Residents Feel Earth Shake in Afternoon Earthquake

Residents in Bridgewater and other New Jersey towns reported feeling the Earth shake in an apparent earthquake that hit the state and others on the East Coast just before 2 p.m Tuesday.

The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management said in a statement it is monitoring the effects across the Garden State of the earthquake that was centered in Virginia and had a magnitude of 5.8.

Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police and director of the State OEM in the Regional Operations Intelligence Center, is keeping updated on developments regarding the earthquake, according to the statement.

The statement also said the NJOEM has been in constant contact with the governor's office and other state department and local officials.

The NJOEM said at this time there are very few reports of damage to any infrastructure in the state, as roadways, bridges and tunnels all seem to be intact.

The office said there were no reports of any injuries and that the seismic activity triggered an "unusual event" at Hope Creek and Salem Nuclear plants, but that is a normal response to such an event. There have been no reports of any damage at either facility.

PSE&G also said at this time it is reporting no operational or safety issues as a result of the earthquake. The company said it has dispatched employees to assess any potential damage to its facilities, including electric transmission lines and switching stations, as well as critical natural gas facilities such as metering and regulating stations, and gas transmission lines and mains.

PSE&G said there are no customer outages at this time due to the event and that decisions to evacuate any company locations were made on a local basis.

Mobile phone service was unavailable for many users, but preliminary indications are that this disruption was due to an extremely high call volume generated by users.

The office said although aftershocks cannot be ruled out, the distance from the epicenter would indicate that there is no need of great concern for New Jersey residents. The NJOEM said it will continue to update the governor's office and the public on any new developments.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service's website, "The U.S. Geological Survey reports a preliminary magnitude 5.8 earthquake was felt across much of the Mid-Atlantic region Tuesday afternoon at 151 PM EDT. The epicenter was located approximately 34 miles northwest of Richmond Virgina or 87 miles southwest of Washington DC."

Keep checking with Patch for additional information.

Did you feel the earthquake? Tell us in the comments if you did and what your experience was like.