FREEHOLD, N.J. — A rare earthquake shook Monmouth County, New Jersey, early Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 

What You Need To Know

  • A 3.1 magnitude earthquake hit New Jersey early Wednesday morning

  • No injuries were reported

  • The last 3.1 magnitude earthquake to hit New Jersey was in 1992

 

USGS reported that the magnitude 3.1 earthquake began around 2 a.m. about a mile southeast of East Freehold. The shaking lasted about 13 seconds and no injuries were reported. 

“No reported damage out there, and no resources were dispatched to any particular location in the county, but just the calls of folks wanting to know what it was and if it was an emergency,” Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden told local outlets. 

The National Weather Service in the Philadelphia/Mount Holly area tweeted that the tremors were felt “in much of central New Jersey.”

 

While New Jersey’s tremor was relatively small compared to those felt on the West Coast, earthquakes in the Eastern United States are much more rare. The last quake of the same magnitude in the area occurred in Freehold in 1992, according to multiple reports. 

"It is very uncommon for this particular part of the northeast,” USGS Geophysicist Robert Sanders told New Jersey’s News12. “We have two other magnitude 3.0 or greater events in a 10-mile radius of this event over the past 60 years. One in 1979 and one in 1992."

"For a magnitude three, we might see maybe five or 10 aftershocks and they usually are in a smaller magnitude, so less significant felt,” Sanders added. “We may see one or two magnitude 2.0 to 2.5 range and then possibly a number of smaller ones like 1.0. That will be felt possibly in the Freehold area."

Over 6,000 people responded to the USGS’ “Did You Feel It?” site following Wednesday’s earthquake.