SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:'The surgeon sort of froze': Man getting vasectomy during earthquake Friday recounts experience

The SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank CenterEast Coast was caught by surprise when a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the New Jersey region Friday morning.

While plenty of people took to social media to discuss feeling unprepared and surprised by the temblor, one man may trump them all - after all, he was in the middle of receiving a vasectomy when the shaking began.

Justin Allen of Horsham, Pennsylvania was attending his scheduled appointment at the Urology Health Surgery Center in Huntingdon Valley when he felt the whole room start shaking - right in the middle of the procedure.

Live updates:4.8 magnitude earthquake rattles NYC, New Jersey

"The surgeon sort of froze and all of us kind of seemed a bit confused," he told USA TODAY. At first, Allen thought the shaking was caused by a train passing by or some sort of issue in the building itself and assumed it was a common occurrence. It was only when his doctor said something he realized it might have been Mother Nature.

"Even when the surgeon said 'that’s gotta be an earthquake,' I thought he was joking," he said.

Everyone involved took a moment of pause after the shaking stopped, Allen said, as his doctor had only been about midway through when the quake occurred. Once everything had settled down, he said, everyone couldn't help but laugh.

"It was an experience none of us would ever forget," he said. "Everything went smoothly and we were able to get the procedure completed, but it was something that we couldn’t help but laugh about the whole rest of the way."

'A clear and obvious sign'

After finishing with the surgery, Allen grabbed his phone and sent the now-viral post on X, formerly Twitter, thinking a few of his friends would see it and laugh. Instead, his post has now been viewed by more than 3.2 million people and counting.

"I did laugh at a lot of the initial responses but had to mute the notifications after they got overwhelming," he said. "There were definitely a lot of inappropriate jokes... but in general, there were mostly funny replies and quotes."

After sending his initial post, which simply reads "A (EXPLETIVE) EARTHQUAKE HAPPENED IN THE MIDDLE OF MY VASECTOMY," his wife, Bridget Allen, responded on her own account, posting photos of him posing outside the clinic, all thumbs up and smiles.

The lesson the couple has gathered from the experience?

"My wife says that 'this is a clear and obvious sign that we should not have any more kids,'" Allen said.