Local New York news stations hustle to cover reports on the Virginia earthquake, reassure viewers

"The last thing that went through my head was an earthquake," Roma Torre said on New York 1 News. "I thought they were just moving heavy furniture."

She wasn't alone. Explanations for what happened ran from terrorism to subways to what it really was - the earth shifting.

"Unfortunately, we think of possible terrorist attacks. We were just trying to get out," a woman told NY1's Dean Meminger. "In New York, we immediately think of a bomb."

Anchors and callers to stations all struggled to explain the jolts that lasted for less than a minute Tuesday afternoon. Indeed, the stations spent hours repetitively talking about the moment.

"People could feel the ground shaking," said Heather Brown, who was rushed into the anchor slot at WNYW/Ch. 5.

Brown, looking a bit uncomfortable in the situation, said calls were coming into the station from all five boroughs from people wanting information. "This is a unique event here," she said.

Sharon Crowley and Dari Alexander eventually stepped in to anchor Ch. 5's coverage. Greg Kelly also came in.

There were reports of building evacuations around town, and plenty of people flooding the streets to talk about it.

Diana Williams went on-air briefly for WABC/Ch. 7, which returned to soaps for a short time before going to full coverage.

"Again, no reason to panic. A 6.0 earthquake is not the kind that's going to do lots of damage," Don Dahler said on WCBS/Ch. 2. "It might knock a few things off the shelf."