*Shallow quake shakes up East Coast

Updates at bottom of post

The epicenter, between Richmond and Charlottesville, Virginia, was only three miles deep, which explains why the moderate-sized 5.9 temblor was felt in Washington and all the way up to NY. As you might expect, they're in semi-freak-out mode (favorite tweet so far is from Conor Dougherty: "When I was a kid growing up in S.F. my parents told me the East Coast didn't have earthquakes. I wonder what else they lied about"). Buildings were evacuated and NY airports were shut down to make sure there was no runway damage. A stationary camera showing the Capitol building in Washington was shaking a bit during the quake. Anyway, here's the feed from WABC, which is covering this thing pretty intensely.

*Perhaps just a coincidence, but a 5.3 quake struck the southeast corner of Colorado last night.

*Here's the feed from WRC-TV in Washington. Lots more shaking in D.C. than NY.

*From Lucy Jones, seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey: In "the East Coast you have this old hard, cold crust that does a lovely job of transmitting the waves. This large of an earthquake .... could definitely have been felt hundreds of miles away."

*12:02: Air traffic is apparently on hold in several East Coast cities.

*12:05: Another good tweet: "Californians mocking ec earthquake fever should remember how they reacted to a wkd freeway closure"

*12:15: CNN says flight operations have resumed at JFK and Newark airports.

*12:21: Another good tweet: @ModeledBehavior: "More and more scientists are questioning whether that was a real quake. It is a theory that's out there."

*12:30: Caltech folks say that the shaking was strong to very strong in a limited area in Virginia. Small population centers are mostly affected. They say the quake is not really a surprise, considering that it's a recognized earthquake zone.

*12:42: Local TV in D.C. and NY interviewing folks on what they felt - just like L.A.

*12:51: A few minor injuries and some damage in D.C. area. From Reuters:

The Washington National Cathedral, the highest building in the city, suffered damage in Tuesday's earthquake, with three pinnacles in the central tower breaking off, a spokesman said. Richard Weinberg, director of communications at the Episcopal cathedral, said a fourth pinnacle was leaning and might also be damaged. The building's central tower, which is 30 stories high, also suffered minor structural damage.

Edited post