5.9 Magnitude Quake Rocks Washington D.C. Region

On the fifth floor of my office building in Columbus, Ohio and felt it shake good. Not a sharp shock, but more like waves. Sloshed the coffee in my cup and made me feel pretty nausious.

content.usatoday.com...
Update at 2:30 p.m. ET: The Washington Post quotes a a USGS official as saying, "We would certainly expect aftershocks."

Update at 2:29 p.m. ET: The USGS suggests that the quake is the largest to originate in Virginia since May 31, 1897.

Update at 2:26 p.m. ET: The USGS says the quake was centered at a depth of 4.6 miles.

I'm ready to lose my f***ing mind and run off down the street. I'm nauseous, panicked and fear stricken and I don't live there. Pardon my language or if my spelling is slightly off. I'm just so nervosu.

Posting this portion again:

(thread moving so fast)

Looks like that would tie the Virginia record set in 1897.

Historic Earthquakes

Giles County, Virginia
1897 05 31 18:58 UTC
Magnitude 5.9
Intensity VIII

Link.

This earthquake was the largest in intensity and aerial extent in Virginia in historical times. MM intensity VII to VIII extended over an elliptical area - from near Lynchburg, Virginia, west to Bluefield, West Virginia, and from Giles County south to Bristol, Tennessee. The MM intensity VIII assigned to this earthquake is based on "many downed chimneys" and "changes in the flow of springs."

The shock was felt severely at Narrows, about 3 kilometers west of Pearisburg. Here, the surface rolled in an undulating motion, water in springs became muddy, and water in some springs ceased to flow. The flow of water in springs also was disturbed in the area of Pearisburg, about 70 kilometers west of Roanoke, and Sugar Run.

The shock was strong at Pearisburg, where walls of old brick houses were cracked and many chimneys were thrown down or badly damaged. Many chimneys also were shaken down at Bedford, Pulaski, Radford, and Roanoke, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee; many chimneys were damaged at Christiansburg, Dublin, Floyd, Houston, Lexington, Lynchburg, Rocky Mount, Salem, Tazewell, and Wytheville, Virginia; Charlotte, Oxford, Raleigh, and Winston, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Bluefield, West Virginia. Felt from Georgia to Pennsylvania and from the Atlantic coast westward to Indiana and Kentucky. Aftershocks continued through June 6, 1897.

Note the aftershocks for nearly a week after!!!!

Such a risk obviously applies now. Stay alert and safe everyone.

Yeah. Totally felt that.
We were in the penthouse of my building in DC and the whole thing was shaking.
I haven't felt anything like that since '89 in Cali. Whoooo! Shake rattle and roll peoples.

Call me crazy but im sure this earthquake has something to do with the alignment that happened between the Sun, Earth and Neptune on Aug,22nd 2011.

Originally posted by ltdan08
reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms

 

The crazy thing about this is that I woke up with a nasty headache and have been feeling quesy and muddledminded the whole day. After speaking with several coworkers many of them woke up the same way, next thing we know the EQ happens and makes us feel more quesy. No joke 5 or six people felt the same symptoms. I wonder if it's connected. I know animals are able to sense an EQ minutes or hours beforehand I wonder if it is same with individuals.

Your symptoms were most likely EQ related. We humans can sense a lot of different things, we are just so ADD that we don't take the time to stop and interpret them. Was there any ringing in your ears or head too?

I didn't think Humans could pick up ULF waves ???

I lived in California for 18 years. I am now on the East Coast. I knew it the second it started and guessed the magnitude to be 5.5 and, as it turns out, I wasn't off by much.

Typically, when there is one, another follows, although that's how it was in CA, but not sure about the East Coast fault lines. If we had one tremor or quake there we could surely expect more, and within a short time-frame ... and then it happened.

In any case, if it happens again stay away from windows/glass. Get under a door-jam. If you are outdoors stay away from anything that can topple over. Bridges are the worst place to be, especially here on the East Coast. If you panic, you will not be able to think straight. Fear will freeze you.

Ever since The Big One, the 7.0 in San Francisco, I never go under a road structure (bridge or overpasses) if I will be stuck underneath there due to heavy traffic. If I can't clear the structure while in traffic, I won't go under it until I know that I can clear the structure. You cannot feel an earthquake while driving in the car unless it's greater than 7.0

Also, you cannot feel a quake unless it's greater than approximately 6.5 while in the shower with the water running over you, as the water disorients you.

Not trying to scare anyone, but I've lived through and endured 3 major earthquakes, and also about 45 or so tremors, 3.0 to 5.9. It's not fun.

Here is also what I do. Place 4 or 5 wire-hangers in the closet, 2 inches apart, without anything hanging on them. As soon as you hear them clinking (ting-ting) you'll know it is the start of another one. It only gives you a 4-6 second head-start before the actual shaking, but it's better than being caught completely off-guard.

Hopefully, this was it and there won't be another one, at least not in our lifetimes, if ever. Although that isn't how it works in CA, hopefully there won't be another one here. I am not knowledgeable of East Coast fault-lines nor do I have a sense, as I did while in CA.

EDIT: FYI ... Chandeliers are the worst during a quake.

reply to post by loam


I'm in Richmond Va, and we most certainly felt it. It shook the entire house - I was outside when it happened, right in front of the house and I ran to the road because I seriously thought it was going to bring the house down. Not to be dramatic, but it really shook that hard. I can't believe none of our windows broke. Thankfully no one hurt, but just really really bizarre to have an earthquake here in Va - and especially one that big. Jesus. I've never seen all my neighbors come out at once like that before. How do people that live in earthquake prone zones deal with this crap??? I'm still shaking.

Raleigh, NC here. I was in my office building and everyone stoppped working and all you heard was alot of chatter. I was freaked out. NEVER felt something liek that before.

I felt very helpless.

Felt nothing here in Chicago...

reply to post by loam


In Virginia Beach, 13 floors up. I've never run down 13 flights of stairs so fast in my life LOL!

That was quite an experience.

its funny because my cats have been acting REALLY annoying today , more than usual. I wonder if they can sense when something like this happens?

Originally posted by benrl
5.9? I wont even get out of bed for anything less than a six here in southern ca.

East coast quakes have a vastly more efficient wave propagation than West coast quakes. This is because the earth's crust is older, colder and more brittle in the East and tends to transmit seismic energy more efficiently ("stress-drop")

Take care all of you in the affected areas, Please stay safe in case more come,


QUAKE // At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking - AP

reply to post by Jana12


Exactly!
Right when this hit I knew exactly what it was. Good tips btw.

Fox News reporting two nuclear reactors near the epicenter have been taken offline (Live TV), and reporting that it isn't a threat

2 Nuclear reactors being taken offline

Originally posted by Konstantinos
Pics or it didn't happen! LOL

Can't show me wetting my pants ; sorry
:-)

Anybody know what fault generated the quake? I have family that live almost right on top of the epicenter. Scary stuff.