A small earthquake rumbled in central Virginia early Thursday, near the epicenter of the 5.8-magnitude quake that rocked the East Coast in 2011 and caused millions of dollars in damage in the D.C. area.
Thursday morning's magnitude 1.7 earthquake occurred around 3:42 a.m., about five miles southeast of Louisa, Virginia, at a depth of nearly two miles, the U.S. Geological Survey's website shows.
Louisa is about 50 miles northwest of Richmond.
There haven't been any reports of people feeling the earthquake, said Paul Caruso, a National Earthquake Information Center geophysicist, and such a small earthquake isn't likely to cause any damage.
There was no impact on the North Anna nuclear power station, Dominion Energy spokesman Richard Zuercher said.
Caruso says it's possible that Thursday's quake was an aftershock from the 2011 quake.
That much more powerful quake struck in early afternoon on Aug. 23 of that year, causing people to evacuate buildings along the East Coast. In the District, the National Cathedral, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial all suffered quake damage. Cathedral repairs may continue for years, a spokesman said last year.
