Magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia felt up and down U.S. east coast, Pentagon evacuated

August 23, 2011

A 5.8 earthquake struck 4 miles southwest of, Virginia, 80 miles south of Washington D.C., at 1:51 p.m. (17:51 UTC) and lasted for 15–30 seconds. The quake had a magnitude of 5.8 with an epicenter east of, Virginia. A 2.8 aftershock was reported at 2:46 pm EDT (18:46 UTC).

According to Twitter reports, the quake was felt inland as far as Cleveland and Toronto and along the coast from Boston to Georgia. Police sergeant James Ryan, from, New Jersey stated that "The 911 line is flooding with calls right now. People want to know what happened. They want to know if there was an explosion."

The United States Capitol and in  were evacuated, as were police headquarters and city hall in New York City. Numerous minor injuries have been reported in Washington, D.C.; however, none of them are serious. There have been confirmed reports of damage at the and the. The Pentagon was also damaged when a burst pipe caused flooding. The lost offsite power and had to shut down, turning to four diesel generators to maintain cooling of the facility. Both the and  airports were briefly shut down and the control towers were evacuated. A release from Amtrak stated that trains will be operating at reduced speed, but no damage has been found on any rail lines. The is also operating on reduced speed, with some stations closed down, while lines are evaluated.

In Boston, it was reported that the building at 111 Devonshire Street appeared to be leaning onto the adjacent building at 50 Milk Street, with fears that it could collapse. The street was blocked off while the Boston Fire Department investigated. However, it was determined that the buildings had always appeared like that. Nevertheless, the Boston Fire Department investigated the roof and the inside of 111 Devonshire St. After 30 minutes, the building was determined to be safe.

This is the second strongest earthquake to originate in Virginia since records have been kept, after the one recorded on May 31, 1897, near, which was estimated at a magnitude of 5.9. The initially dropped 50 points after the earthquake struck, but later increased over 100 points.