The epicenter of Friday’s metro-area quake was around the sleepy, tiny, agricultural town of Lebanon, NJ — where the temblor sent residents running home from work to check their houses and loved ones.
The US Geological Survey confirmed that the rare historic 4.8 earthquake struck around 10.23 a.m. near the small borough in Hunterdon County.
The incident caused buildings to shake everywhere from the Big Apple to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware.
“I was working from my home office in town, and everything started falling off the shelves,” Lebanon Mayor James Pittinger told The Post. “I felt a shake like I’ve never felt in the 30 years I’ve lived here.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced.”
Another resident described the quake as feeling “like the pavement was sinking under me.
“I’ve never experienced an earthquake, but probably in the first 5 seconds, I knew what was going on,” the man, a landscaper, told Fox News.
“All the neigbhors ran outside,” he said. ““Some mirrors fell off the wall, and the kitchen cabinets were wide open.
“It’s definitely scary because in Lebanon, we never really experienced anything like this.’’
Another resident added, “Initially within the first couple seconds, the dogs reacted to something.
“And then within about a second or so, it felt like an explosion, sounded like an explosion, and you felt waves come up from underneath you.
“Then you felt the house shift — back and forth, back and forth, back and forth — for about 10 seconds,” the man told Fox.
The mayor said residents rushed home mid-morning to check on things but that no major damage or injuries have so far been reported.
Local emergency crews also went home to home to check on elderly residents.
The earthquake — which originated at a depth of less than 3 miles — was the strongest to strike the metro region since 1884, according to USGS records.
In New Jersey, it was the strongest to hit since the time of the Revoluntionary War, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Pittinger said the township appeared to come out of the incident largely unscathed because it does “not have any significant high-rises that would have been susceptible.”
Lebanon is historically an agricultural community, now home to about 1,600 residents and a tiny business district.
It is located north of the Round Valley Reservoir, about 20 miles from the northern border of Pennsylvania.
Local and state officials from impacted areas said inspections had been launched to ensure that buildings, bridges and other infrastructure remained structurally sound and were not damaged.
The Post observed several fire trucks patrolling residential areas in Lebanon and checking in on senior citizens.
The mayor said the township was anticipating aftershocks but had not experienced any as of early-afternoon.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a post on X that the state has activated its emergency operations center and asked the public not to call 911 unless they are experiencing an emergency.
“It’s a significant earthquake, especially for this region,” said Borys Hayda, managing Principal at NYC-based structural engineering firm DeSimone Consulting Engineers, told The Post.
US Geological Survey figures indicate the quake might have been felt by a staggering 42 million people.
“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in the last century,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
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