Virginia Earthquake Shakes Georgia

Update 5:10 p.m.

Because we can't get too much of the nuclear angle, here's a report on 12 nuclear plants reporting unusual events.

And here's one more .

, proves that capitalism and drinking can't be stopped by a little thing like a natural disaster.

Finally, here's a , albeit a firsthand report passed along thirdhand (or worse).

Update 4:30 p.m.

In the "New Things to Have Nightmares About" category, here are some Patch reports about the effects on nuclear plants. Nothing Japan-like for us, but we can't say it's impossible now:

.

.

Peach Bottom, PA. (When did Pennsylvania become the Peach State?)

Lacy, NJ.

And here are .

Original Report

People across metro Atlanta and North Georgia are reporting they felt an earthquake that struck northern Virginia this afternoon just before 2.

The center of the 5.9-magnitude quake was roughly halfway between Richmond and Washington. Fredericksburg Patch is reporting .

Other Patch sites in the Washington area are reporting problems such as suspended train service and failed cellular service. .

and in Maryland have videos of the aftermath, and here's a surveillance video from Parkville, MD.

The effects were felt up the East Coast, resulting in office workers evacuating buildings at least as far north as Boston.

Closer to home, the recorded the earthquake on its seismograph about two minutes after it started at 1:51 p.m., museum curator Julian Gray said.

"A magnitude 5.9 is huge and very rare in these intercontinental locations where there are no know major faults, but they do occasionally happen," Gray said in a written statement.

People in Midtown Atlanta , Midtown Patch reports.

Did you feel anything in Marietta?

(I was in a third-floor doctor's office and felt some shaking for a few seconds around the time of the earthquake, but I thought it was just a cart or something rumbling through the hallway on the other side of the wall. Maybe I felt my first earthquake instead.)