Obama Holds Conference Call With Administration Officials After Earthquake

U.S. President Barack Obama has held a conference call with top officials in his administration to address a 5.8-strong earthquake that hit the East Coast on Tuesday.

“The president was told that there are no initial reports of major infrastructure damage, including at airports and nuclear facilities and that there were currently no requests for assistance,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

Obama, who is on a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard in the state of Massachusetts, asked to be regularly updated on the aftermath of the earthquake, Earnest said.

The White House, Pentagon and Capitol were evacuated in Washington, D.C. Two nuclear reactors shut down automatically in the state of Virginia after the earthquake that was centered in Mineral, Virginia.

New York television stations said tremors in the city could be felt in Times Square. People in the Supreme Court of New York and City Hall have been evacuated.

Quakes are common on the East Coast but this earthquake was one of the most powerful ever seen in the area.