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.
I was sleeping and woke up to my headboard, bed and windows shaking!
Things fell off the wall.
Everyone in the apartment buildings ran outside.
I'm in Greenbelt, Maryland, like 15 minutes from DC.
Quake in D.C. – has to be Obama's "Fault"
Can't be his fault, it wasn't *in* D.C. 😀
He isnt "in" DC either... he is on vacation AGAIN
Felt a slight tremor just before 2pm in Lima, Ohio, an hour north of Dayton.
Felt it Entebbe, Uganda too
was sitting outside in the sun and felt it. For 30+ seconds. Thought it was one of "ours". Then went inside and heard the news. Hendersonville NC (WNC)
felt an evacuation in my pants.......
5.9 , 5.7 , I guess they are still calculating the number ......
On the west coast it would barely wake up the baby !!!!!!!
Now that it appears every is okay for the most part, someone please check on the Liberty Bell in Philly. If that thing has a crack in it from this it will just ruin my day.
We felt it in Terra Alta, West Virginia!!!
How boring of you.
Per Wikipedia (i.e. on the first page that Google brings up), I find that Virginia had two earthquakes (4.3 and 5.9 magnitude) in 1897, a 4.5 in 2003 and 4 earthquakes over 4.0 between 1774 and 1852. This is no great sinister portent, just a continuation of how the earth works.
This is very true. It is still surprising and relatively rare for a 5.9 to hit the east coast, and due to the tectonic plates under this part of North America being smooth, it's NOT surprising that most of the east coast was able to feel it. It's definitely the earth continuing to do its thing, but it's still strange when it happens.
I'm 12 n I just felt the kitchen shake.
A 5.8 with an EXTREMELY SHALLOW DEPTH OF ONLY 4 MILES, you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
@TicTacTosh: I'm also in the Toronto vicinity and definitely felt it. You probably didn't if you were in a basement apartment or other low building. It obviously wasn't as strong as it was in Virginia and DC, but there was definite shaking.
I felt it in Peachtree City, GA (south of Atlanta). I was working on my computer and felt slightly dizzy. When I looked up, my window blinds were swaying.
Are they teaching English on that channel?