Earthquake rattles Maryland early this morning

GERMANTOWN, Md. - A minor earthquake shook residents awake in the area early Friday.

The quake hit at 5:04 a.m. EDT and had a magnitude of 3.6. The quake was centered in the Rockville, Md., area said Randy Baldwin, a physicist with U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

Police in Washington and in nearby Montgomery County, Md., said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. On the U.S. Geological Survey's website, people as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia reported feeling the quake.

Lucille Baur, public information officer for the Montgomery County Police Department, said the department received a lot of calls from people wondering what had happened.

Baur said her husband woke up when the quake struck. "At first he thought it was a big truck going through," she
said. "He felt the house shake and the windows rattle a little bit."

Brett Snyder, who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., said he was awakened by the quake but said it wasn't a big deal.
"It happened very instantaneously and then off to a day's work," Snyder said.

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