The View‘s Joy Behar and her cohosts were left stunned when an emergency earthquake alert sent out to New York City residents on Friday interrupted the live broadcast of the ABC morning show.
As Joy, 81, opened the latest episode, she joked: ‘We’re alive and live from New York, where we just had a 4.8 earthquake,’ referring to the incident which occurred at 10:23 a.m. and was felt in NYC as well as in New Jersey, Virginia and Philadelphia.
‘Did you all feel it?’ she asked the live studio audience as some replied ‘yes’ and some replied ‘no,’ which led her cohost, Alyssa Farah Griffin, to joke: ‘It’s like half and half!’
As Sara Haines went to make a comment, the panel’s cell phones started beeping really loudly as the New York City alert came through warning people to ‘remain indoors’ and only ‘call 911 if injured.’
The View’s Joy Behar was stunned during Friday’s episode when an emergency earthquake alert interrupted the live broadcast
Joy, 81, quickly passed her cell phone to co-host Sara Haines and shouted: ‘Make it stop’
Ana Navarro read the emergency alert out live on air which told NYC residents to ‘stay indoors’
As the hosts, including Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin, quickly grabbed their cell phones, the television show went silent for a moment as Joy passed her phone to 46-year-old Sara and shouted: ‘Stop it! Make it stop!’
As mother-of-three Sara attempted to close all of the tabs on Joy’s phone, she remarked: ‘Jeez, how many things do you have open?’
The emergency alert was sent out almost an hour after an unexpected earthquake hit the Northeast.
‘4.7 magnitude earthquake has occurred in the NYC area,’ the alert read.
‘Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 if injured.’
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the quake, which the agency revealed was actually 4.8 in magnitude, was centered near Lebanon, New Jersey.
The Fire Department of New York said there were no initial reports of damage.
The epicenter of the quake was near Readington in Hunterdon County, according to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
The emergency alert came through on cell phones about 30 minutes after the earthquake happened
Joy and the panel asked the live studio audience if they had felt the earthquake
The amber alert included a link to an article with safety instructions for when an earthquake occurs.
A follow-up emergency alert was sent out at 11:46 am, updating New Yorkers as to what to expect.
‘Aftershocks may be felt. New Yorkers can continue usual activities,’ the alert said.
The USGS article instructed those experiencing an earthquake indoors to stay in the building they are in.
‘Get under a desk or table and hang on to it or move into a hallway or against an inside wall,’ the post read.
