BETHLEHEM, Pa. — People out and about in the Lehigh Valley didn’t miss the show Friday morning, when a 4.8-magnitude earthquake briefly rattled the area and broader Mid-Atlantic.
Some along Broad and News streets in Bethlehem who spoke with LehighValleyNews.com about the quake wondered if it could've been related to the Army flight exercise at Lehigh Valley International Airport this weekend.
Others said they didn't know what to think.
Jose Garay, general manager at The Flying Egg restaurant said he was handling some morning tasks on his computer down below the main restaurant floor when he heard creaks in the ceiling and saw things on his desk dancing.
Garay hails from El Salvador but now lives in Palmer Township.
Earthquakes happen more frequently back home, he said, and aren’t something he’s too familiar with from his time in the Lehigh Valley.
“It brought me back to memories when I was a kid when we had this earthquake in my country — I literally got up and ran upstairs. But by the time I made it here, it was already [done]."Jose Garay, general manager at the Flying Egg
“It brought me back to memories when I was a kid when we had this earthquake in my country — I literally got up and ran upstairs,” Garay said.
“But by the time I made it here, it was already" done.
“Man, when I was a child and I was in the same situation, when I ran out all the buildings were, like, crashing and crumbling.”
Just the wind?
Hanover Township resident Stephanie Marroquin, owner-operator of Siren Studio, said she thought the quake was maybe just a heavy wind shaking the foundations.
Her beauty studio is set up on the first floor of a building dating to the early 20th century.
“The other earthquake that we had — I want to say going back maybe 10, 15 years — I was cutting hair, too.”Siren Studio owner-operator Stephanie Marroquin
But Friday, in a way, was just another day in the office for Marroquin.
“The other earthquake that we had — I want to say going back maybe 10, 15 years — I was cutting hair, too,” Marroquin said, laughing.
'The heaviest one I've ever felt'
Just next door at Girl on the Hill Framing, owner Dawn Moser said she felt like she “just got off a boat” after what she thought was just the typical Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority and local college buses running their routes along New Street.
“I thought it was just rattling the street, and then I didn’t hear brakes. I don’t know, it was just a sensory overload.”Dawn Moser, owner of Girl on the Hill Framing
“I thought it was just rattling the street, and then I didn’t hear brakes,” Moser said.
“I don’t know, it was just a sensory overload.”
The quake was “the heaviest one I’ve ever felt,” she said. She said her brother also felt it in New Jersey.
'Like a subway'
A number of folks were gathered across the street at The Wise Bean coffee and espresso bar for what seemed to be just a normal morning of having coffee.
Jodi Hunter of Whitehall Township said her boyfriend had just called to check in from New York; he said he felt the quake up his way.
“It just felt like a subway was going underneath,” said Bethlehem resident Kayla Muth, who said she also was celebrating a birthday.
“It just felt like a subway was going underneath."Bethlehem resident Kayla Muth, who said she was celebrating a birthday
The bunch got a kick out of that when she mentioned it — a national “earthmoving” celebration of sorts.
Somebody across the shop said he thought the morning rumbling was just the chili he had from the night before giving him trouble.
The group had another good laugh.
