NEW YORK (PIX11) – A Billboard chart-topping DJ was enjoying his Saturday night in New Jersey when an earthquake unexpectedly shook him.
“I was sitting on my couch watching TV,’ DJ Petie, a top 10 artist on the Billboard Dance Chart, said. “I thought maybe it was someone below me slamming a door or a truck driving on the street. I also had a feeling it was an earthquake.”
He logged onto X to see if what he had felt was real. His suspicion was confirmed when he checked. What he was feeling was an earthquake in New Jersey that also affected parts of New York City.
While some might have panicked, DJ Petie stayed calm and shared some light-hearted content and his thoughts on TikTok.
“Bro, I’m literally sitting on my couch, my whole apartment starts vibrating. I live in New Jersey. I’m starting to feel like I live in Los Angeles,” he said.
The earthquake, originating from Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, was recorded around 10:18 p.m., according to the USGS. The magnitude was 3.0.
DJ Petie’s TikTok post, made soon after the quake, has already surpassed 100,000 views. Thousands of people have liked it. One TikTok user who related to his video commented, “Why did I think my upstairs neighbors fell or something.”
Another TikTok user, Bri, said, “This earthquake was different from others; it was loud.” Another social media user commented, ‘ran straight to TikTok.’
PIX11 News received calls from viewers in Bloomfield, N.J., Westchester, N.Y., and Queens, reporting they felt their beds and TVs shaking. The earthquake’s impact has been minor so far, with no reported threats to life or property, according to the Hackensack Office of Emergency Management.
DJ Petie, who is currently on tour, called the event ‘insane’ because he has felt multiple earthquakes since last year. He finds it crazy because he’s lived in New York his entire life and only recently started to feel earthquakes.
Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.
