The seismometer at Jackson Heights High School and Middle School picked up a magnitude-4.8 earthquake nearly 1,250 miles away today. The earthquake rocked NewJersey and New York in a rare east coast quake.
This was the strongest quake in the greater New York City metro area since 1884, according to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
The seismometer at Jackson Heights High School is used by students to study earthquakes around the world. “It’s pretty unique for a small school in Kansas to have the opportunity to have things like this and have the ability to see earthquakes from around the world,” said Vern Andrews, technology director. "It's just another way we get students in a small school like Jackson Heights to think big!"