Magnitude 1.6 Earthquake Recorded in Morris County, New Jersey: Epicenter Near Randolph, No Damage Reported
A magnitude 1.6 earthquake struck Morris County, New Jersey, at 5:38 a.m. ET on October 22, with its epicenter near Randolph and a depth of about 10 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed. No damage has been reported.
The quake is the latest in a series of small earthquakes in New Jersey this year, NorthJersey.com reported. A magnitude 1.1 quake shook near Long Valley on August 22, and the largest to hit the state so far in 2026 was a magnitude 2.4 quake near Bedminster on January 30. Earthquakes below magnitude 3.5 are generally not felt.
Large earthquakes are uncommon in New Jersey. The USGS says moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the New York–Philadelphia–Wilmington urban corridor roughly twice a century, smaller quakes are felt every two to three years, and New York City was damaged by earthquakes in 1737 and 1884. The last significant quake to rattle New Jersey struck on April 5, 2024, at magnitude 4.8, the strongest in the state in over a century; it was felt by about 42 million people from Boston to Washington but caused little lasting damage. (GSM, based on USGS and NorthJersey.com reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0，作者 Robert Solywoda；莫里斯县法院（Morristown） / Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, by Robert Solywoda; Morris County Courthouse in Morristown
