On the morning of April 5, 2024, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurred in New Jersey, rattling the surrounding areas including New York City. This event came as a surprise to people living on the East Coast, where earthquakes are much less common than here in California. Fortunately, owing to the small magnitude of the event and its location, the earthquake did minimal damage. To understand these relatively rare earthquakes and the hazards they pose to local communities, CNN reached out across the country to CSUB's own earthquake expert, Dr. Matthew Herman.

After talking with Dana Bash on CNN Inside Politics, Dr. Herman was interviewed by Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC Deadline: White House, and the Brazilian news program Jornal Nacional produced by TV Globo. Last but certainly not least, Dr. Herman provided some scientific context for Inside Edition about what size earthquake might cause damage in New York City. Fortunately, people were able to laugh about this most recent event because of its low impact, so Dr. Herman's comments were followed by clips from Saturday Night Live joking about the earthquake.