NYC NOW - April 5, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

There are no reports of widespread damage after an earthquake rattled New York City and the surrounding region Friday morning. In response to the 4.8 magnitude earthquake, WNYC’s Sean Carlson and Brian Lehrer talked with Zachary Iscol, commissioner of New York City's Office of Emergency Management. And finally, WNYC’s Ryan Kailath caught up with the street-style photographer behind the popular instagram account, called "Watching New York."

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae P. At this point, we do not have any reports of major impacts to our infrastructure or injuries. But of course, we're still assessing the situation and we'll continue to update the public. There are no reports of widespread damage after an earthquake rattled New York City and the surrounding region Friday morning. It seemed to be business as usual. for New Yorkers by the afternoon.

Governor Kathy Hogle says the state launched a review of its major infrastructure soon after the earthquake hit. And so far, the quake appears to have caused one minor gas leak in Rockland County. Meanwhile, New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Otto says New Yorkers should call 311 if they see any structural damages within the next month. We at the Department of Buildings are concerned about some of the downstream possibilities, cracks that you might seem that may materialize a manifest in a week or a month or scaffolding, retaining walls. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake's intensity is measured at a 4.8, though that number could fluctuate.

Its epicenter was in northwestern, New Jersey, about 50 miles west of Manhattan. Over in Newark, officials say three multifamily homes are vacated after the earthquake. At least 10 families are displaced, but officials say there are no reports of widespread damage or injuries. In a previous episode of NYC Now, our guests reported the quake as the biggest in New Jersey. But actually, other quakes of similar magnitude have occurred along the East Coast within the past 100 years. In response to the earthquake, WNYC's Sean Carlson and Brian Lairer talked with Zachary Iskell. He's the commissioner of New York City's Office of Emergency Management. This is a great wake-up call for all New Yorkers that seismic activity is something that occurs in New York City, right?

And it's something that New Yorkers need to be prepared for. But at the same time that they've got an amazing group of men and women who work for the city, and I couldn't be proud of the work that they did today. You know, we had, as soon as the earthquake occurred, they were running the inter-Agency process. They were out there addressing, fortunately, there weren't any, but the potential for life safety events, right, Are there collapsed buildings, you know, gas leaks, these types of things that could pose significant hazards to the public that we might need to address, getting information out to the public about what they need to do during an earthquake or what they need to do in its aftermath? And then the other big piece of that is checking in with all of our partners across the city and the tri-state area. You know, are there impacts to transportation, to airports, to subway systems, to the grid, utilities, buildings, making sure that those inspections are taking place and making sure that we can get.

back to our normal activities as quickly as possible. Commissioner, this is Sean Carlson. I'm curious, we had a seismologist on our air. They were talking about how buildings and other things in our area aren't necessarily fitted for this kind of thing because we don't see earthquakes like this all that often. What can we do in our area that we're not already doing to prepare for this kind of thing that's not going to cost? Who knows how much money? First off, you know, earthquakes are rare in New York City and the and the and the tributtal. It doesn't mean they don't occur.

We started off the year with a small earthquake in Randall's Island. There certainly have been some large earthquakes over the last couple hundred years in this area. But it is a low likelihood that these are going to occur. With that said, I think there's a couple things. The most important thing is for people to know what to do in the case of an earthquake, right? That you stay inside, that you get under furniture, that if that's not available, you get in a doorway. If you are outside, you get away from things that could fall down like power lines that could cause damage or hurt you, that you have a plan in place to be able to check in on family and friends and loved ones that you have emergency supplies. There's a lot that people can do at the individual level to make sure that they're prepared.

And then there's a lot that the city does, right? We have protocols in place to prepare for earthquakes. We fortunately don't have to use them a lot, but we do drill them and practice them. We did a series of drills last year around earthquake preparedness at our agency and with some of our partners. And so that's one of the things that we do is make sure that even while these events might be rare, we are prepared for them through training and education and preparedness. As Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Management, I want to ask you why if the earthquake happened at 1023, the emergency alerts that we all got on our phones didn't seem to go out and take.

about 40 minutes later. Why did it take that long? So first off, there's a lot of steps that we have to go through. So number one is we have to confirm that was an earthquake. And so everybody, it's easy to say if you live in New York City, well, we felt the ground shake. It was an earthquake. We rely on our federal partners, the USGS, to confirm that an earthquake took place. That took place at around 1035. While that's going on, the number one concern we have is life safety events. So we're looking at what is the guidance that when we send the messages out that we need to let the public know, And based on the impacts we're seeing, that guidance can change, right?

So if an event like this, not a whole lot of guidance other than what to do in an earthquake, but if there are collapsed buildings, if there are gas leaks, if we need to rapidly move first responders around the city, ambulances, and fire trucks, that changes the guidance that we need to send out. There's also a translation list. And so I think the first messages went out in about 15, 20 minutes, which is pretty fast. when you consider all the steps we need to take to make sure we're putting out the right information, the right guidance, and doing everything else we need to do to make sure that we're putting out the right guidance based on the cascading impacts.

Yeah. And then the warning about aftershocks didn't go out until hours later, no? Well, that was part of the original message. It was in the link that went out. And then the other thing that we need to do is check in with our federal partners to see, you know, what are we expecting, right? So in the city, we have what we call notice events and no notice events. A notice event is one that you're aware is going to happen, right?

So you have a weather event, a coastal storm, a snowstorm. These are things that are forecasted that you prepare for ahead of time. You have things that could be a parade, a large event opening day at Yankee Stadium. Then there are no notice events that we also prepare for. These are things like acts of terrorism, building collapses, steam pipe explosion, and earthquake. And in these cases, you need to make sure that based on what the impacts are, you are sort of putting together the right information to get out to the public because it can change. Not every earthquake is the same. Not every terrorist act or mass shooting is the same. And so some of

that information is immediate. In this case, one of the things that we needed to do was check in with our partners at the federal level, USGS, to figure out what are the chances of additional seismic activity. But again, making sure that we are getting the right information before we put it up to the public is critically informed. Commissioner, we're curious about if there's anything that we can do to proactively check gas lines in the aftermath of this? Yes, so first off, con-ed, our utility partners are doing that. There have been no reported or seen impacts to the grid or to gas. But if people smell gas, they should immediately report it.

People can certainly, there is resources available for identifying gas leaks that you can find on Con Ed's website. their president spoke about that at the press conference. That is a big concern, you know, as things happen, but our utility partners are not seeing that. If you are a New Yorker and you smell gas, please report it immediately and treat it as an emergency. Don't assume that somebody else is reporting it. That's Zachary Iskell, Commissioner of New York City's Office of Emergency Management

talking with my colleagues, Sean Carlson, and Brian Lair. In non-earthquake news, a New York City street-style photographer has a photo book out this month, And it all started with an Instagram account. Stay close. A few years ago, a small Instagram account began to take off. It documents New York Street style and began to really grow coming out of the pandemic as we emerged from our sweatpants. Now, the account called Watching New York has 1.3 million followers and a coffee table book coming out later this month. WMYC's Ryan Kylath caught up with the creator.

When I catch up with Johnny Cirillo in Williamsburg, he's trading compliments with a guy in a 10-gallon hat and even bigger pants. Thank you so much for stopping. I appreciate your style. I appreciate your look. I appreciate your home by it. A few days a week, Cirillo posts up at his favorite locations, here on Bedford Avenue or on Prince Street in Soho. Pops his headphones in and starts taking pictures of people who catch his eye, about a thousand a day. I took my first photo the day that the great Bill Cunningham passed away, who he was the street fashion photographer for the New York Times who I loved. And that's kind of what sparked it, you know, that day. That was in 2016.

Sorillo shot for a year before he began archiving his favorites on Instagram. People taking risks with their style, mixing and matching vintage pieces, really standing out. The local publication Green Pointers began to pick up his photos. It stayed a hobby until an NBC segment in 2021. His following skyrocketed, and he got his first deal to shoot a clothing brand in his signature style. Within a year, watching New York was his full-time job. I like seeing reoccurring characters. That makes me really excited.

I like seeing how their personal style changes or evolves. It reminds me of characters on a TV show, this TV show that I'm looking at through this lens every day. I think he's just looking for individuality and also people that are bursting with joy. Rebecca Amior met Sorillo in the neighborhood ages ago. Their kids played together, and she watched his career grow. I think he's also looking for confidence in people, that they're willing to wear what they want to wear. Amior says Cirillo makes people feel seen. Builds up their confidence and gives them permission to experiment with their style even more.

And that's what this world needs more of, in my opinion. Watching New York, the book is out April 16th. And Johnny Cirillo will be as well. On the street, a few days a week, looking at people. and seeing them too. That's WNYC's Ryan Kyloth. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. Shout out to our production team.

It includes Sean Bowdage, Amber Bruce, Ave Carrillo, Audrey Cooper, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, and Wayne Schollmeister, with help from the entire WMYC newsroom. Our show art was designed by the folks at Buck and our music was composed, by Alexis Quadrato.

I'm Jene Pierre. Have a nice weekend. We'll be back on Monday.