I thought the Great East Coast Earthquake of O’ Eleven was the FedEx truck and dashed to catch it. No packages! Here in Pittsburgh, I seem to be far from the epicenter; reports from D.C. suggest a larger local tremor, hitting at 1:51 p.m. Reports are coming in from as far south as the Carolinas.
Update: 2:10 p.m. Wire reports have it as a 5.8 magnitude quake centered on Virginia.
Update: 2:14 p.m. Reuters reports it at 5.9: “The earthquake was centered in Mineral, Virginia, which is 92 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was initially reported at 5.8 magnitude. The quake had a very shallow depth of 0.6 miles.”
Update: 2:17 p.m. A good source for official news would be the USGS twitter account, which points to this preliminary seismological report.
Update: 2:22 p.m. The Pentagon and other capitol buildings evacuated, says Reuters.
Update: 2:30 p.m. The AP says there are no immediate reports of injuries and has quotes from folks around the region, including some rattled air traffic controllers. It was also the worst quake on record in the D.C. region, beating a 3.6 shake two years ago.
Update: 2:41 p.m. Here’s a description of the local fault. [Thanks, Penguinchris!]
Update: 2:55 p.m. Federal officials have taken two nuclear reactors in the region offline, but stress that no damage was reported to them. CNN reports: “Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.”
Update: 2:57 p.m. Fox News reports that there “is concern” that the Washington monument is tilting. Perhaps someone should take a look at it.
Tell the USGS if you felt it! It’s already put up a fascinating visualisation of the reported severity of the quake by zipcode.