Yesterday April 5, 2024 I was writing a check to my dentist around 10:25 AM when his whole office vibrated. It was as if a train or a heavy truck passed right next to the office walls. The lady managing the office told me that it was no train or truck, it was an earthquake! She is from Taiwan and earlier we happened to be talking about the 7.4 earthquake which occurred only three days earlier on the East coast of Taiwan.
According to the seismology experts, our earthquake had a magnitude of 4.8 and originated in the town of Whitehouse Station in New Jersey. The epicenter of the earthquake is about 10 miles (16 km) from our house, and it was definitely felt by all of us. However, nothing fell or was broken, and our house shows no sign of any damage. I have also not seen any damage in our town, except perhaps a big and tall tree which fell down and missed the corner of a house by about 10 ft (3 m). It may have been weakened by the rain which has been falling almost every day for the past two weeks.
About three hours after the earthquake, I was sitting inside on a sofa when it suddenly vibrated for maybe 10 seconds. Later, the news said that there was an aftershock with a magnitude of 4.0. Again, no damage, but we are told to expect aftershocks for up to a week.