4.8 magnitude earthquake hits New York, New Jersey, ignites meme fest online

An earthquake of 4.8 magnitude struck New York and New Jersey on Friday, April 5. The earthquake was recorded about 8 miles northeast of Bridgewater, New Jersey, at 10:23 am EDT, followed by a 2.0 magnitude aftershock at 11:20 am EDT, about 5 miles west of Bedminster, the US Geological Survey said. Friday’s earthquake was the strongest to hit New Jersey in 240 years and was the strongest one since 1884 in the New York City area, per Fox Weather.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed on X, formerly Twitter that tremors were felt across the state, saying, “My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day.” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also confirmed that the quake was felt in his region, with a “preliminary magnitude of 4.7, with an epicenter near Readington in Hunterdon County.”
Following the earthquake, netizens flocked to social media to share hilarious responses with corresponding memes. One user shared a clip from a Weeknd music video with the message, “me not knowing where to run after the earthquake #earthquake.” Another user expressed their frustration after the tremors were felt, saying, “The way this #earthquake woke me out of my peaceful a** sleep is crazy.”
Another user who accidentally recorded the moment the earthquake hit, while playing guitar, shared the clip on the platform, with the message, “Can’t believe I got it on camera lol.” The tweet has garnered over 666.7K views, drawing responses from other users. A user quipped, “This is unintentionally going to be a great way to promote your LP haha. I wish you good luck with the music career!” To this, the user responded with, “Thanks so much!! Who would have thought.”