Funny.
This was discussed back in 2008:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26361143/ns/us_news-life/t/study-finds-new-earthquake-dangers-nyc/
New Yorkers have a much higher sensitivity for earthquakes than California residents. In December 2004, New Yorkers called police after a series of four earthquakes registering less than 1 on the Richter scale shook city neighborhoods.
Unlike California earthquakes, which stem from the collision of plates at the San Andreas Fault, the smaller 125th Street fault is not the result of any intersection of plates. In fact, New York sits squarely in the middle of the plate between the San Andreas Fault and the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which lies beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The New York fault is activated when plate movement thousands of miles to the east and west compress the 125th Street line.
New York City faced its last significant quake in 1884, when a magnitude 5.2 event off the shore of Far Rockaway, Queens, caused chimneys to fall. That quake was felt from Virginia to Maine. While such a quake is likely to occur every 100 years in New York, scientists believe, the last 120 years have featured smaller earthquakes, including two magnitude 2 events in the fall of 2001 that were felt throughout Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
Last year, a group of scientists and engineers called the New York City Area Consortium for Earthquake Loss Mitigation issued a report that outlined the potential risk and consequences of another 1884-type event. In New York City, “catastrophic events with Magnitudes 6 and larger are possibilities,” the report states. The group estimates that a moderate magnitude 6 quake at 2 p.m. would cause 1,170 deaths and close to $40 billion in damages.