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LARCHMONT, N.Y. -- Ervant Hashimian felt the chair underneath him shake while sitting in his Larchmont wine store Tuesday afternoon, but thought nothing of it when he saw no one else react.
"I felt it moving under me, and no one else reacted, so at first I thought it was my blood pressure," said Hashimian, owner of Chit Chat Wine and Spirits in Larchmont.
One of Hashimian's customers, Rashid Silvera, had a similar experience while sitting in his car just before 2 p.m. Tuesday. "I was sitting in my car and it began to shake," said the Bronxville resident, who has taught at Scarsdale High School for 30 years. "The first thing I thought was that my car, which was turned on, needed oil."
Neither man thought it could be an earthquake. "I thought I was going crazy," Hashimian said.
The 5.9 magnitude temblor was centered near Mineral, Va., according to the United States Geological Survey (USGC). It hit around 1:53 p.m. Tuesday.
Neither the Larchmont Police Department nor Fire Department received any calls for assistance, while few called the village or town police departments. But, a few people working at Town Center in the highway department office "got a little excited" when they felt the tremors, said Louis Martirando, superintendent of highways for the Town of Mamaroneck.
"We dispatched road crews out to inspect the roads and we took a cursory look at the Larchmont reservoir and other important infrastructure," Martirando said. "As of right now, there's no evidence of any structural damage."
Not every town in Westchester escaped the earthquake unscathed. Jeannie Meyers, a Mamaroneck resident, didn't feel anything, but her daughter Maria, 21, felt the building shake while shopping at Target in White Plains. "She said she thought she was losing her mind," Meyers said. "She's moving to San Francisco in May, so she thought she would have to wait until she got there to feel one."
Just a few streets over, both the county and federal courthouses in White Plains were briefly evacuated. Their doors reopened around 3 p.m.
Whether or not residents felt the brief rattling, everyone knew someone that had. The staff at another Larchmont wine store, Post Wine and Spirits, didn't feel any tremors, but heard from customers that residents down by the Larchmont Shore Club felt it the most.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) said railroads are operating normally. The Holland Tunnel, which connects Manhattan to New Jersey, was closed for inspection, but reopened around 3 p.m.
Taller buildings were evacuated in Manhattan. The earthquake was felt as far north as Concord, N.H.
Local law enforcement and communities are assessing damage, but buildings shook throughout the region. Some buildings have been evacuated, including some in Washington, D.C.
The National Weather Service says there is no tsunami threat to the eastern seaboard.
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