A preliminary 4.8 magnitude rattled northern New Jersey on Friday morning, shaking office buildings in Manhattan and disrupting air traffic.
The temblor which reached nerves from Maryland to Maine was the strongest in the area since 1884, according to the US Geological Survey.
It happened near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, and was felt as far away as Long Island, New York’s Hudson Valley and Pennsylvania.
New Jersey Transit said commuters can expect up to 20-minute delays in both directions due to bridge inspections.
“We consider it to be moderate — it is capable of causing some damage,” said John Bellini, a USGS geophysicist.
He said the most vulnerable structures would be older homes with brick faces and chimneys.
The airports are working to resume operations, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
People in the New York area reported feeling the effects where earthquakes are uncommon.
“I just saw the mirrors on both sides of our wall shaking and my dog’s reaction. She’s a little French bulldog. She freaked out,” said Milena Altman, a self-employed social media manager.
“I ran into the bathroom doorway and just started immediately thinking of all these other things that it could be other than an earthquake.”