Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County was one of a dozen nationwide to declare an unusual event after Tuesday's earthquake, but plant operators barely felt the tremor and found nothing amiss after a thorough inspection.

State and local officials have evacuation plans in place for a major emergency, but the 5.8 magnitude earthquake was not felt by many of the engineers and technicians inside the Shearon Harris plant, said Progress spokeswoman Julia Milstead.

Plant officials declared an "unusual event" at 2:06 p.m. on Monday, following the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's criteria for ranking emergencies. An unusual event is the lowest of four emergency levels, and even so, it met only two of the the NRC's three criteria.

The seismic tremors were not strong enough to trigger the plant's earthquake monitors, even though the temblor was felt by some at the plant's administrative offices and shook up people throughout the Triangle.

The National Earthquake Center of the U.S. Geological Survey recorded an earthquake centered in central Virginia, measured at 5.8 on the Richter scale, at 1:53:48 p.m. Eastern time. 

Workers in downtown Raleigh felt their desks shake when the earthquake struck.

Did you feel it?  Did it cause you any problems?  We're reporting on this today. Please email me or call me at 919-829-4527. [8/24/11 update: Thanks for the calls and emails! See today's story.]

Recently upgraded to 9.0 in magnitude, the earthquake in Japan was powerful enough to actually shorten the length of a day on Earth.

The report at Space.com explains that the seismic event sped up the Earth's rotation by 1.8 microseconds by altering the planet's distribution of mass, which also shifted the Earth's axis by 6.5 inches.

Japan shifted as much as 13 feet. GPS coordinates will have to be recalculated and pushed to devices.

The quake is expected to be one of the five largest since 1900.

All of Quintiles' 2,300 employees in Japan are accounted for and safe, although some have damage to their homes and some have lost family members.

The Durham-based pharmaceutical services company and other local businesses have raced to reach all of their workers in Japan after last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami. One problem has been making contact with phone lines jammed.

Here is the press release from AT&T:

    AT&T Offers Wireless, Wireline Billing Relief for Consumers Calling and Texting Family, Friends in Japan

    *AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
 

Triangle businesses with operations in Japan are working quickly to make sure employees are safe after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Everyone at the Tokyo office of Raleigh-based Red Hat was accounted for, said spokeswoman Kara Schiltz. As of Friday morning, that area of Tokyo still had power, although employees have felt smaller aftershocks.

At Durham-based Quintiles, it will take time to contact all 2,300 personnel in Japan, said spokesman Phil Bridges. Many of those employees are sales representatives and not based at one of the pharmaceutical services company's seven offices in Japan.

Local Quintiles officials have reached some Japanese workers, mostly through e-mail because landline phones are jammed, Bridges said.

Google has launched a 2011 Japan earthquake person finder.

Reality shows have become the comeback vehicle, the extra income for a certain level of actor (B or fading).

Yet, typically that's not acknowledged. Everyone involved acts like the shows are a gift to fans, letting them in to a private life we yearn to know more about.

Not "Harry Loves Lisa" (TV Land, 10 tonight). In the show, starring acting couple Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, they make it clear right away that they need work. Hamlin put his career aside, while Rinna's star was rising, to raise their two lovely little girls. But now, at (a really good-looking) 58, he's ready to return to a regular gig. Indeed, they both need a second chance.

Eastern Wake County residents are helping with Haiti relief.

If you want to help, you can donate blankets, sheets, towels, wash cloths, food and tarps and health kids consisting of one hand towel, one wash cloth and one comb -- not pocket-sized.

You can drop these items off at Cause for Paws, 538 West Gannon Street, Zebulon, the Zebulon Community Center at 301 South Arendelll Avenue and the office of Zebulon United Methodist Church, 121 West Gannon Street.

The Wendell United Methodist Church also is collecting items for medical kits. Kits contain: one hand towel, one wash cloth, a comb, a tube of toothpaste and six adhesive plastics strip sterile bandages. All items should be placed in a sealed one-gallon plastic bag.

You can even get a hair cut and help the cause. Hairdresser Anne DiPilato will set up a salon Saturday, Jan. 23 at her church St. Eugene's Catholic, 608 Lion's Club Road.

Haircuts cost $10 and all the money goes to help earthquake victims through Catholic Relief Services.

The local universities are pitching to raise money to aid in the earthquake cleanup in Haiti.

Many local institutions have web pages set up now detailing their efforts. 

A few examples:

At Duke, students can put donations right on their student ID cards.

At UNC-Chapel Hill, donations will be collected during a mid-week basketball game and during a dance marathon on campus.

And at N.C. State, student leaders have kicked off the HOWL for Haiti campaign.