CHENANGO COUNTY – Some thought it was a dizzy spell. Others wrote it off as a heavy truck rattling by. Still others knew something was wrong by their pets’ behavior. But one thing is for certain: whether they were at home, work or somewhere in between, residents from across Chenango County felt the earth shake Tuesday afternoon as a result of the 5.8 magnitude quake which hit roughly 84 miles southwest of the nation’s capital.

Chief Dispatcher A. Wesley Jones said the Chenango County 911 Center received approximately two dozen calls over its emergency and non-emergency phone lines within minutes of the event. The Evening Sun newsroom also received a number of calls.

According to the US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, what area residents felt stems from a 5.8 magnitude quake which hit at 1:51 p.m. Initially reported as being 5.9 in magnitude and centered roughly 2/3 of a mile beneath the earth’s surface, 4 miles outside of the Central Virginia town of Louisa, the USGS now places the tremor’s epicenter at 3.7 miles beneath the crust, closer to Mineral, Va.

Two aftershocks, the first registering at 2.8 and the second at 2.2, followed over the next hour and a half in roughly the same area.