Earthquake strikes US east coast

Residents in New York spoke about the quake which was caught on camera in Washington and at a media briefing in NYC

    A magnitude-5.9 earthquake has rattled the east coast of the United States.

The quake was felt in Washington, where the Pentagon and US Capitol building were evacuated, as well as in New York.
The Washington National Cathedral and the Ecuadorean embassy were among buildings damaged, although there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Federal officials said two nuclear reactors had been taken offline near the epicentre of the quake in Virginia but that no damage had been reported.
The quake struck at a depth of 3.7 miles (6km), the US Geological Survey said, and its epicentre was about 9 miles from the town of Mineral, in the state of Virginia.
An initial measurement of 5.8 was later upgraded.
Flights on hold The tremor shook Washington DC for about 30 seconds, causing office buildings to sway and houses to shake.
The streets of the city filled with evacuated workers minutes after the quake, and police moved swiftly to cordon off key government institutions, restricting access to federal buildings on Capitol Hill.

Television monitors and lights swayed for about 30 seconds as the quake rumbled away, and the mobile phone network showed intermittent service for some time afterwards.
"When it started, it felt like someone was moving furniture next door," Peter Walker told the BBC from Washington.
"Things began to shake even more and so everyone rushed out into the corridor.
"The alarm went off and the building was evacuated. After an hour we were all sent home.
"There are traffic jams all over the city. The metro is really crowded and so some people are walking or cycling home."
Cathedral damaged Reports said the tremor was felt as far north as Boston and in North and South Carolina in the south.
In Charlottesville, Virginia. some 35 miles from the epicentre, resident Deb Godden said: "Our top floor apartment shook like crazy and there was a big roaring noise all around us. After that there was silence."

Juan Ramos New York City

Flights from New York's John F Kennedy and Newark airports were delayed while authorities checked for damage from the quake, but later resumed.

The Associated Press said flights out of Reagan National Airport were also put on hold.
The Amtrak passenger train network slowed its trains in its busy northeastern routes, and advised passengers to expect delays.
In Washington, the Metro public transportation system was running trains at 15mph (24.1km/h) while workers inspected the tracks, and likewise said customers should expect delays.
Neither system reported injuries.
Reports of minor damage began to trickle in minutes after the quake struck.
At the National Cathedral in north-west Washington, the highest building in the US capital city, three pinnacles in the central tower snapped off and a fourth was leaning. The 30-storey high central tower suffered minor structural damage.

 

 

Workers evacuated from their offices gathered in the Washington streets

Also, the embassy of Ecuador was reported to have suffered major damage.
9/11 procedures Nuclear reactors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland were undamaged, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
In Charleston, West Virginia, hundreds of workers left the state Capitol building.
"The whole building shook," a spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court said. "You could feel two different shakes. Everybody just kind of came out on their own."
The AFP news agency said procedures put in place after the 9/11 attacks were activated in New York when the quake hit. Police guided people to local parks and away from tall buildings.
One witness told AFP she saw a Wall Street skyscraper "shaking like a tuning fork".
Another said the 20th floor of the court building he was on "shook like mad" and that everyone was scared.
Fatima Richardson, 28, who was sitting on the steps of a courthouse said: "You could see the building moving. I was just freaking out."
'The building's shaking' Lower Manhattan office worker Juan Ramos told AFP he was 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 said.
The quake disrupted a news conference on the Dominic Strauss-Kahn affair given by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
"To deprive a defendant of his liberty, guilt has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt," Mr Vance said.
"For generations, this standard has protected... What's happening?... The whole building's shaking... Okay, okay, I've been through earthquakes in Seattle... Slowly, slowly, don't rush."

Posted in: US