Virginia Earthquake Felt in Midlands

RICHMOND, VA./CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey now says it was a 5.9 earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., that rattled the nation’s capital and much of the East Tuesday afternoon. The USGS says the earthquake was 3.7 miles deep. Shaking was felt at the White House and all over the East Coast, as far south as Chapel Hill, N.C. and as far north as Rhode Island and New York City. Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated. Residents in earthquake wary Charleston and elsewhere in South Carolina felt the earthquake centered in Virginia. Charleston businessman Chris Mettler said he was sitting at his desk Tuesday in his office building located in the city’s historic district when he felt movement side to side as if he were having a dizzy spell. He says the shaking lasted about five seconds, stopped for a second or two, and started again for three seconds. People in Rock Hill, Columbia, and other places in the northern and eastern part of the state reported shaking. No damage has been reported. Mettler, the president of an internet marketing firm, says he was nervous because Charleston was the site of an 1886 earthquake that killed more than 100 people.