D.C., N.Y. buildings evacuate as quake felt across East

WASHINGTON — An earthquake in central Virginia was felt across much of the East Coast on Tuesday, causing light damage and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate buildings in New York, Washington and other cities.


No tsunami warning was issued, but air and train traffic was disrupted across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

In the Washington area, parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were among the areas evacuated. All memorials and monuments on the National Mall were evacuated and closed for inspections. Most areas had reopened after several hours.

At the Pentagon, a low rumbling built and built to the point that the building shook. People ran into the corridors of the government's biggest building and as the shaking continued there were shouts of "Evacuate! Evacuate!"

The quake even broke a water main inside the Pentagon, flooding parts of two floors, NBC reported.

"We were rocking," said Larry Beach, who works at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington. "It was definitely significant."

Initial damage reports from Washington included Ecuador's embassy and the central tower at the National Cathedral, where three pinnacles on the 30-story-tall tower broke off.


Centered some 90 miles south of the nation's capital, the quake was a magnitude 5.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday after an earlier estimate of 5.9.

The quake was tied for third strongest along the East Coast in recorded history, USGS records show. Charleston, S.C., was hit by a 7.3 in 1886 and Giles County, Va., saw a 5.9 in 1897. A 5.8 quake struck New York state in 1944.

Two nuclear reactors near the epicenter were taken offline as a precaution, officials said. No damage was reported at either.

At the U.S. Capitol, light fixtures swung and the building shook for about 15 seconds while the tremor hit, NBC News reported.

"I thought at first somebody was shaking my chair and then I thought maybe it was a bomb," said Senate aide Wendy Oscarson-Kirchner.


At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. All flights were put on hold and one terminal was evacuated due to a gas smell.

Mary Altaffer / AP
Children are evacuated from the Jacob K. Javits Federal building in New York on Tuesday after the earthquake.

In New York City, NBC reported debris fell from the attorney general's office, causing a brief panic as people ran from the area.
Quake interrupts Manhattan for a New York minute

Airport towers and government buildings in New York, including City Hall, were evacuated. The 26-story federal courthouse in lower Manhattan began swaying and hundreds of people were seen leaving the building.

Flights from the New York area's John F. Kennedy and Newark airports were delayed while authorities inspected control towers and runways. Philadelphia's airport also halted flights for inspections.