Wednesday, August 24, 2011

East Coast Earthquake

image from http://www.nytimes.com/
 

     I have lived on the east coast in the US for most of my life and have never felt an earthquake. We had a small one a couple years back in Maryland. I was on the road, on my way to work, and didn't feel a thing. This one that hit us yesterday was pretty huge as it was felt from Georgia up to New England! The epicenter was in central Virginia and it was a 5.8 magnitude quake.

     I still have never felt an earthquake, not that I'm complaining! I was driving on the road again on my way home from work this time. The quake hit around 1:50pm EST. I left work around 1:40pm. I didn't even know we were having an earthquake until I heard it on the radio! When I got to the baby sitter's house to pick up my kids they were all shook up. Literally! When we got home, I assessed the damage. The only noticeable things were two broken picture frames that had fallen to the floor, drawers that were shaken open, and a bottle of conditioner that had fallen in my shower.

     As for damage in other places, some buildings were hit pretty hard. I'm sure there was more significant damage at the epicenter in Mineral, VA. In DC, specifically the National Cathedral had damage, and they found a crack near the top of the Washington Monument. Power was lost in some places and traffic was a hot mess after all that. 

     Did you feel it?


image from http://www.virtueonline.org/


image from http://www.kjct8.com/

image from http://www.globalpost.com/

2 comments:

Julie said...

We definitely felt it in my office! I’m just outside Baltimore. At first I thought it was a really strong wind hitting the building, then as the shaking went on I realized it must be an earthquake. It was quite freaky. No damage at my house except things knocked over on shelves in the storage closet. Shook up my teenager quite a bit though, my kids were home by themselves. Glad you all were fine!

Yours Truely, LeeAnn said...

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