NJ Earthquake Rattles Residents Still Recovering From Hurricane Sandy
A week after Hurricane Sandy tore through New Jersey and other mid-Atlantic states residents in the Garden State once again had to contend with Mother Nature, this time with an earthquake.
The earthquake struck in northern New Jersey at 1:19 a.m. on Monday morning with a recorded magnitude of 2.0. The quake was centered in Ringwood, an area that is still dealing with downed trees, power outages and displaced families.
Jessica Turner, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center, explained that people had reported hearing a loud noise with residents on the upper floors of buildings stating that they felt shaking and saw some objects fall from the walls.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The earthquake was reported to have occurred three miles below ground was felt in Mahwah, Wanaque, Oakland, Franklin Lakes, West Milford and Paterson.
Police in Ringwood indicated that there have been no additional reports of damage as a result of the earthquake.
Turner stated that the last earthquake to hit New Jersey came in February 2010 and was a 2.2 magnitude quake.
The death toll from hurricane Sandy stands at 72 people with clean-up and recovery efforts still underway in New York and New Jersey.
Financial experts have estimated that the total cost of the storm could be $20 billion in damages and $10 billion to $30 billion in business loss in the northeast due to the storm.
Some 2.5 million homes and business still lacked power across the Northeast which was down from 3.5 million on Friday, as reported by Reuters.
A gas shortage is also affecting northern New Jersey, and Gov. Chris Christie has resorted to gas rationing which went into effect on Saturday in 12 counties.
Motorists with odd-numbered license plates will be allowed to get gas on odd-numbered days and people with even-numbered plates will be allowed to fill-up on even numbered days.
