NY1.com

  86º

You are not signed in  |  Sign in here  |  Help

You're viewing a lite version of NY1.com

Time Warner Cable customers: Sign in with your TWC ID for video access.

Get my TWC ID. | Get TWC service. | Read the FAQ.

08/23/2011 08:13 PM

Times Square Rattled By Seismic Waves

By: Josh Robin

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Tourists and workers near Times Square were surprised to feel an earthquake Tuesday. NY1's Josh Robin filed the following report.

Around the "Crossroads of the World," the quake rattled floors and some nerves too.

"People were alarmed. A lot of people left the building and started heading home," said Kelly Miller, who worked on Seventh Avenue.

Dale Landon, who also worked in the area, barely felt anything. It's a good thing his building did not shake, as the New Year's ball sits atop it.

"I asked myself, 'Was that an earthquake?' And I went to check and people said they didn't feel anything," he said.

Miller and Eric McGahhey, who also works on Seventh Avenue, were among those who felt vibrations.

"I got a little light-headed, a little dizzy, and then I started feeling the building rocking back and forth a little bit, for maybe 45 seconds, I guess," said Miller. "Everyone around me started popping up and people started saying that must have been an earthquake."

"I felt a mild swaying, and I kind of at first didn't know what was happening, but then I looked at my light fixture swaying back and forth and that's when I knew it was an earthquake," said McGahhey.

Roy Mallo felt the trembler as well, as his apartment on 44th Street and Sixth Avenue shook while he was downloading Maurice Ravel's "Bolero."

"All of a sudden, things started moving and I said, 'What's wrong with me? Am I feeling dizzy?'" said Mallo. "I was a little bit scared. I said, my goodness, if this is happening in New York, this could be bad news."

Yet Mallo did not evacuate and neither did McGahhey and Miller, although some colleagues headed home.

"They're from Jersey" McGahhey said.

Evacuations were limited in the area, and many tourists and others on the sidewalks felt nothing at all.