Earthquake Felt in Parts of Fair Lawn

Fair Lawn residents have taken to Facebook and Twitter to discuss the 5.9-magnitude earthquake centered in Mineral, Va. that shook the Washington, D.C. area just before 2 p.m. Tuesday, and registered 2.2 on the Richter scale in parts of Bergen County, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Fair Lawn police said they received only a few calls following the quake, mainly from residents asking what had happened. No one called in to report injuries, building evacuations or structural damage to buildings, police said. 

The social media response to the quake in Fair Lawn has been split. Residents living near the southern and eastern borders of the borough have generally reported feeling the quake.

“Bookcases, etc. were swaying - the dog totally freaked! Went outside, found neighbors looking around too!” tweeted Kathleen Sinnott (@kasnj), who said she lives in Fair Lawn between Route 208 and Route 4.

"I was in my home office by the Berdan park and my desk started shaking," Wendy Grinberg wrote on Facebook.

Others, including this Patch reporter, didn't feel a thing.

"In the Warren Point section of Fair Lawn, I didn't know about the earthquake until my daughter called from Connecticut to check on us!" FrKevin Pj Coffey posted on Facebook.

In neighboring Paramus, the police communications desk fielded 166 calls in a span of 7 minutes soon after the quake. The earthquake didn’t cause any major problems there, according to Paramus police, but many reported feeling the floor shake for up to 15 seconds.

The USGS classified the quake in the New York metro area as a category IV which has "light shaking" and "no damage".

The Port Authority said flights going into and out of JFK and Newark airports were stopped for a brief period this afternoon while the air traffic control towers were evacuated. Both airports reopened for both incoming and outgoing flights by 3 p.m. Tuesday. LaGuardia Airport was not closed at any time, according to officials.

Some local residents experienced difficulty getting service on their cell phones in the hour after the quake. Numerous phone companies advised their customers to text or e-mail and avoid making calls to cut down on call volume and improve cell service. Those companies included T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.

PSE&G, the Public Service Electric and Gas Company, is reporting no operational or safety issues as a result of the earthquake, and no customer outages.

The utility company has dispatched employees to assess any potential damage to its facilities, which include electric transmission lines and switching stations, as well as critical natural gas facilities such as metering and regulating stations, and gas transmission lines and mains.

The USGS is asking those who felt the earthquake to fill out an online survey to assist their information gathering.