New York City Rattled by 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake
On Friday April 5th a 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled across New York City around 10:20am EST; the first significant East Coast earthquake since 2011, when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake erupted in Virginia. At 11:02 EST an emergency alert was sent out to media devices requesting that citizens stay indoors. The City remains on standby, albeit slightly rattled; the East Coast had gone decade without facing a similar occurance; as New Yorkers standby hoping to preclude the aftershock.
At home in Brooklyn, I stood in my study listening to a recorded lecture by Leo Strauss; a low ominous drone suddenly erupted—present throughout my core, the ground began to shake and my feet began to vibrate with intensity. As I looked around the room, I observed my coffee sloshing about, as it leapt up from its cup. “Is this an Earthquake?” I briefly considered to myself; before dismissing the entire experience to be a loud car with a subwoofer slowly driving by—a common Brooklyn experience.
Yet, I had never felt a sound system this intense; capable of penetrating its resonance deep into the earth at that magnitude—especially one that produced audibility through my secured barrier of silence apportioned by noise-canceling headphones. The expereince felt as if an underground oscillator was triggered by an external conscious autonomous force.
As the experience continued, I thought, “the same West Coast earthquakes Californians have become used to must be comparable to an East Coast residential vehicle’s sound system—both are startling, yet by no means extraordinary; as citizens assimilate to the anomalies contingent to their environment.” Yet the sound did not pass. Was this an idoliong truck? A spacecraft? As the shaking subdued, I began to receive text messages that asked if I had “felt the earthquake.” At this moment I realized the experience that had just occurred. New York had just experienced an earthquake, as I took a sip of my now well-mixed coffee.
In contemporary times following the dark ages of postmodernity, and in light of the coming Total Eclipse occurring on April 8th, 2024; one may be tempted to consider the soon-imminent demise of Earth. Yet, thankfully this is not the case; the Book of Revelation prophesies the state of nature to be distinctly different than what is observed in contemporary polity. John of Patmos scribes from the Lord of his visions of the End of Days; whereby it is described that “there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell,” Revelation 16:18-19 (NKJV). Scripture speaks of various Earthquakes to either signify—a change, (1 Kings 19:11,12; Zek 14:5);—His grace, (Isa 29:6; Ezek 3:12,13; Mat 27:54, 28:2; Acts 16:26);—or, the final days of earth and the end of the society as we can conceive it to be, (Rev 6:12, 8:5, 11:13-19, 16:18).
Whilst the startling revelation of the East Coast experience was deduced not as a threat, nor force of detriment; it provoked an interest of concern and consideration for the temporal nature of human existence and the fragility of life often taken for granted.
Bibliography
USGS. (Accessed April 5th, 2024). 10-Year Anniversary of US’s Most Widely Felt Earthquake | U.S. Geological Survey. https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/10-year-anniversary-uss-most-widely-felt-earthquake.