The strongest quake to strike the eastern America in more than a century has rattled offices in the US capital, forcing authorities to evacuate buildings as far as New York and shut down two nuclear power plants.
The Indian Embassy, the Pentagon and the US capital were among the well-known buildings in Washington that were evacuated yesterday during the earthquake measuring 5.8 on Richter Scale, which is the strongest since 5.9 magnitude quake in May 1897.
According to the US Geological Survey, the quake had its centre at 54 km from Richmond in Virginia and 139 km from Washington.
Though no casualty or major damage was reported, officials said the National Monument may have been damaged, while the National Cathedral’s central tower was damaged.
The century-old historic building near Dupoint Circle in Washington, which houses the Indian Embassy to the US, was reported to be safe, even as occupants of the building rushed out of it as they felt the shocks last afternoon.
No damage was reported to the nearly half-a-dozen Hindu temples and gurudrawas in the Greater Washington Area.
Shocks of the earthquake were also felt as far as Martha’s Vineyard where the President, Mr Barack Obama, is on a vacation.
Mr Obama was briefed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the earthquake soon thereafter.
“The President was told that there are no initial reports of major infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance,” a media release said.
Immediately after the earthquake there was panic in Washington as people inside all the major buildings including Pentagon, the State Department and the White House came out.
In Pentagon, a water pipe on the building’s third floor burst, but plant engineers were able to stop the deluge.
“Though there are no early reports of major damage or requests for assistance at this time, preliminary damage assessments are currently taking place in all the affected states and we will continue to work closely with their emergency management officials,” said FEMA spokesperson, Mr Rachel Racusen.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it is monitoring an Alert at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia, following the earthquake in central Virginia.
North Anna declared its Alert, the second-lowest of the NRC’s four emergency classifications, when the plant lost electricity from the grid following the quake that lasted about a minute which was felt around two in the afternoon.
Phone lines too jammed for sometime as people tried to reach out to their friends and family to inquire about the incident.
New Jersey state police acting Lieutenant, Stephen Jones, said there were no immediate reports of any serious injuries in New Jersey.
New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said official buildings like City Hall were evacuated when the tremors were felt but people quickly returned to work.
“Like people up and down the East Coast, New Yorkers across the five boroughs felt the effect of this afternoon’s earthquake in Virginia. Thankfully, there are no reports of significant damage or injuries in New York City at this time,” Mr Bloomberg said in a statement.
The Mayor said he was sitting at his desk when the building began to shake. He said he did not think that the building was shaking because of any terrorist act.
“Terrorism doesn’t start with a small vibration and then peter out, unfortunately,” he said.
“The good news is we invest an awful lot of money in our infrastructure, in our support services, in our training of first responders,” he added.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s scheduled press conference on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s sexual assault case was disrupted when the floor began shaking.
Reporters and others present in the room ran out of the building and the DA’s security team escorted Mr Vance and the others out of the room.
Mr Vance tried to calm people in the room saying he has experience of such tremors from living in Seattle.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that there were no reports of damage to buildings, bridges, roads, power grids, the Indian Point nuclear power plant, or other infrastructure.