Va. earthquake shakes campus

The University was shaken by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shortly before 2 p.m. on Tuesday. No damage or injuries have been reported on campus, according to University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96.

The earthquake sent shockwaves up and down the East Coast, from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Noticeable tremors were felt throughout New Jersey. According to the Trenton Times, Trenton city hall was evacuated for several minutes after an alarm was activated.

In Washington, D.C., which was close to the earthquake’s epicenter, parts of the White House, Pentagon and Capitol were evacuated as a precaution. The National Cathedral also sustained damage when portions of the spires topping its tower collapsed, and conflicting reports have emerged over whether the Washington Monument is now tilting, though there have been no confirmed reports of major damage.

On campus, the University’s Emergency Preparedness Task Force conducted a conference call shortly following the earthquake but did not instate a coordinated evacuation of University buildings. However, several emergency response building coordinators did choose voluntarily to temporarily evacuate their buildings, Cliatt said in an email.

Local police said that the earthquake triggered an influx of phone calls from concerned residents, according to the Princeton Packet.

Several students in Princeton, however, noted that the quake did not disrupt their summer afternoons.

Paul Popescu ’14, who was reading in Lewis Library Tuesday, said that the earthquake’s register on campus was “nonexistent.”

“I was reading a book and my initial reaction was to keep reading because I didn’t notice it at all … It was literally tiny,” Popescu said.

Chris Troein ’12 said on Twitter that the earthquake’s impact in Princeton was “very slight.”Troein is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

“A friend of mine didn't even notice it happened until she saw Facebook,” he said.

However, some students who are off-campus for the summer were witness to the stronger rumbles of the earthquake, and its aftermath.

Tim Hwang ’14, who is in D.C., said he was outside waiting for his lunch by a food truck when a woman dashed out of a nearby restaurant shouting, “The terrorists are here!”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“In Washington, you’re not prone to watch out for earthquakes,” Hwang said, noting that he initially thought the shaking was construction work or other day-to-day activity.

“This one went on for a lot longer,” he added.

Correction

An earlier version of this article neglected to identify Troein as a 'Prince' columnist.