A rare earthquake has hit New Jersey, rattling buildings in New York City and the surrounding areas.

The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude-4.8 quake’s epicentre was near Lebanon, New Jersey.

A UN Security Council meeting on Gaza at its New York headquarters was temporarily paused due to the tremor.

“Is that an earthquake?” said Save the Children representative Janti Soeripto, who was speaking at the time.

The earthquake hit at around 10:20 local time (15:20 GMT). There are no reports of major damage.

Buildings were shaken in the city’s Brooklyn and the Bronx districts, rattling cupboard doors and fixtures.

Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so”.

“It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she said.

“I was laying in my bed, and my whole apartment building started shaking. I started freaking out,” another New York resident told the BBC’s US partner CBS.

Fabien Levy of the New York Mayor’s office and New York state governor Kathy Hochul said officials were assessing the impact of the tremors.

Social media users reported feeling the earthquake from Philadelphia eastward along the coast.

It is not the first time the East Coast and New York City have been hit with a quake, although they are rare.

Today’s was the strongest since 1983, when a quake hit near the town of Newcomb in upstate New York with a 5.1 magnitude.

A 5.0-magnitude-quake was measured in New York City in 1884.

Ramapo Fault runs from the Appalachian mountains through New Jersey, and there are at least five smaller fault lines under Manhattan island.

Source: BBC
-Agencies