'New Cracks' Develop At Greenwich Middle School After Earthquake: GPS

GREENWICH, CT — School and fire officials believe new cracks have developed at a Greenwich middle school after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake in New Jersey rocked a number of areas throughout Connecticut on Friday.

In an email to families Friday afternoon, Superintendent Toni Jones said all students and staff were moved out of Central Middle School after the earthquake and relocated to Greenwich High School.

According to Jones, the Greenwich Fire Marshal posted the middle school closed Friday and has "given the idea that we believe there are new cracks in new locations" at the school.

Jones also noted engineers will be onsite at the school Saturday for further inspection. The town Building Department has also been notified, Jones said.

Students continued to operate on a normal school schedule after the relocation, however parents and guardians were encouraged to pick up their children between 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. by coming around the back of Greenwich High School and by the entrance of the school's Performing Arts Center, Jones said.

Greenwich police assisted with traffic control, and buses were still scheduled for normal dismissal, according to Jones.

Families of children with sports equipment or musical instruments in the building were approved by the fire marshal to pick those items up Friday between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., Jone said.

"Please go to the gym entrance for sports equipment and the side entrance by the music room for instruments," Jones said.

In an update posted Friday morning to X, formerly Twitter, police said the town, like much of the East Coast, experienced a small earthquake Friday morning.

See also: 4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks CT: Did You Feel it?

"There are already estimates that this earthquake registered anywhere from a 4.7 to a 5.5 magnitude," police said on X.

Police said they were not aware of any structural damage in Greenwich as of 11:30 a.m., however a decision was made to relocate CMS students to Greenwich High "out of an abundance of caution."

Police noted a short time later that all CMS students had been safely relocated to the high school.

They also emphasized no injuries have been reported at this time and the relocation "was made out of an abundance of caution."

Greenwich Public Schools were in contact with parents about the relocation, according to police.

In a post on X, Greenwich Public Schools confirmed "everyone in our buildings are safe" and only CMS had been impacted by the earthquake thus far.

The district also emphasized the relocation was only made "out an abundance of caution" and CMS families had been contacted directly.

"Immediately, our Facilities Department did inspections on all of our buildings to look for visible damage," Jones said. "We will update our community if we learn more. Currently, the town of Greenwich has not enacted any emergency protocols given this unexpected event."

Police also noted there have been "no reports or any concerns or safety issues" following the earthquake thus far, and the department will have extra officers in the area of Hillside Road and East Putnam Avenue to assist with any traffic concerns that may arise.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake was detected with an epicenter identified seven kilometers north northeast of Whitehouse Station in New Jersey, according to the USGS, which monitors earthquakes. Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude as measured on a seismogram.

"As of this time, we have not received any reports of significant structural damage caused by this morning’s earthquake, Gov. Ned Lamont reported on X. "Out of an abundance of caution, we have partially activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center and we are asking towns to report any issues."

A spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security said the agency is continuing to monitor the situation.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated there were cracks in the school's foundation, however Greenwich Public Schools have informed Patch this was inaccurate. The story has been updated to reflect this new information. We regret the error.