Rare quake strikes US east coast

By NZ Herald staff and AP

Updated 8:29 AM Wednesday Aug 24, 2011

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A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck the US state of Virginia, forcing the evacuation of the Pentagon and US Capitol and damaging the Washington National Cathedral this morning (NZ Time).

The United States Geological Survey reported the quake struck at 1.51pm EST (5.51am NZT) and was centred 66km northwest of Richmond and 134km southwest of Washington DC, at a depth of only around 1km.

The quake is the strongest to strike the state for more than 100 years, the USGS said. Today's jolt equaled a magnitude 5.9 which hit in 1897.

"This is one of the largest earthquakes on the east coast in quite a while, in many decades at least,'' USGS spokeswoman Lucy Jones told CNN.

"It's not unprecedented. But it's one of the largest we've had there.''

The USGS said people should prepare for aftershocks, but only a shallow 2.8 magnitude aftershock has struck so far.

Kiwis shaken

New Zealander Leonie Phillips felt the earthquake in New York City.

"[It's a] totally new experience for a lot of folks here."

Phillips described it as a "slow movement" which made things rock gently.

"[It] kind of felt like you were bobbing in water for a minute - no more than that - sort of made me feel lightheaded at first as wasn't quite sure what was going on. Not anything that I've felt in the 10 plus years I've been here."

Another Kiwi, Tim Dennehy, was on the 20th floor of his office building in Boston, Massachusetts, and felt the building swaying for 8-10 seconds.

"Being from New Zealand, I knew what it was right away but co-workers around me were very nervous as this was the first earthquake for most of them," Dennehy said.

Damage in DC

The Washington National Cathedral, the highest building in the city, suffered damage with three pinnacles in the central tower breaking off, a spokesman said.

Richard Weinberg, director of communications at the Episcopal cathedral, said a fourth pinnacle was leaning and might also be damaged. The building's central tower, which is 30 stories high, also suffered minor structural damage.

Via Twitter, the Washington DC Fire Department confirmed there was also damage to the Ecuadorian embassy, a home for returned servicemen and several school, and buildings in the country's capital were being assessed.

The Fire Department said most downtown buildings had been evacuated as a result of the quake - which was felt as far away as Toronto in Canada - however there no reports of serious injuries.

All memorials and monuments on the National Mall were evacuated and have closed, while the Pentagon and Capitol Building in Washington were also evacuated, as were courthouses in New York City.

US aviation authorities also evacuated control towers at JFK and Newark airports.

At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. Authorities announced it was an earthquake and all flights were put on hold.

Flights have since resumed, Reuters reported.

Reactors taken offline

Two nuclear reactors at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Virginia, near the epicentre, were automatically taken off line by safety systems around the time of the earthquake, an official said.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah says the agency was not immediately aware of any damage at the nuclear power plants.

Hanna said he knows of no other reactor shutdowns but that unusual events were reported at a dozen other plant sites.

In Charleston, West Virginia, hundreds of workers left the state Capitol building and employees at other downtown office buildings were asked to leave temporarily.

"The whole building shook,'' said Jennifer Bundy, a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court. "You could feel two different shakes. Everybody just kind of came out on their own.''

New York city puts 9-11 procedures in place

In New York, thousands of people poured onto the streets as evacuation procedures put into place after September 11 attacks were activated.

"I was in the street when the ground shook and I looked up to see the building shaking like a tuning fork,'' Mary Daley told AFP below one Wall Street skyscraper.

Police in the city herded people toward local parks away from tall buildings as precautionary checks were started, following procedures put into place after the attacks ten years ago.

"I was on the 20th floor of the court building and it shook like mad. Everyone is scared,'' Dan Ramater said as he stood in Center Street where traffic jams quickly built up in the chaos.

However on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, traders felt the quake and shouted to each other "keep trading", CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosick reported.

Blocks away, Juan Ramos, an office worker in Lower Manhattan was dazed and confused after giving blood.

"I saw my cup of coffee shaking but I thought nothing of it. I had just donated blood so I thought I had not recovered my equilibrium,'' he told AFP.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami was not expected as a result of the quake, although in coastal areas of intense shaking locally generated tsunami can be triggered by underwater landslides.

PTWC director Paul Whitmore said the centre has gauges up and down the East Coast and none of them were detecting tsunami activity.

By NZ Herald staff and AP

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