New York’s 4.8-Magnitude Earthquake Gets Roasted on Social Media
Much of the Northeast including New York City was rocked by a 4.8-magnitude earthquake on Friday, and it didn’t take long for social media users to begin riffing on the seismic activity.
According to The New York Times, no injuries or structural damage was reported in the immediate aftermath of the event. “While we do not have any reports of major impacts at this time, we’re still assessing the impact,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters at a press conference on Friday.
But that didn’t stop many residents from sharing their terrifying anecdotes on social media, which in turn spurred ridicule from those familiar with more serious earthquakes, such as the devastating one that hit Taiwan earlier this week.
While New York City bore the brunt of the quake, rumblings were also felt by residents of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Connecticut, and even Rhode Island. According to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, the epicenter of the earthquake was in Readington, in the state’s Hunterdon County.
Predictably, New Jersey took the brunt of the initial mockery.
New York seeing where the earthquake originated pic.twitter.com/mVswA3xEwT
— Cody Wimmer (@Cody_Wimmer) April 5, 2024
BREAKING: Footage from the epicenter of the New Jersey earthquake pic.twitter.com/XAJfVF47MT
— socialist sopranos memes (@gabagoolmarx) April 5, 2024
However, it didn’t take long before the internet decided that the joke was actually on those living in the metropolitan area.
NYC residents gotta live like this and now they got an #earthquake lmaooo pic.twitter.com/wp8kkG8yMo
— stoolie memes (@StoolieMemes) April 5, 2024
A number of New York City residents reported having the same thought at the time of impact: that the vibrations weren’t an earthquake, but rather particularly invasive construction.
Damn I rly thought it was the construction people, not a whole ass 4.8 magnitude earthquake #earthquake #nyc pic.twitter.com/7ajRuovLOE
— Cryptic (@HungryForMemes) April 5, 2024
Many of those on the West Coast, who are slightly more familiar with earthquakes, wasted no time roasting those who lost their minds over a “measly” 4.8-magnitude quake.
NYC Twitter right now #Earthquake pic.twitter.com/ZLjg7ee6hP
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) April 5, 2024
A few spectators were particularly galled since the 4.8 didn’t come close to the last major Northeast quake, which measured 5.8 when it hit Virginia in 2011.
We Will Rebuild: 4.8 magnitude earthquake hits New York City and the tri-state area. pic.twitter.com/Ds7k7ELekq
— Know Your Meme (@knowyourmeme) April 5, 2024
However, most users were simply impressed with how quickly the internet got its meme game on. It shows that even in dire times, we’ll always have social media to distract us.
Nyc just hit by an earthquake and i saw so many tweets using meme to report it ? yall so unserious pic.twitter.com/SdPqw9gKOx
— Keine (@KeineJr) April 5, 2024
Guess I’ll be refreshing the timeline for more NYC earthquake memes all day. pic.twitter.com/T0pSxeOKUV
— Skeiny Legend (@comicdans) April 5, 2024
Me: low-key wondering if my upstairs neighbor’s apartment was collapsing into mine.
The way I just ran to this site to watch the memes unfold in real time. #earthquake #NYC pic.twitter.com/oXeB38Qgzz
— Brandon Santoro (@brandonsantoro) April 5, 2024
Twitter was legit over earthquake tweet within 6 minutes of it happening. I can’t wait for the Armageddon tweets to pop off. The earth will be on fire but the Memes will also be incredible.
— Blockhead (@BlockheadNYC) April 5, 2024
With any luck, the excitement is over for now.
