Melrose Feels Virginia Earthquake: Did You?

Editor's note: This article was updated on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.

Melrose residents reported feeling the rumbles of an earthquake that struck on Tuesday afternoon, although shaking was minimal in the city and there were no reports of any damage.

At approximately 1:51 p.m. on Tuesday, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck at an epicenter 41 miles northwest of Richmond, VA, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) website. People can also report feeling the earthquake on the USGS website.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia reported that the epicenter is not far from Dominion Virginia Power's North Anna nuclear plant, where the earthquake knocked out power, but the utility manually shut down both nuclear units without incident.

According to CNN, the Pentagon was evacuated and cell phone service has been disrupted in New York City, where parts of Manhattan have been evacuated.

Some buildings in Boston were temporarily evacuated as well for precautionary reasons, according to police radio reports.

Melrose reactions

Melrosian Jon Cincotta, in Boston at the time the earthquake struck, told Melrose Patch via Twitter that "I didn't feel anything, only two streets over from Devonshire [Street]. I'm ground level, people above said the building was swaying."

Jonathan Goldblith wrote on Melrose Patch's Facebook Page, "I'm a former Melrosian living in Frederick, MD. Things were shaking, pictures all askew, things falling over."

In Melrose, people reported feeling the earthquake, but minimal shaking and no damage.

"My chair shook a bit and that was it," said Brigid Alverson, aide to Mayor Rob Dolan in City Hall. "We definitely felt it, but no damage that we know of."

John Preziosa wrote on Twitter, "I thought a landscaping truck just drove by the house and hit a pothole. Come to find out it was an 'earthquake.'" Also on Twitter, John Panasuk reported that his mother felt the quake near the station.

Anne Clark reported on Melrose Patch's Facebook page, "Thought it was a freight train coming but no noise." Also on Facebook, Michelle Carson wrote, "My cousin is in the area (of Virginia) and he just posted ... said they stood in doorways and books fell off shelves and all that."

'Unusually large' quake for the east coast

Karen Fischer, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University, said the size of the Virginia earthquake was unusually large for the east coast, though its far-reaching aftershocks were to be expected.

“The difference is, when an earthquake of this size occurs in the eastern US, its waves are felt over a much larger area than if it happened in the western US,” she said.

Earthquakes on the west coast tend to have a number of natural buffers, she said—most of the area sits on a plate boundary, and the quakes can bring molten material closer to the surface which can act as a natural buffer to shocks.

“When an earthquake happens on the East Coast, they are able to transmit ... over larger distances, even though the earthquake may be the same size,” she said.