5.8 Earthquake just hit Virginia

[SpringHollow]

We felt it in Rochester, NY. Pretty impressive to feel it given how far away it was (over 500 miles).

Ken

 

[toy]

Our schools are closed for tomorrow. The area was shook up pretty hard.

My son lives in Fairfax, and I tried to get in touch with him but he wasn't answering his phone. Sometimes he works late so that wouldn't be unusual. He finally sent us an e-mail and all he said was "there was a little shaking everything okay. He don't ever go into any detail, but in some cases I guess that is a good trait, I have seen some that I wish would learn from him.

 

[toy]

I just heard that the Obama Administration has just named the epicenter of the earthquake. They are calling it Bush's Fault.:laughing:

No the earth quake was not Bush's fault so don't go looking for something to blame him for, he was a big enough goof up in his own right.

 

[Marks481]

Toy- landlines and cell phones were down here in fairfax immediately following the quake (cell phones were still iffy 2 hours later), so it probably wasn't your son's fault.

You would think with the recent footage from Japan in mind, people would be smarter. I was on the fifth floor of a tall glass building, and we swayed all over the place. Nobody ran for the stairs or the center core of the building which would be the safest place. The floors that evacuated clustered immediately around the base of the buildng.

I hope DC doesn'tever get a real earthquake, because everyone has no clue how to react.

 

[BobRip]

I was driving and did not even notice. We are only about 30 miles from Mineral VA. I went into the auto parts store right after it and they were all excited. The tall parts racks really rattled. I noticed a crack in my ceiling is a little wider. I suspect people will find lots of damaged areas over the next few days. Probably mostly small stuff.

 

[Zxyrthe]

I'm in Ashland, VA. If I hadn't been inside, I probably would not have noticed it. The house rattled but that was it. No fallen branches, no cracked mortar or plaster. One picture seemed a little crooked but that could've been the dog or nearby train traffic.

 

[MossRoad]

They felt it at my wife's place of employment in South Bend, Indiana. :thumbsup:

 

[ToadHill]

The president announced that the quake was along a fault line known as the "Bush's Fault"

I have it on good authority that the quake was caused by our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.

 

[BKBrown]

We are in Madison, VA (less than 60 miles to Mineral) -- Quite a lot of shaking and all the pictures needed to be leveled afterwards. A good 30 to 40 seconds of shaking.

Closest thing I can relate it to is a 40 ton vibrating roller that was used on road construction for an interstate. The 1st aftershock about 8:00 was quite noticable too and I'm told there was a 2nd at about 1:45 AM - slept thru that one.

 

[Gravy]

Come to LA. 5.8 is your alarm clock going off. It is so bad people don't even wake for it. Seriously. But having been through two big quakes (7's) it is scary as all heck. Feel for the people, it is not a lot of fun to suddenly realize you have very little control over your destiny when it comes to mother nature.

Carl

It seems that an East Coast 5.8 is very different from the same magnitude on the West Coast. If I understand correctly, the East Coast faults are much shallower and the plates are much stiffer than those out West. As a result, the Eastern quakes shake harder at the surface and affect a much larger area than an equivalent magnitude Western quake.

Inferring a lot, I *think* that magnitude is determined at the point of plate slippage. If so, it makes sense that an equal magnitude shallow quake is more destructive at the surface than a deep quake.

BTW, my wife, my dogs and I all failed to notice it.

 

[Learning to Farm]

There was another 4.something one this morning around 1:30 am, it woke me up so now I am catching up on TBN. Living on the west coast as a kid, to me these are 'normal' so I just notice them and go on with what I am doing. I don't think east coasters are getting overly excited, this may be their first one they have experienced. What someone needs to do is give instructions on what to do when we do have one, that is the problem I saw. Also, education, no the earth does not split and swallow up every car on the highway (silly movies).

 

[KentT]

I was on the 9th floor of an office building in Washington DC. It felt like the floor moved up and down between 6" - 12" inches, as the building kinda rocked side-to-side like being on a ship...

Evacuated the building and then stood in the parking lot for 45 minutes before going back in...

 

[MossRoad]

I was on the 9th floor of an office building in Washington DC. It felt like the floor moved up and down between 6" - 12" inches, as the building kinda rocked side-to-side like being on a ship...

Evacuated the building and then stood in the parking lot for 45 minutes before going back in...

Nice! The only quake I ever felt was a few years ago. It felt like my waterbed had bumblebees in it! Just bzz bzzzz bzz for about 30 seconds. Some places charge you a quarter for that! :laughing:

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice! The only quake I ever felt was a few years ago. It felt like my waterbed had bumblebees in it! Just bzz bzzzz bzz for about 30 seconds. Some places charge you a quarter for that! :laughing:

Kinda reminds me of the time my Wife an i were driving home, turning left on to the main road. I said, 'man we have to get the front end looked at on the rig! It's steering like a real pig.' Turns out it was a smallish earth quake.:laughing:

 

[ernemats]

Seems awful quiet on the PT site, I hope everyone survived the quake and also Irene

 

[Gravy]

Irene took the water that we need and used it to kill folks a bit farther north. Mother Nature gets nasty too often for my tastes. I hope all of my TBN friends are OK.

 

[Clumber]

Irene missed us here in the Winchester area. We did get a little much needed rain.