According to the U.S. Geological Survey website and wire reports, what was going on, was a 5.9-magnitude quake that struck about 34 miles west of Richmond, Virginia, sending tremors up the coast to D.C., Philly and New York.
And to that one Tweeter who felt President Obama was conspicuous by his absence in the capital, hold your horses. The president and his family, vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, might have even felt a little shaking, along with those living in parts of Rhode Island and Vermont. Yep, the tremors reached all the way up there, and out west to parts of West Virginia and Ohio. Airports grounded East Coast-bound flights, though Philly International is back up and running after being closed briefly to inspect whether there was damage to the runways.
Those D.C. seemed to be the most shaken up -- literally -- being so close to the epicenter of the quake. Communications were down, too, as emergency switchboards were jammed with people calling to ask just what the heck was going on.
In New York, several buildings were evacuated. Wobbling was felt in some of the taller buildings, according to reports, and people seemed more than just a little put out by the phenomenon.
"Sitting through earthquakes -- not my job description," one New Yorker groused on Facebook.
So far, there are no reports of injuries or damages in Philly or New York. In Philly, the Comcast Center is closed and all City Council employees sent home for the day, and SEPTA is running behind schedule (usually don't need an earthquake for that to happen). Mayor Nutter gave the all-clear for city workers to resume their duties and there WILL be baseball tonight at Citizens' Bank Park.
Things seem to be going back to normal in New York, too. In D.C., where the quake hit hardest, there are several reports of injuries, but nothing life-threatening. The USGS says to expect aftershocks, but they likely won't be anywhere close to the scale of what was experienced on Tuesday.
The biggest concern in D.C., at this point, is the lag time in getting in touch with someone the old-fashioned way -- on the phone. A D.C. Facebooker complained that she could not reach her mother to let her know she was all right because she could not get a signal to her cellphone. But it was all right -- her mother was one of her Facebook friends and left a smiley face and a "Whew!" on her daughter's wall to let her know the message had been received.
