An earthquake has jolted the mid-Atlantic region of the east coast, but there are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The US Geological Survey says the 4.1 magnitude quake struck just after 4.45pm Thursday, and was centered about six miles (10km) east-north-east of Dover, Delaware. People from as far away as Washington and New York City reported that they felt the movement.

The quake jolted downtown Dover, sending lawmakers and workers in the statehouse outdoors to see what happened. Police and emergency officials did not have any immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Paul Caruso is a geophysicist with the USGS’s earthquake information center in Colorado. He said the quake was widely felt around the mid-Atlantic region.

Caruso said he did not expect any significant damage, given the small size of the quake.

John Bellini, a geophysicist USGS’s earthquake information center in Colorado, said, “It would mostly be a few items knocked from shelves, cracks in plaster.”

The jolt was strong enough in downtown Baltimore that a smattering of residents streamed out of office towers and into the streets. Husam Albarmawi, a 30-year-old graduate student at the University of Maryland, rushed out of an apartment tower with his wife when they felt two separate jolts, roughly 20 seconds apart, in their 23rd-storey apartment.

“When we felt it we looked at each other like, ‘Are we losing it?”’ said Albarmawi as they ventured back upstairs after waiting for a few minutes outside. “It was actually pretty scary and pretty surprising.”