5.9 Earthquake Hits East Coast; Parts Of White House & Pentagon Evacuated
Aug. 23 2011, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
By Breaking Celebrity News Staff
A rare East coast earthquake shook Washington D.C. at around 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, reaching 5.9 on the Richter scale, Breaking Celebrity News can report.
According to AP reports, both the Pentagon, the White House and many buildings along Capital Hill were evacuated in fear of after shocks.
The epicenter of the quake was in Mineral, Virginia and shocks were reportedly felt as far north as New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto and Martha's Vineyard, where President Barack Obama is currently vacationing and was playing golf at the time.
It is the strongest earthquake to be based in Virginia since 1897.
As the ten year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, many people in the nation's capital feared that the tremors were caused by a terrorist attack.
"When the building began shaking rather violently, hundreds of people began streaming out," reported CNN's Barbara Starr, who was standing in the Pentagon's press office when the roof started to shake.