Earthquake Hits Centreville

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rolled through Centreville, throughout Northern Virginia and along the East Coast on Tuesday afternoon. 

For some Centreville residents, the quake was little more than a momentary shaking, a puzzling disruption to the day. For others, it was a frightening, dangerous experience. 

Bill Gipson, a drilling contractor for Wolverine Contracting, felt the quake while in eastbound lanes of traffic on Interstate 66, near Exit 52. “I was sitting in traffic and the truck just started shaking and rocking back and forth,” he said. “I took my CD out and the radio was talking about an earthquake.”

After the shaking stopped, Gipson, of Centreville, was able to make it back home without incident. It was at least as bad as some of the earthquakes he had experienced while living in California, he said.

Signe Friedrichs, of the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce, was in her Chantilly office when the earthquake hit. 

“The whole building shook like it was made out of jello and we all headed for the doors,” Friedrichs said. Although the shaking seemed severe, it did not appear that the building sustained any type of damage. 

In a polling precinct at , roughly a dozen people temporarily evacuated the building. It had been a particularly quiet morning as 35 voters trickled in to cast their ballots in the primary elections. All of a sudden a rumbling hit the building. The handful of people in the room stood completely still in shock as the TV quivered on the wall.

"Was that an earthquake?" someone finally asked, a few seconds after the shaking stopped. 

On Facebook, Patch readers shared their experiences in the quake. Like the people at Colin Powell, some were not sure what had happened. Joy Mowry Schwartz was at her Centreville home when the shaking started. "Completely thought it was a jumbo jet coming in, which is not unusual because we're on the flight path" for Dulles Airport, she wrote. Aisha Jamil, also in Centreville, thought at first that it might have been a jackhammer or a lawn mower of sorts. "I quickly realized that it was an earthquake because I was in the one in L.A. back in 94," she wrote. 

Greg Cook, of Newgate, said he was at home when he saw chandeliers in his house start to sway back and forth and the cabinet doors open and close. “We didn’t know what it was at first,” Cook said.

He drove to Burke Tuesday afternoon to fix a water leak at his parent house that had sprung after the earthquake hit, he said.

Inside , shelves trembled but nothing of value tumbled to the floor, employees said.

Scott Carrico, a Giant employee, was in Gainesville at the time of the earthquake at a friend’s house. “We felt the shaking and we thought maybe a helicopter got too close to the house or something,” he said. “We thought it can’t be an earthquake because you don’t get those in Northern Virginia.”

Fairfax County officials say that at this time there is no known infrastructure damage. However, the Fairfax County Courthouse and Massey building are closed for the day. Some people (including this reporter) temporarily reported loss of cell phone service and/or internet. After Fairfax County sports and school activities are also cancelled. Polling places inside school buildings remain open. 

Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson Mary Shaw said that the system has received a number of damage reports from some public schools and that those schools would be evaluated today. If the schools need additional work, they will be closed until the work is completed. Inspectors will examine all public schools this week, she said. 

Governor Bob McDonnell issued a statement saying that state, federal and local agencies are assessing the situation to evaluate the damage 

“As part of this effort we are in touch with officials around the state," McDonnell said. "All indications are that emergency response plans and orderly evacuations have gone well today, and I thank all involved. In the wake of the earthquake, I would like to encourage all Virginians to check on neighbors and loved ones to ensure that everyone is safe and to continue cooperating with law enforcement and emergency responders working in your neighborhood."

To read news about the earthquake from around Northern Virginia, "like" Patch's Northern Virginia Earthquake Facebook page. 

This article was updated and revised.