Quake shook Westmoreland and surrounding counties

Pennsylvanians felt the earth move Tuesday afternoon.

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake in central Virginia, one of the strongest ever recorded on the East Coast, shook buildings from Georgia to New England and forced the evacuations of parts of the Capitol, White House and Pentagon. Officials reported a few injuries in Washington, 84 miles from the epicenter.

Less than a minute after the rumbling began at 1:51 p.m., tremors rolled across Western Pennsylvania, causing evacuations and a little fear but no serious damage or injuries.

"It felt like being on a boat in the water," said Kathy Gasper, who works at UPMC headquarters on the 57th floor of the U.S. Steel Tower, Pittsburgh's tallest building. "It wobbled a little. I thought I was imagining things."

Others thought they were ill.

"It was really eerie. My chair was shaking and I saw my computer move. I thought I was getting dizzy," said Brenda Wright, who works in the Clerk of Courts office in the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg.

"I've never been in an earthquake before and I don't want to do it again," she said.

Indiana County Commissioner Rodney Ruddock stopped his vehicle at an intersection when he felt the rumble. He thought someone had the bass cranked up on their car stereo.

"I could feel my car quiver," Ruddock said. "On the radio, I could hear the announcer saying, 'Could you feel that?' I knew right away then that was an earthquake."

Excela Health System in Westmoreland evacuated its Medical Office Building on Lowry Avenue in Jeannette until a structural engineer could examine facility, said Jennifer Miele, a spokeswoman.

Also briefly evacuated was a state office building on North Main Street in Greensburg, the YMCA building on South Maple Avenue in the city and Kennametal Inc. on Technology Way in Unity. In Pittsburgh, there were evacuations at BNY Mellon, the Art Institute, Heinz History Center, and the Steelers practice facility in the South Side.

St. Vincent College in Unity temporarily halted students who were moving into dormitories.

Floor tiles and wall plaster were cracked at the historic Palace Theatre in Greensburg, said Mike Langer, president of the Westmoreland Cultural Trust. The damage will be examined.

PennDOT ordered emergency inspections on all "key bridges" across the state to check for earthquake-related damage after Reading police spotted a crack and closed a bridge there.

Paul Fischbeck, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who studies the risks natural disasters pose to engineered systems, called the quake "a yawner when it comes to actual damage for the region, which is good."

Still, there was that initial moment of fear.

Doug Rock, a Munhall native, was on his way to a meeting at the Pentagon when people began streaming out the building.

"Everybody streamed out of it on their own. Since Sept. 11, everybody's jumpy, even a decade later," he said. "Everybody seemed like they were a little edgy. From what I heard, at first they weren't sure what was going on. They felt it in the floor. The floor was rippling. "

Others reported a similar sensation at the Jeannette medical office.

"People said the building was actually swaying, so we've ordered it evacuated until we can have the building inspected," Miele said. "People felt it at all of our hospitals in Greensburg, Latrobe and Mt. Pleasant, too."

The six-story building, which houses physician offices, a dialysis unit and support services, was cleared of 72 people. Treatment was not interrupted for 13 patients undergoing dialysis.

Some panicked employees fled from the upper floors of the Westmoreland Courthouse on Main Street.

"I was waiting on a customer and I thought, 'Oh my God!' Everything was moving. We were scared and I didn't know what was going on. I was not thinking it was an earthquake. I left the building because I was afraid," said Denise Testa, a clerk in the prothonotary's office on the fifth floor.

There was little disruption at Westmoreland Manor, the county nursing home in Hempfield. "I don't think any of the residents felt anything," Executive Director Margaret Harper said.

Residents at the nine-story Hempfield Towers across the street thought the building was moving. "My bed shook against the wall. I thought I moved the bed myself until I found out it was an earthquake," said resident Amanda Rogers.

Allana Kondisko, who was at home at Lago de Vita in Hempfield, said she had no idea what was happening. "I was working at my desk and pictures fell over on the desk. I watched a plant in the corner and it looked like wind blowing it," she said.

Norwin School District officials did not evacuate students. "We felt a little bit of a tremor, nothing major," Superintendent William Kerr said.

Cornelius Barnes, 73, who has lived in Hunker since 1964, experienced his first earthquake.

"Everything started moving around. We've got gas wells around here and I wasn't sure whether there was an underground explosion. I thought there was enough noise that something happened so I got up, checked outside and it was peaceful," Barnes said.

Carolyn Harr, manager of Mommy Gear on St. Clair Street in Ligonier, said she thought she was having a dizzy spell because she didn't think any wind could be strong enough to move the three-story brick building.

"I sit on a swivel desk chair and my chair started to rock," said Harr. "The curtain in front of me was swaying and I could feel the floor move."

Fran McCaffrey, owner of Ligonier Valley Real Estate, said the tremor lasted about 20 seconds.

"For our area, I don't know, it's just odd," said Justin Ritch of Connellsville, a vendor at the Westmoreland Fair in Mt. Pleasant Township.

Reporters Kari Andren, Rich Cholodofsky, Stacey Federoff, Chris Foreman, Cody Francis, Paul Paterra, Paul Peirce and Richard Robbins contributed.