by hiker chick » Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:06 pm
I live and work near the Capitol Building and lived in Los Angeles for the '71 Sylmar quake (6.6 magnitude at 6:00 a.m.).
Yesterday's quake was an absolutely bizarre and for many of us a momentarily harrowing experience. It lacked context as there has never been this kind of earthquake experience in DC's recorded history.
Where ground-shaking is concerned, the frame of reference for millions of us in DC and New York was 9/11/01.
No one I've spoken to thought initially that this was an earthquake. Most at first thought the shaking/rolling/jerking was related to construction near or at their location or perhaps a plane crash -- there are many variations on those themes and some of them are, in hindsight, rather entertaining for their creativity (one friend thought at first that a plane had dropped something on her house, another at first thought the problem was the washing machine being out of balance, until she grasped that the entire house was moving).
While the motion was still occurring (I'm so far unable to convey the sensation but it was in two distinct waves where I was, the second being a series of rolling movements) I feared that it was a massive bomb(s) at the Capitol.
Seriously, as I was hustling out of the building my mind was working through a multi-blast scenario.
It was not until outside on the sidewalk that "earthquake" occurred to me and that was only after someone else posed the question. So then I'm thinking a catastrophic New Madrid fault event (Missouri-Arkansas-Tennessee) that was affecting us as happened in the 1811-1812 quakes that shook church bells in Boston and DC.
I then checked USGS and the map was already showing a major Virginia quake. I'm something of a geology geek so had already read geologic studies of the region's seismic history and knew that the epicenter was in an area with some quake history (primarily 4.0 or less).
Another consideration in my neighborhood is that the homes are brick rowhouses built 100 years ago, or older. One home on my block lost the top part of its chimney. Two friends on the next block have significant plaster cracks in the top floors. The National Cathedral has sustained millions of dollars in damage. We're over 80 miles from the epicenter.
While compared to the west coast's recorded quake history, this earthquake we experienced yesterday was insignificant. But for us this was quite extraordinary and most of our buildings and infrastructure were built with little or no regard for any earthquake threat.
I hope this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for this area and that all T&TTT members escaped without property damage.
That recovery might take some time if it is like here! Praying for you. If there is something we can do be sure to let us know! 
