An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck Tuesday afternoon near Washington, D.C., the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. The quake was four miles deep, according to the USGS. Did you feel it? Send CNN an iReport.
To get complete coverage and all the latest updates, click on CNN's main story here. View a CNN Open Story about the quake. CNN Open Story combines iReports with reports from CNNers across the globe on a map and timeline.
Update 3:36 p.m. ET: Terminal A at Washington Reagan National Airport has been evacuated because of an odor of gas, airport spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis said. Initial sweeps of the building showed no major damage from the earthquake.
Light structural damage has been reported in Culpepper and Orange counties in Virginia, said Laura Southard of the state Emergency Operations Center. She said there have been no reports of injuries in Virginia.
Update 3:28 p.m. ET: The White House and adjacent buildings evacuated as a precaution following the earthquake have been given the all-clear, the U.S. Secret Service said. The FBI and Justice Department have also reopened evacuated buildings.
Update 3:25 p.m. ET: East Coast residents should be prepared to feel aftershocks from Tuesday's earthquake, a U.S. Geological Survey official said.
Update 3:22 p.m. ET: The North Anna nuclear power plant, located 20 miles from the epicenter, is shut down and in a safe condition, a company official and the Louisa County public information office report. There has been no release of nuclear material, Louisa County spokeswoman Amanda Reidelbach said.
Update 3:04 p.m. ET: All national monuments and parks in Washington are "stable but closed" following Tuesday's earthquake, a United States Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser said. A couple of minor injuries and some minor structural damage have been reported in Washington, following Tuesday's earthquake, according to Schlosser.
Part of the central tower of the National Cathedral, the highest point in Washington, was damaged, according to spokesman Richard Weinberg. "It looks like three of the pinnacles have broken off the central tower," Weinberg told CNN.
Update 3:02 p.m. ET: Amtrak is reporting service disruptions between Washington and Baltimore because of the earthquake, the company reported on Twitter.
Aftershocks are a concern, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones told CNN. "People should be expecting (them), especially over the next hour or two," she said.
The quake was felt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. It's unknown if the president felt the quake.
The Pentagon has been evacuated, CNN's Barbara Starr reports. "When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," she said, because many people thought that the building was under attack. Starr was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.
Cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City, CNN learned within minutes of the quake.
Updated 2:47 p.m. ET: A "considerable amount" of water from a water pipe has flooded two corridors of the Pentagon, according to an announcement in the building. People who work in those areas are being asked to stay in their offices while workers try to repair the damage.
The National Cathedral in Washington is damaged, CNN has confirmed.
And Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.
Shortly after the quake struck, traders in the New York Stock Exchange also felt the quake and shouted to each other, "Keep trading!" CNN's business correspondent Alison Kosik reported from the floor at 2:20 p.m. E.T.
Twitter traffic suggests the quake was felt all over the East Coast.
In Philadelphia, HunterPence3 tweeted, "Wow Earthquake just shook the entire locker room!"
In Cleveland, "tribeinsider" wrote "I'm no expert but i think we just had an earthquake here."
And even in Toronto, Canada, tweets said that the shaking could be felt for minutes.
Pete Krech, who works at a business in Fredericksburg, Virginia, likened the sensation to being on a jolting amusement ride. "I was receiving a supply truck," said Krech, store manager at Mattress Warehouse of Fredericksburg, south of Washington. "I felt a vibration under my feet."
Brendan Wein, a sales representative at Hoffman Nursery in Roxboro, North Carolina, said he thought there was a helicopter flying above his work building. "I was literally shaking in my chair," he said.
CNN iReporter Jeff Yapalater said he was in his backyard in New York's Long Island when the earthquake hit. "Suddenly I felt this light swaying of the Earth. I'd never felt that before, so I thought maybe I was experiencing vertigo for a moment, and it lasted maybe 30 seconds ... We're feeling this really far away!" he wrote.
We had one here in Colorado late at night. A 5.3 that shook the entire house, and talk about aftershocks.... We had two in one day, but the one early in the day was nothing compared to the 5.3. Everything fell off the walls and I thought the roof was going to cave in. Wonderful way to spend a birthday – with earthquakes. But my other family lives in troy, NC and they didn't feel a thing. But it's pretty scary knowing there was one in Washington.
Harrisburg PA: The cubicles and monitors in our office building were all shaking for 10 to 15 seconds.
Some felt it here in KY
Live near Burlington Vermont and was in bed watching TV when the bed started shaking. Roommate felt her chair move and plants shake.
Felt a minor tremor in Princeton, NJ. Hope all is well.
Wow false reporting, false Tweets......the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant near Mineral shut down both reactors. They're checking for damage, so far so good, nothing unusual going on.....seriously where the hell do you get your news......
Felt it in Saratoga Springs, NY! Our building was heaving and moving for about 4 or 5 seconds.
All of us in California are laughing at how much attention this is getting! Welcome to our world!
There have been earthquakes for thousands of years, the world is not ending until religious zealots start killing other religious zealots, damn morons.
thousands? probably more like millions or billions.
felt in the Big Apple/NYC
Felt it during work here in NYC!
2:00 PM (EST) speaking with SC State Government Employee when Employee said, "Did you FEEL that?" and I said, "Yes!" (felt like TRAIN moving near my home, which is located three blocks from SC State Government Agencies)
....then Employee continues "We are being EVACUATED...will call you back!"
Local WIS-TV station told me it was EARTHQUAKE IN VIRGINIA after no news on CABLE stations at that time .
Great i was walking with my husband just across Rossylln metro Station ,Arlington Virginia when the ground shook I told him strange when metro passes it shakes the ground so much and the buildings shake too. i just wondered and we stroll around bought milk from CVS on way back to our flat. After a call from our kids we found it was earthquake... What lucky people we both are we were calm with no worry. Thanks to super power THE ONE AND ONLY ONE GOD ! May HE keeps all of us safe Ameen !
time to move to over to the belief blog malik....fear mongering runs rampant there.
This never happened when the Democrats controlled the House. Just sayin'.... 🙂
Felt it on my bike in Northern VA