A magnitude 5.9 earthquake started in Virginia at 1:51 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Shakes were felt in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and New York, according to CNN.
Fox News reported that most of downtown D.C. including the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon has been evacuated, as well as the FBI building in New York. No injuries or damage have been reported.
Before news sources could confirm the earthquake, twitter was bombarded with tweets of users feeling the earth shake:
- @JessekaPatch 1:53pm via HootSuite: I think there was just an #earthquake in Philly. My entire house just shook.
- @douglastallman 1:54pm via Web: Felt a lot of shaking for about 10-15 seconds in Arlington.
- @ManassasPkPatch 1:54pm via HootSuite: Reports of houses shaking in Manassas, Manassas Park, earthquake?
- @tomfitzgerald 1:55pm via TweetDeck: whoa - earthquake in Delran, NJ falling dishes
- @BuxMontNews 1:57pm via Web: Birds stopped chirping then about 15 to 30 seconds of shaking in Upper Southampton @USHamptonPatch @phillywx
- @ariannahuff 1:57pm via Web: did you feel earthquake in ny? It started in richmond va! #nyc#earthquake
- @BethesdaPatch 1:58pm via HootSuite: If anyone knows who to call to confirm an earthquake, please LMK. Ground shook pretty hard in Bethesda.
- @NBCNews 2:01pm via Web: Earthquake centered near near Charlottesville, VA - estimated 5.8 on the Richter scale. Felt up and down the east coast. More on @msnbctv.
- @LevittownPatch 2:02pm via Twitter: I swear I just felt an earthquake in Levittown. Others said they felt one too. Have you? Tell me about it: saliqa.khan@patch.com.
- @triangletrev 2:02pm via Web: I definitely just felt that #earthquake here in Fishtown. Hope everyone's ok in VA and everywhere else.
- @DoylestownPatch 2:02pm via Twitter for iPhone: I'm in OCMD and we just felt a small #earthquake at the beach.
- @WarminsterPatch 2:02pm via foursquare: Just felt the earth move. Reports say 5.8 earthquake started in Virginia. (@ Starbucks w/ @USHamptonPatch) 4sq.com/ntIXCv
- @MontcoAlerts 2:21pm via HootSuite:@hatboropatch felt it here in montgomery county,lansdale,upper dublin,montgomery twp and east norrtion.
What other issues are you experiencing?
One plus...Obama's golf game was not disrupted at all!
Resident said, " I think were all in trouble now." Thankfully not the case.
Looking in the rear view mirror to see who was doing it, and seiing no one, my next thought was an earthquake. Sure enough 5 minutes later news reports started coming in over the radio. My T-Mobile phone was out for hours.