{"id":123052,"date":"2025-08-06T07:43:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123052\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T07:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T07:43:14","slug":"nyc-could-face-4-7b-in-damage-if-rocked-by-earthquake-similar-to-recent-temblors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/123052\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC could face $4.7B in damage if rocked by earthquake similar to recent temblors"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wouldn\u2019t take an unusually strong earthquake to cause severe damage across the Big Apple, analysis shows, but geology experts say New Yorkers shouldn\u2019t be trembling about the Big One coming any time soon \u2014 even as the city experienced its third temblor in just over a year<\/a> Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

An earthquake clocking in at just 5.2 on the Richter scale would cause about $4.7 billion in damage if it struck today, and also leave around 100 buildings \u201ccompletely damaged\u201d and about 2,000 people homeless, according to a 2019 disaster assessment done by the city.<\/p>\n

That analysis was based on a quake of the same magnitude that shook the city on Aug. 10, 1884, which sent chimneys toppling and brick walls shattering. <\/p>\n

But that was over 140 years ago, and the story could be far different for the modern city if the same quake struck again, the assessment found.<\/p>\n

There have been three earthquakes in northern New Jersey since April 2024, each of which was felt in New York City. Tam Nguyen \/ NYPost Design<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering the amount of building and development in New York City since 1884, if the same magnitude earthquake occurred today, the amount of damage to people and property would be far worse,\u201d the city\u2019s report read.<\/p>\n

And while experts think the odds of such a catastrophe are slim, many say it\u2019s ultimately impossible to predict what might happen in the fickle field of tectonics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe short answer is that no one really knows,\u201d said Dr. James Davis, a seismology professor at Columbia University\u2019s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty low, though, if you look at the overall risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes it different for New York City is there\u2019s just a lot of infrastructure. So even a relatively low magnitude earthquake could have the possibility for some damage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

New York City could face more than $4 billion in damage if hit by the same sized quake that struck in 1884. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

Davis\u2019 warning came just hours after New York was shaken on Tuesday afternoon by a 2.8 magnitude earthquake, which followed a 3.0 originating just miles west in northern New Jersey\u2019s Ramapo Fault zone on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

And in April 2024, the city was hit by a 4.8 magnitude<\/a> quake out of the Ramapo, which was about 3.9 times weaker than the 1884 5.2 \u2014 though still relatively close in magnitude by the Richter scale, where strength increases by 32 times for each preceding whole number.<\/p>\n

The recent frequency of temblors coming out of the Ramapo is \u201cunusual,\u201d Davis conceded, but he reassured New Yorkers that it doesn\u2019t mean the Earth is getting ready to unleash something big.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an increase in frequency, but we don\u2019t think that it\u2019s an increase in frequency that portends anything,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more like, if you\u2019re used to rain every few weeks, and then we get a week where it rains three days in a row. You don\u2019t say, \u2018Oh my God, it\u2019s going to rain every day.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts reassured New Yorkers that they likely don\u2019t have anything to fear from a catastrophic earthquake. Negro Elkha \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Dr. Kenneth Miller \u2014 a Rutgers University Earth sciences professor \u2014 thinks Tuesday\u2019s temblor was an aftershock from Saturday\u2019s.<\/p>\n

He agreed that while it was difficult to estimate whether New York could be in store for serious damage from another quake, it probably won\u2019t be happening any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very likely not a worry,\u201d Miller said. \u201cYou never want to say nothing happened. But it seems very unlikely that any that any larger earthquake would occur in the immediate or near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller estimates it would take between a 6 and 7 magnitude earthquake to bring mayhem to Manhattan, but said the Ramapo Fault zone probably doesn\u2019t have that kind of power in it.<\/p>\n

And the fault zone \u2014 which generally moves northeast by southwest \u2014 doesn\u2019t even create the kinds of vertical moving earthquakes that typically topple buildings and spark tsunamis, Professor Davis explained.<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s skyscrapers are also designed to withstand earthquakes<\/a> up to 6.5 magnitude, meaning most modern buildings would survive a serious shaking.<\/p>\n

But despite those reassurances, Davis said every earthquake should be a reminder of how important it is to adhere to safe building standards and to continue studying the seismology of the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be aware that we do live in an area that gets earthquakes,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t walk around in fear.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wouldn\u2019t take an unusually strong earthquake to cause severe damage across the Big Apple, analysis shows, but…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2693,12635,20774,5248,23754,401,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-123052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-disaster","10":"tag-earthquakes","11":"tag-geology","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-natural-disasters","14":"tag-new-jersey","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkcity","19":"tag-ny","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114980703696920979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}