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| Crowds of people are seen in lower Manhattan after several municipal buildings and courthouses were evacuated following a 5.9 earthquake centred in Virginia was felt in New York City yesterday |
The Pentagon, the US Capitol and monuments in the capital were all evacuated after the 5.8-magnitude quake, which lasted 20-30 seconds and had a shallow epicenter 3.7 miles (6km) underground in the state of Virginia.
The impact of the quake at 1751 GMT was felt as far as Toronto, Canada, to the north and Atlanta, Georgia, to the south. Residents in the midwestern states of Indiana and Michigan also reported feeling the quake.
The disruption to cell phone services in the hour after the quake added to the sense of fear in a country preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The temblor also hit as emergency officials warned that Hurricane Irene, which was roaring through the Atlantic, may strike the eastern US seaboard.
Washington DC fire and emergency spokesman Pete Piringer said there were “reports now of some building damage and some injuries. None appear to be serious,” and the Metro subway system said trains were slowed as a precaution.
Some buildings “have significant cracks” or fallen chimneys, Piringer said, adding that the Ecuadoran embassy was among those damaged.
The quake shut down the 1,800 megawatt North Anna nuclear power station eight miles (13km) from Mineral, Virginia, near the epicenter.
Nuclear Regulator Commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said it was the only plant to be affected, though nine nuclear plants in the region declared “unusual events,” the lowest of the four-level scale of incidents.
At North Anna, “both reactors automatically, safely shut down when the earthquake occurred,” she told AFP.
Seismologists from the US Geological Survey said the epicenter was 38 miles (61km) from Richmond, Virginia, and 84 miles (135km) from Washington, where Reagan National Airport also ordered some evacuations.
In Washington, a national park helicopter was seen circling the Washington Monument, inspecting the towering landmark for cracks.
The USGS said the earthquake was the largest in the state of Virginia since May 1897, when a 5.9 quake struck near the state’s western edge.
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 New York herded people toward local parks and away from tall buildings as precautionary checks were started.
“I was on the 20th floor of the court building and it shook like mad. Everyone is scared,” said Dan Ramater as he stood in Center Street where traffic jams quickly built up in the jittery chaos.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had just started speaking at a press conference about the sensational Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case when the building started shaking.
Fatima Richardson, 28, who was sitting on the steps of courthouse on her lunch break, said: “You could see the building moving. I was just freaking out.”
The Pentagon, the world’s biggest office building located across the Potomac from the capital, ordered a brief evacuation, which was carried out calmly.
Several hundred people streamed out of the building and officials said there was no damage other than a ruptured water line.
Jim Garamone, a Pentagon employee, said the shock evoked memories of the September 11 attack on the building.
He said that his first thought was “I hope it’s not a bomb or plane.”
In the Research Triangle area in central North Carolina, residents gearing up for the hurricane expressed surprise.
“I thought maybe it was a big truck,” library assistant Cynthia Bullock said.