N.J. Earthquake Hits Ringwood As Northern New Jersey Town Deals With Sandy's Aftermath

A small earthquake was felt in the town of Ringwood, N.J., early Monday morning as the northern New Jersey town still deals with power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy.

The 2.0 quake struck at 1:19 a.m. EST Monday about 4 kilometers south-southeast of Ringwood, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Some Ringwood residents and others in nearby northern New Jersey towns reported hearing a loud boom following the temblor, Jessica Turner, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Center, told the Associated Press. Residents who live on upper floors of buildings may have felt shaking or seen objects on walls moving, she said.

The earthquake did not cause any damage to Ringwood, which still has downed trees and has been without power since Hurricane Sandy hit last week, the AP reported.

The early morning temblor was also felt in the New Jersey towns of Haskell, Oakland and Wanaque, as well as Sloatsburg, N.Y., about seven miles north of Ringwood, the USGS said.

Northern New Jersey is located in the New York-Philadelphia-Wilmington Urban Corridor – an area that is not immune to earthquakes. But the temblors are usually tame, according to the USGS.

“Since colonial times people in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones,” the agency’s website says. “Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every 2-3 years.”

Northern New Jersey residents took to Twitter to opine about the small earthquake. Most Twitter users urged Mother Nature to leave New Jersey alone for the time being as the area tries to recover from Hurricane Sandy.

“There was an earth quake this morning in my little town of Ringwood, NJ.,” wrote Gracie Agresta. “What the balls is going on Mother Nature. Leave da wood alone.”

“We had a hurricane, there was an earthquake in ringwood, and an expected nor'easter tomorrow and I still do not have power#somethingsfishy,” wrote @graciebello.

“Geez, Jersey needs no more strife!” said Martha Carnahan.