Former Puget Sound Residents Caught in East Coast Earthquake

Tuesday's 5.8-magnitude earthquake on the East Coast didn't go unnoticed by former Puget Sound residents and a Seattle Mariners broadcaster experiencing his first temblor.

Seattle-area sports columnist Greg Johns, a writer for the shuttered Eastside daily paper King County Journal and who now works for MLB.com, tweeted: "Still a little wobbling in the press box at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Hearing quake was centered outside D.C., must have been big one."

Johns, who was at the first game of the Mariners-Indians game in Cleveland, later tweeted that it was not felt on the field, though others in the stands reported feeling shaking.

One of those was Mariners play-by-play announcer and East Coast native Dave Sims, who told viewers locally on Root Sports TV that it was the first one he'd ever felt.

Bellevue-native and AOL employee Scott Iwata, who works in New York City, tweeted to Bellevue Patch: "Yeah, we're good out here. Just noticed my monitors were wiggling and felt my leg shake without me shaking it."

In New York, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance was giving a press conference on International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn when the earthquake struck. Vance previously worked in Seattle, where he founded a law firm and was adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law. He told assembled reporters that "It's Ok, I've been through earthquakes in Seattle," but most fled the room anyway.

Vance was in Seattle during the 6.8-magnitude 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

Tuesday's earthquake, at 1:51 p.m. EST and centered about 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., in Mineral, VA, was felt in a wide area of the East Coast. It closed office building in the nation's capital, as well as landmarks such as the Washington Monument.

No fatalities have been reported. There was some damage, including to the National Cathedral and Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Bellevue Patch contributed to this report.