Rare 4.8-magnitude quake rattles New York and surrounding areas

We're going to wrap up our live coverage of today's earthquake soon, but here are the main lines that you need to know about this rare 4.8-magnitude event:

• The epicentre of Friday morning's earthqauke was Lebanon, New Jersey, but it was felt by millions stretching between Washington DC and Boston
• Scientists for the US Geological Survey (USGS) say it occurred 3 miles deep underground, sending shockwaves through the rock
• USGS officials are saying based on preliminary reports that it seems the quake happened because an "inactive fault" that formed millions of years ago was "reactivated"
• A couple hours after the earthquake, scientists recorded at least two aftershocks
• USGS officials say there's a 3% chance of a 5-magnitude aftershock occurring in the next week
• Minor damage has been reported, but there's been no major injuries as of this post
• Hospital admissions are being monitored by officials to see if there is any increase in patients due to the earthquake

Danielle Guida tells me how she found herself in the basement of her office building in Midtown Manhattan when the earthquake struck. More specifically, she was at her work's gym, sitting in the sauna, when there she heard a sudden rumbling.

That noise, the 25-year-old recounts, was then followed by a deluge of text messages and phone alerts.

Office security, which had increased in recent weeks because of regular protests in the city, then announced over the loudspeaker that the New York Fire Department was on its way.

She quickly left the steam room, got dressed and hurried home. A lifelong New Yorker who works in a skyscraper, Guida says that it was difficult not to think of 9/11.

“It was really freaky,” she says. “I’m not even old enough to remember 9/11, but I have an awareness of it ingrained in me forever. People were definitely scared.”

Indoor cameras affixed throughout a New Jersey home capture the moment a 4.8-magnitude earthquake comes trembling through the house's foundation.

In the footage, you can see the owner's dog in distress as it hops onto the furniture to escape the trembling floors, while paintings and decorations hung on the wall begin to topple to the floor.

Watch that moment here:

One of the finer points that officials from the USGS wanted to underscore while briefing reporters about today's earthquake was to contextualise just how rare these events are in this part of the world.

The group of USGS officials explained earlier how, over the course of the past 300 years, there have only been three earthquakes with magnitudes near or above 5 striking near New York City.

These include:

• 19 December 1737: A 5.1-magnitude earthquake caused chimneys to shake when it hit the greater NYC area, and was similarly felt in parts of Boston and Philadelphia, according to the New Jersey Dept of Environmental Protection
• 30 November 1783: Another 5.1-magnitude quake was felt more than 100 years later in New Jersey, with people reporting feeling the tremors all the way from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania
• 10 August 1884: Cracking masonry throughout New York City and New Jersey and felt all the way from Maine to Virginia, this 5.3 magnitude-earthquake was the last to strike in the New York region with a measure above 5

Today's earthquake was 4.8.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Razia Sultana was at her desk at her job when the quake began.

Her computer started to shake, and for a moment there was panic.

"We picked up our clothes and started to step away" in order to get to safety, she said.

And then, the shaking stopped.

Immediately, "we reached out to all our people" Sultana said. Her family in Staten Island had felt the earthquake too. Fortunately, she said, everyone was safe.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Medhi Mammadov experienced today's quake in one of New York’s most iconic skyscrapers.

About 10:30 local time (15:30 GMT), his office on the 27th floor of the Woolworth Building began to shake.

“I didn't believe that it's an earthquake, because I wasn't expecting an earthquake in New York!” he says.

But then his colleagues started checking X, formerly known as Twitter, and realised what happened.

This footage by media company EarthCam show the Statue of Liberty and New York City skyline as the 4.8-magnitude earthquake hits.

Take a look:

We're being told a bit more now about aftershocks - the USGS officials explain that their forecast model relies on thousands of pieces of data on previous earthquakes of similar size, using the past to help them predict the future.

Without getting into too many details, they explain that this data is fed into a mathematical equation that is then interpreted by statistical seismologists - of which there are seven currently working with USGS, they add.

For today's prediction, they say a "generic model" is being used.

And with that, the briefing comes to an end.

Jessica Jobe, from the USGS, says today's quake may have occurred at an old fault line that had become "reactivated".

"Although there are no known active faults in the area, there are dozens of older inactive faults that formed millions of years ago," she says in a briefing where reporters are now asking questions.

"And under the current stresses from tectonic plates moving those faults can be intermittently reactivated."

She adds that earthquakes "can happen anywhere at any time".

New York has seen only three earthquakes of a 5 magnitude since the 1700s - two occurred in the 1700s and one was in the 1800s, she adds.

We're now hearing about the aftershock forecast in the region affected today.

There's a 3% chance of aftershocks occurring with a magnitude of 5 or greater in the next week - and up to three weeks - in relation to this earthquake, the US Geological Survey officials say.

They add that they've already recorded some aftershocks, but don't give more details on those.

As a reminder, the epicentre of today's quake was in New Jersey - it was felt in major cities including New York, Boston and Baltimore.

Officials from the US Geological Survey say that more than 161,000 people have reported experiencing the earthquake today - but they add it will have been felt "by millions".

"Earthquakes in this region are infrequent but not unexpected," says Jessica Jobe of the USGS Earthquake Hazards programme.

Today's was a "contraction" which Jobe describes as "squeezing at a depth of approximately three miles".

"This is a region with many older faults that could be reactivated at any time," she explains.

We're about to hear from members of the US Geological Survey, the government group that measures the intensity of earthquakes.

We'll bring you any key updates from that briefing as they happen, so stay tuned.

You can also watch it by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

US President Joe Biden took a moment earlier to update reporters on his discussion with the New Jersey governor.

"He thinks everything's under control, he's not too concerned about it," Biden said, referring to the earthquake.

His comments came as he prepared to board a helicopter to travel to Baltimore to view the wreckage of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Today's earthquake rattled many New York neighbourhoods - including a block of brownstones in the Greenpoint area of Brooklyn.

One by one, residents popped their heads out the front door to investigate.

“Did anyone feel that?” one man said as he burst onto his stoop.

“What’s going on!” A woman across the street shouted back.

“There was an earthquake!” he yelled.

His next door neighbour chimed in to say that her house had suddenly started to rattle.

The man then turned to me, as I was walking by, and asked if I’d felt the shaking.

I told him I was outdoors, walking on the pavement, during the quake and did not feel a thing.

New York was today rocked by a rare 4.8-magnitude earthquake, felt by millions on the east coast including major nearby cities like Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

If you're just joining us, or need a recap, here's what we know:

• The quake's epicentre was in Lebanon, New Jersey, according the US Geological Survey, about 40 miles (64km) from New York City
• Residents have described their homes trembling and furniture shaking during the tremors
• In a briefing, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said "no life-threatening situations" had been reported and warned people to brace for potential aftershocks
• The unusually large seismic event shut down air traffic at major airports in the north-east of the US - but flights have now resumed

• There are reports of cracks in pavements and roads, but no widespread damage has been reported and New York schools have been told to operate as normal
• It's the most significant earthquake in the area in decades

Minutes after tremors shook the 40-story high-rise office building I was in earlier, a piercing earthquake alert blared on all our phones, urging residents to remain indoors.

I had felt my desk chair sway from side to side as the quake reached Manhattan, causing the water in my bottle to slosh.

Meanwhile, friends in Brooklyn reached out, wondering what do to after their homes shook.

"Should we evacuate?" one friend queried, while another, living on the 32nd floor of a Manhattan high-rise, panicked after her bed shook, likening the sensation to the rumble of heavy construction.

"Our hearts are still racing," she said as news of today's 4.8 magnitude earthquake confirmation trickled in.

The BBC's US partner CBS has been out and about in New Jersey - where the epicentre of today's earthquake was - speaking to residents and filming various neighbourhoods.

One man the outlet spoke to, David Scibione, described how "things on our roof started coming down" when the shaking began. He also pointed out some cracks on the road that had appeared since.

"I actually saw two cracks here when we found a third one up here," he explained, showing those filming where he meant. "So three identical cracks running through."

You can see one of the cracks Scibione, who lives in the town of Union, is talking about below:

CBSCopyright: CBS

Sally Osman thought at first that the shaking of her house in Somerset, New Jersey was just some intense wind.

"We’ve had early bad weather so I thought it was just wind that was picking up really strong," she said.

But then Osman felt something stronger, a sudden shake that shook the top floor of her house.

"I thought a Mack truck hit my home," she said. But when the shaking didn't stop, she put two and two together. She gathered her daughters and stood under a door frame for safety.

"It was pretty intense," she said. "I don't even know how long it was but it felt eternal."