Two City Buildings Evacuated During Earthquake

The 5.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked Virginia this afternoon resulted in the evacuation of the Bank of America/Woonsocket Urgent Care building on Clinton Street and Citizens Bank building on Social Street.

The quake, which occurred at 1:51 p.m. this afternoon, resulted in numerous calls the Woonsocket Fire Department as workers and residents, unsure of what was causing the tremors, chose to evacuate buildings in downtown Woonsocket.

"I felt it up on Rathbun Street," said Rita Desjardin. "I was up in my house and everything was shaking."

Workers from both locations stood outside at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, waiting for safety verifications from city building inspectors. "Someone called and they evacuated of their own accord," explained Capt. Ronald Girard of the fire department. "We showed up and the boss said to evacuate the rest of the building. We were on the road and didn't feel a thing."

Nurse Practitioner Laura Nyren was on the fourth floor of the Bank of America building working at Cardiology Associates when she noticed something was wrong. "I was sitting at a desk typing and the vertical venetian blinds started to sway. I looked outside and the trees weren't moving," she said adding the shaking continued for around 30 seconds. "It was scary."

"The building shook" said another employee, Stephanie Mcassey. "I thought a car hit the building."

Although many people from both Kennedy Manor and Thundermist Health Center left the buildings during the quake, no evacuations were ordered. Police and fire personnel that reported to the two bank buildings, however, felt that assessments should be conducted.

Mayor Leo Fontaine joined building inspectors at the scene at Citizens Bank. "They're just doing some external reviews," Fontaine said. "I don't see this being what you'd consider a serious event but if people are feeling tremors, it makes sense to check things out." Fontaine added that nothing was felt at City Hall.

The epicenter of the rare east coast earthquake was located 39 miles northwest of Richmond, VA., said Justin Starr, research assistant at the Weston Observatory in Massachusetts, a geophysical research laboratory of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College.

"We've been getting calls from people in Boston, Massachusetts," said Starr, though there are reports of the quake being felt all over New England. This isn't unusual reach for a 5.9 magnitude earthquake, he said, but earthquakes in general on the East Coast are unusual.

No injuries have been reported in Woonsocket as a result of the incident.