Earthquake Hits East Coast of US, 5.9 in DC, Capitol and Pentagon Evacuated

Many East Coast residents experienced their first notable earthquake today, and the Capitol and Pentagon were evacuated in the minutes following the tremor.

Information is filtering in from news sources and social networks, with many users reporting the quake from points south of Virginia to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange reported feeling the quake, and buildings in major cities across the Eastern seaboard saw building evacuations due to fears of less strict building codes than on the more quake-prone West Coast.

Major news networks are reporting a magnitude of 5.9 for the quake in DC, close to the tremor’s epicenter in Mineral, Virginia. JFK International Airport in Queens has been shut down in the earthquake’s wake. The WSJ is reporting that the quake was several orders of magnitude stronger than the last of its type- which, at the time, was the strongest quake in the area’s history:

Tuesday’s earthquake was 100 times stronger than an earthquake last July, also near Washington, D.C., which at the time was the largest earthquake in D.C. history.

No major damage has been reported yet in relation to the tremor, nor have any deaths or injuries been associated with the incident.

Did you feel the East Coast Earthquake?