQUAKE!" gaining over 1,400 upvotes in less than an hour.

Various Examples

Me surviving the NYC #earthquake pic.twitter.com/D9cV3GoFS8

— Fonz (@Fontanila_) April 5, 2024

BREAKING: Footage from the epicenter of the New Jersey earthquake pic.twitter.com/XAJfVF47MT

— socialist sopranos memes (@gabagoolmarx) April 5, 2024

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References