The magnitude 4.8 quake that shook New York City and its tremors were felt from Washington to Maine on Friday morning (local time), was the third largest earthquake recorded in the region in the past five decades and the strongest in New Jersey in about 280 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Conspiracy theories consider it a "bad omen" as the earthquake occurred just three days before the solar eclipse.
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Although minimal damage and no injuries were reported, the sudden quake took New Yorkers by surprise and frightened, triggering dozens of conspiracy theories as the quake occurred just three days before the solar eclipse and many Americans considered this juncture a "bad omen".
X (formerly Twitter) was bombarded with hundreds of messages and even more comments that reached from one extreme to the other, as many considered the earthquake a sign of the "end" while others were the ones who mocked them.
God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent.
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) April 5, 2024
Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come.
I pray that our country listens. 🙏
"God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent. Earthquakes, eclipses and much more to come. I pray our country understands," Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican Party member and conspiracy theorist, wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
In the same conspiracy side but on the opposite political side, some noted that the epicenter of the 4.8-magnitude quake was located not far from a golf club owned by Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, and MeidasTouch, a political action committee against Trump, posted on platform X a map of New Jersey showing the figure of Joe Biden with laser eyes.
https://t.co/xKC2O3O2JP pic.twitter.com/x9dW077GXw
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 5, 2024
Of course, there were many who mocked the prophets of disaster. "According to some sources, New Yorkers should expect swarms of locusts," journalist Rebecca Lewis said, referring to the pharaoh's ten plagues.
Sources say that New Yorkers should expect a swarm of locusts following the earthquake, floods and eclipse. Rumblings of concern about plagues so soon before Passover
— Rebecca C. Lewis (@_rebeccaclewis) April 5, 2024
And the sarcastic posts mocking New Yorkers' overreaction to the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the region don't stop there.
I just photos of the destruction out in Long Island.
— Nick Yoder (@NickYoder86) April 5, 2024
Magnitude 4.8 #earthquake pic.twitter.com/cNdwAj88s3
"Photos of the disaster on Long Island," one user told X alongside a photo of an overturned lawn chair.
Did anyone else in NYC feel that earthquake?
— Alex Cohen 🤠 (@anothercohen) April 5, 2024
I'm down in FiDi and it looks like this pic.twitter.com/zjQuazL9q1
"Did anyone else in New York feel this earthquake," another user said — along with an image of a destroyed Statue of Liberty.
The video, however, from the moment of the earthquake with the Statue of Liberty shaking is shocking!
See the video
