"The curtains in my office were moving so I realized it couldn't be windy inside, and it made me realize this is an earthquake," this woman said about the quake Tuesday. (CBC) Workers left several office buildings in downtown Fredericton Tuesday afternoon after part of the city was shaken by an earthquake centred in the state of Virginia. several office buildings in downtown Fredericton Tuesday afternoon after part of the city was shaken by an earthquake centred in the state of Virginia.

People on the upper floors of the NB Power building, the courthouse, King's Place and the building that houses the education department felt swaying and jolting.

Stephen Kelly said he had just taken the first sip of his afternoon coffee in his office on the fifth floor of the Centennial Building.

"And I thought I was having heart palpitations and my desk was moving, I was moving, and, you know, it was kind of a gradual progression of jolts, leading up to two jolts," said Kelly.

Kelly says some of his colleagues saw water swishing back and forth in the cooler.

There was no forced evacuation from the Centennial Building, but Kelly says many people chose to leave. He describes the reaction as minor shock and disbelief.

A woman said she realized what was happening when the curtains in her office began moving — and there was no wind.

Firefighters thought they were responding to a fire alarm "but we got diverted to the Centennial Building because the building was swaying," said Rob Rankin, acting platoon captain.

Watched from UNB lab

Cliff Shaw was one of several geology experts who gathered to watch the event in the seismology lab at UNB. He says it's not unheard of for earthquakes to be felt this far away.

"Downtown they're sitting on a lot of clay and that tends to give a a bit more during an earthquake than rock," he said.

Shaw says a seismograph in Moncton also recorded the event very clearly.

The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.9 and was centred one kilometre underground, near Mineral, Virginia, about 1,500-kilometres away.

There are no reports of injuries near the epicentre, but some buildings are reported damaged.

There are no reports so far of any damage in Fredericton, but building inspections continue.