(Undated) -- The largest earthquake to hit the East Coast since the Second World War has reached from South Carolina to Maine. Earthquakes are pretty rare in the commonwealth, so when tremors are felt from a 5.8 magnitude quake centered in Virginia people notice. Take state Auditor General Jack Wagner, for example. "Immediately felt a shaking of the room and visually seeing the walls vibrate and actually, the table I was sitting at," he says. What Wagner felt was the largest earthquake on the East Coast, since 1944. Charles Scharnberger is a professor emeritus of geology at Millersville University in Lancaster County. "It's unusual to have one this large a magnitude," he says. "The largest earthquakes in this general area, like in the Mid-Atlantic region, have generally be less than magnitude five." PennDOT inspectors immediately started to conduct precautionary inspections of bridges around the state and "an unusual event" was declared at the two midstate nuclear power plants, Peach Bottom in York County and Three Mile Island in Dauphin County. That's the lowest level emergency classification as determined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Each facility is functioning normally. The state Public Utility Commission is reminding residents that if they smell or hear natural gas leaking, they should evacuate the house and call 911.