A mild earthquake, centered about 30 miles west of Richmond, Virginia, occurred just before 4:00 p.m.
WTAP-TV almost immediately received word from an employee at a Marietta business, who said she began "rocking back and forth in her chair." A co-worker said he also felt the building shake.
Marietta is about 230 miles away from the quake's epicenter. It also was felt in Beckley and Lewisburg, West Virginia. Hundreds of people from North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., also felt the quake.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake registered a preliminary magnitude of 4.5. A spokesman for the U.S.G.S. says there were no immediate reports of damage.
The earthquake occurred in the central Virginia seismic zone, a region where quakes have occurred in the past. While quakes are more common in the West they do occur in Eastern states from time to time.
