5.8 earthquake

[StandUpGuy]

OK I found it. 1:51 EST

I was at work sitting in my office. Sounds like the shock traveled more north and west.

[vreihen]

Somebody at work showed me this link of the DC Earthquake Devastation:

http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earthquake-devastation

Note that it was from a 2010 quake, but funny none the less.

People where I work here in NY State felt it on the upper floors of the 3-story building, and reported that it shook their computer screens. I didn't feel a thing on the ground floor, though.....

[rich5665]

I think I'm the only person in NJ who didn't feel the darn thing.

[Chabeau]

We felt it here in Fredericton , New Brunswick , Canada. Closed down two buildings in the downtown area.

[swissarmygirl]

I think I'm the only person in NJ who didn't feel the darn thing.

Nope, my husband didn't notice it either. My daughter and I (and our parrot) sure did though. I think it's pretty weird that they were saying on the news that some people felt it and then another person standing 10 feet away didn't. I wonder what that's all about.

[kerryd]

My daughter lives in Mayo , Maryland . She said that it felt like the house was being pulled to the street. Gage

[hiker chick]

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.

[Dale M.]

Come to California we will show you what a real earthquake is.... Loma Prieta, October 17, 1989... 7.0 on Ricther scale... That is a earthquake.... I can honestly say my 45th birthday was a "earth shaking" event.....

Dale

[doris s.]

Hiker Chick,

I live in Frederick Co. Maryland, we were rocking and rolling here. Thankfully no damage to our house but I heard they closed the Washington Monument because of cracks and that the National Cathedral was damaged too.

I'm with you, I hope we don't get any more earthquakes, it was very bizarre. I heard that folks have felt some aftershocks. I'm glad I didn't feel them.

Doris

[Jiminsav]

I was in Winston-Salem and our whole class felt the floor moving in a up and down motion..thought it was a large crane coming down the road, but it lasted for a minute and no one was outside on the road..it was pretty cool to me.

[Jiminsav]

Come on now Cowboy...Irene is just a big ol' rain storm now...wern't even a class 2 when it bumped North Carolina.

[pawp]

I live 4 miles from the epicenter. I got a lot of damage. I pastor a small church 1 mile from epicenter, It is demolished on the inside, don't know about the structure yet. Virtually every one of my church members has extensive damage to their house with some uninhabitable. It is our first and hopefully last . There will be clean up and rebuilding here for months.

[Jiminsav]

Pawp...sorry to hear that Brother..just hope your insurance does the right thing for all ya'll up there.

[Miriam C.]

I live 4 miles from the epicenter. I got a lot of damage. I pastor a small church 1 mile from epicenter, It is demolished on the inside, don't know about the structure yet. Virtually every one of my church members has extensive damage to their house with some uninhabitable. It is our first and hopefully last . There will be clean up and rebuilding here for months.

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!

[eamarquardt]

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.).

I was 5 miles from the epicenter when it hit. An eye opening experience!

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.

Not entirely true: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... 12_iso.php

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.

True: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_New_Madrid_earthquake

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.

Very true. When another big one hits on the East Coast it's gonna be very destructive because the structures aren't up to snuff. Here on the West Coast the building codes have been updated, buildings retrofitted, and a lot of weak structures have already been damaged and fallen/or been torn down. IMHO frequent earthquakes are not entirely bad as we're better prepared as a result. We'd eat it though if a hurricane were to hit us!

I was within a few miles of the Sylmar quake (1971) and the Northridge quake (1994), in addition to innumerable "minor" quakes, and they were both E-Ticket rides. In my experience earthquakes (after the shaking stops) aren't that bad as the damage is rather localized and if you can get outta Dodge a bit you can find and purchase virtually anything required. A good policy is to have a contact that you can call out of the area that has the phone numbers of friends and family so they can notify them of your status. I have found that in the moments after a quake you can still make phone calls (before the phone system gets overloaded and shuts down). If you are quick and execute your pre-planned notifications you can get the word out and save your family a lot of grief. Perhaps the internet is a bit less vulnerable. Time will tell.

Simply put, the East Coast ain't seen nothing yet.

Gus