5.9 earthquake in Virginia felt in New York City, South Carolina

WASHINGTON — A 5.9 earthquake in Virginia was felt Tuesday in Washington D.C.,  New York City, and South Carolina.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was 3.7 miles deep. Shaking was felt at the White House and all over the East Coast, as far south as Florence and Myrtle Beach. Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated. The quake was in Mineral, Va., in Louisa County.

U.S. Officials say there is no threat of a tsunami along the east coast as a result of the earthquake. Tsunami Warning Center Director Paul Whitmore said the center has gauges up and and down the east coast and none of them were detecting tsunami activity.

Cell phone service for Verizon Wireless and AT&T customers is stalled because of congested networks.

Residents of the Pee Dee who felt a mild shaking of the earth beneath their feet shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday really were experiencing an earthquake. It was the effects of a magnitude 5.8 (Richter Scale) earthquake whose epicenter was located near Louisa, Va., in the north central part of that state. The quake forced the evacuations of all the memorials and monuments on the National Mall in Washington and rattled nerves from South Carolina to Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts island where President Obama is vacationing.

Land and cell phone communication in the Mid-Atlantic states ground to a halt shortly after the quake struck, as people frantically dialed each other, checking on safety and trying to figure out just what happened. At least a few wondered if the quake effects were part of some kind of a terrorist attack.

Damage appeared to be minimal — only minor injuries were reported, even in cities close to the epicenter — despite the fact that the quake was fairly powerful and struck in the midst of a heavily populated area. That is typical for East Coast quakes, where fault lines run deeper than they do on the West Coast. The depth of the quake also accounts in part for its widespread effects. Quakes running along deep fault lines travel farther, seismologists said.

Erin Butel, of the College of Charlestion’s seismology center, said the quake was definitely felt in Charleston, although she said she didn’t feel it herself. CofC officials were still gathering data from the college’s seismometer Tuesday evening and couldn’t say just how powerful the quake was in South Carolina.

Officials with the S.C. Emergency Management Division said there were reports of quake effects from various parts of the state. But spokesperson Joe Farmer said it didn’t appear to have been felt everywhere.

“We heard about it,” Farmer said. “There’s no damage that we’ve heard of.’”

Spokespeople for Progress Energy and Duke Energy said all six of the state’s nuclear reactors stayed online during the quake. Two Virginia reactors were taken off line via an automatic reaction to the quake. They were powered by diesel generators during the outage.

In Florence, the county’s 911 Dispatch Center in Effingham was flooded with calls about the earthquake, Florence County Emergency Preparedness Director Dusty Owens said.

“Between people calling because they felt something and people calling because of all the alarms it set off, the dispatch center lit up like a Christmas tree,” Owens said. “It was felt across the county. It was felt on the ground level, but from what we're hearing, people on the upper floors of buildings like at the city-county complex felt it more. It seems the higher up you were, the more of a sway factor you got.”

There's no reported injuries or structure damage along the Grand Strand or Pee Dee. Minimal damage was reported in Virginia where the earthquake hit.

Owens said having tremors felt along the East Coast during an earthquake is common.