Rare Earthquake Shakes East Coast

At just before two o’clock this afternoon, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the East Coast of the United States.

The quake was centered in Mineral, Virginia and occurred at a depth of approximately 3.7 miles. Shocks were felt as far south as Georgia and as far north as Ohio.

The Capital building has been cordoned off with capital police siting “infrastructure concerns”. Reports of a small fire in the Capital has yet to be substantiated, but the information on-hand says that some damage to a portion of the House side of the building may have occurred. All monuments and memorials on the Washington mall are closed and being evacuated and there is word that a single capital policeman reported that there may have been a “tilting” of the Washington monument due to the quake.

The large central hub of Washington’s D.C.’s subway and train system experienced damage as well. Large chunks of the ceiling have been  reported to have fallen.

Philadelphia held planes on a ground stop at its airports for about 20 minutes and other East Coast airports are still suspending flights.

Two nuclear reactors in Virginia had been taken offline near the epicenter. No damage has been reported at the reactors and the shutdown is part of standard operating procedure. The reactors have since been given the “all clear”.

Experts are warning of aftershocks.

There have been no reports of injuries or severe structural damage at this time, but reports from the epicenter have not yet surfaced.