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Last Word earthquake evacuation

An earthquake rattled the East Coast (and our nerves) this afternoon, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate buildings.
The Last Word staff after evacuating the 30 Rock offices.
The Last Word staff after evacuating the 30 Rock offices.

An earthquake rattled the East Coast (and our nerves) this afternoon, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate buildings. The 5.8 magnitude quake, centered 40 miles northwest of Richmond, could be felt up from Georgia all the way to New England.

Luckily, there have been no reports of major damage or injuries.

Parts of the Pentagon, White House and Capitol were evacuated, along with memorials and monuments on the National Mall in D.C. No tsunami warning was issued, but air and train traffic was temporarily disrupted in the area.

The earthquake struck smack dab in the middle of our Last Word editorial meeting, which we use to pitch ideas and go over each night's rundown. (P.S. we're now leading the show with this story tonight). Most of the staff felt the building sway from our perch on the 16th floor of 30 Rock. I missed the whole thing because, apparently, I was too busy chatting. In the words of guest host Melissa Harris-Perry, "we just were talking so hard."

The LW staff left the building for about 20 minutes to be safe. After snapping a quick photo, we returned to our desks to find many hilarious offerings on the web: the top 17 earthquake tweets, hipsters reactions and earthquake-induced missed connections.

Did you feel it, too? Tell us your story in the comment section below or tweet me your experiences.