3.1-magnitude earthquake shakes Central Jersey

A small earthquake shook central New Jersey just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, rumbling people awake from an epicenter near East Freehold.

Earthquake in Central Jersey

In a tweet early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 3.1 and occurred at a depth of 5 kilometers.

The hashtag #Earthquake was trending in the United States on Twitter as of 7:30 Wednesday morning.

Because of the high population density in the area that was shaken, user-generated reports poured in to the USGS website.

Other areas in the country

A magnitude-4.4 earthquake Tuesday night in Stanley, Idaho, generated less than 100 reports, but the Wednesday morning earthquake in New Jersey generated over 5,000 reports within hours, painting a detailed map of its extent.

According to the user-generated reports, the earthquake was felt from New York City to Philadelphia.