FREDERICTON – A magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered in the state of Virginia gave people in Fredericton offices a bit of a shake Tuesday afternoon.
Two buildings in the New Brunswick capital’s downtown were evacuated: the Centennial Building, which houses several provincial government offices, and the NB Power building.
Heather MacLean, a spokeswoman for NB Power who was on the ninth floor of the building when the tremor began, says she could feel the building swaying quite strongly.
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Other people say and saw cabinet doors opening and closing.
MacLean says there were no reports of any seismic activity at the Point Lepreau nuclear powers plant, which sits on a fault line, on the south coast of the province.
Earthquakes in New Brunswick are rarely strong enough to be felt.
The quake’s epicentre was about 139 km southwest of Washington D.C., near the town of Mineral, at a depth of just six kilometres.
Shaking was also reported in Toronto, Ottawa and areas of Quebec.
*With files from The Canadian Press
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