Earthquake in Boston!

Reports: Boston feels effects of 5.8-magnitude Va. quake

BREAKING NEWS2:04 PM ET
Earthquake Strikes East Coast; Epicenter Near Richmond, Va., U.S. Geological Survey Says

An earthquake centered in Virginia shook the Eastern Seaboard just before 2 p.m., and was felt as a rumble lasting
several seconds in the Boston area. Some buildings in Boston were evacuated, while officials checked for damage.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 5.9 on the Richter scale and was centered 83 miles southwest
of Washington, D.C.

There were no immediate reports of damage in Boston, Boston police said.

The quake could be felt at the Globe offices in Dorchester and at Boston City Hall.

Hundreds of people walked out of US District Court in South Boston after having been ordered to evacuate the building.

“We have nothing happening unusual yet,’’ said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald, who also said
dispatchers felt the temblor.

“The phones are ringing off the hook,” said Mary Lynn Bibeau, administrator at Boston College’s Weston Observatory,
Boston College’s geophysical observatory.

The quake prompted immediate reaction in Washington, where office buildings emptied out and the Pentagon and Capitol
were evacuated. Reagan National Airport also was briefly shut down, one CNN producer reported via Twittter.

this is my 2nd earthquake, but the first one i was awake for...

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 struck near Washington, D.C., the U.S.Geological
Survey said.

The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. Did you feel it? Send CNN an iReport.

The quake was felt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts,
where President Barack Obama is vacationing. Cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City part
of which has been evacuated.

Traders in the New York Stock Exchange felt the shaking and shouted to each other, "Keep trading!" CNN's
business correspondent Alison Kosick reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T.

"Everybody was told to take the stairs," Wolf Blitzer said, speaking live at 2 p.m. E.T. from CNN's D.C. bureau.

The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently,
hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack.
Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.

Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.

In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"

In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."

And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.

Massachusetts is located in a “moderate” earthquake zone. Although they cause only mild to insignificant damage,
we experience several small tremors every year.

Scientists cite the Cape Ann Earthquake of 1755 (with a magnitude of 6.0) as the last major earthquake to cause
significant damage in Massachusetts.

My dog never even twitched an ear either.