WASHINGTON — Area residents are used to politicians being the region’s movers and shakers, so it was a surprise when the earth below shook.
A 3.6-magnitude temblor rattled windows and jostled dishes early Friday but apparently caused no serious damage. President Barack Obama told reporters he didn’t feel it.
Though Californians who have earthquakes of this size almost weekly might scoff, it was the strongest to hit within 30 miles of D.C. since officials began keeping records in 1974.
The quake happened at 5:04 a.m. and was centered in the Rockville, Md., area, said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center.
More than 18,000 people logged on to the U.S. Geological Survey’s website to report feeling it, some from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The website said earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt over an area as much as 10 times larger than a similar-magnitude earthquake on the West Coast.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The Associated Press
