5.9 Magnitude Quake Rocks Washington D.C. Region

I posted on this thread earlier, shortly after the quake was felt here in Delaware. And YES, it was scary.
But now, I am seeing many posts with questions and some slightly inaccurate information, so I wanted to post some responses on what I know so far:

1. Aftershocks are commonplace but they are most likely going to be smaller than the original earthquake. If they are stronger than the original earthquake, than the original is a foreshock.

2. Two principles describe this -
Omori's Law - predicts that most shocks will occur immediately following the earthquake and become less and less frequent over time.
The two aftershocks this afternoon are indicators of Omori’s Law.
Båth's Law - states that “the largest aftershock is, on average, about 1.2 magnitudes smaller than the main quake

3. Yes, there were a couple aftershocks reported (Not major EQ's). There was a 2.8 recorded at 2:46pm and a 2.2 recorded at 3:20. So the 5.9 from 1:10pm seems to be the main earthquake. Just look at the reports and you will see this too.

4. The culprit of today's events seems to run along the James River - (one of two active EQ areas in Virginia, the other in Central Giles County in S.W. Virginia)

Experts say there are two active earthquake areas in Virginia: The one apparently responsible for Tuesday’s quake runs along the James River between Charlottesville and Richmond and is known as the Central Virginia Seismic Zone. The other is an area centered in Giles County in southwest Virginia, which had a 5.8-magnitude quake more than a century ago

5. There is an ancient falt line that runs the East Coast from Alabama to New York. "New York-Alabama Lineamant". Discovered in 1978, it is estimated to be about 500million years old and has been dormant for over 200 years. Link for more info here

6. There are other siemic zones around the East Coast including the Rampano Fault System (which don't believe the hype some crack geologist from ABC the Bay has online about this because she is wrong!) She is clearly stating incorrect facts. This fault line runs from S.E. New York to Eastern PA only. Be aware of stuff like this.

7. Other areas of note include Central Giles County in S.W. Virginia and yes, the 125th Street Fault line which runs from Manhattan to the Hudson River and has been dormant for some time now.

8. Two unusual earthquakes have hit recently, today's 5.8/5.9 and Colorado's earthquake on Monday which was the largest in 40 years.

9. Another to note happened in DC on July 16th -

An earthquake also occurred in the D.C. metro region July 16, 2010. A 3.6 magnitude quake centered near Gaithersburg shook the area. Today’s 5.8 magnitude quake was about 160 times bigger than that quake and almost 2,000 times as powerful.

10. It is my opinion that Marcia McNutt, USGS Director was misquoted in this thread regarding her statement in the Washington Post. This is what she said, taken directly from the article.

Minutes after the quake,Marcia McNutt, USGS director -- who watched objects falling from the shelves in her office -- concerned about aftershocks, cautioned that the shaking might not be over. “When something like this happens, remember what to do in the case of a seismic event. Duck, get under something sturdy like a desk or a doorway, get away from falling glass. Make sure that you are not in the way of falling objects like pictures, bookshelves, books, anything that’s not firmly connected the wall.”

I don't know why this is her telling us to "Watch out...massive aftershocks are coming!" If you look at the two quakes that occurred between 2pm and 4pm, you will clearly see they have gotten smaller.

11. The EQ today was felt in a wider area because on the East Coast the rocks are older, colder and therefore there are less cracks to dissipate the energy. The damage is felt far from the epicenter.

12. Yup, the DOW rose today to the highest it's been in two weeks!

The Dow jumped 322 points, its best day since Aug. 11, when it gained 423.

But read on....

The Dow dipped about 60 points shortly after an earthquake hit the East Coast at 1:51 p.m., but recovered within 20 minutes and soared even higher in the afternoon.

- Exxon and Chevron seemed to be the winners today because of the price hike in oil.
- Bank of America was the loser after news the bank wouldn't be able to sell off it's stocks to a Chinese bank.

13. Finally, Obama is golfing....lol

Today was a pretty scary day for us East Coast natives and I did a bunch of research when I got home from work to help clear my brain. I wanted to pass this along to everyone here to become further informed, prepared, put-at-ease, whatever.

I would suggest these articles from W ashington Post, Daily Mail (w/a bunch of PICS), article about the New York-Alabama Lineamant and an article on the Virginia EQ of 1897

I'm not saying something big isn't going to happen, but who can make that kind of statement with 100% certainty?

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
I am not 1 bit suprised this happened today...

This morning when I was heading to work I saw HAARP clouds, I never figured it would've hit so far away.

I'm kicking my self I didn't take pictures, i'm a firm believer now in HAARP causing earthquakes.

Pic? what are Haarp clouds....? never heard of that and I would like to be able to identify these.
If you have a pic I would appreciate it. :=)

Originally posted by followingpythagoras
reply to post by aorAki

 

Just looked at the link you provided - and felt like a big sissy (even though I am a woman) for freaking out. In my defense, it is the biggest and only earthquake I have ever experienced, and I was concerned for a few moments that the house was going to come crashing down. However, after looking at what you are living with - it could be SO much worse. A little perspective never hurts, I guess.

That wasn't meant to be my point. My point was more about having to grow resilience. I'm really glad your situation is different from ours and being concerned/scared/upset etc are entirely valid responses to such a shock.

good luck

reply to post by aorAki


I was on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles in 1971 when the 7.1 ( I think about a 6.5 under the new scale) hit. Pretty much everyone who was hurt, got hurt running into or out of buildings. That's where all the action is so to speak when the brick facades come down or the glass starts raining down.

I ended up being a Geology Major oddly enough, when I entered College a short while later. We were made to memorize verbatim three pages of typewritten text on what to do before, during and after and earthquake. Back then they made a huge point of telling us to stay inside if inside and outside if outside and stay away from the windows and next to a structural, internal wall.

There are some arguments on this point and it may depend on a case by case basis, but often the injuries are a direct result of evacuation and with earthquakes you have all that debris from facades, signs and what not coming down on top of people exiting or entering buildings.

Even though Wilshire was full of bricks and what-not the structures held up and the injuries happened outside from the debris raining from above. I was in a bus and barely even felt it. In fact would not have known had not the driver picked up the microphone and announced we were in the middle of a major quake. Switched buses at the station near the Stacks and they did not even delay the buses. We drove on to Ontario where I was headed at the time.

If your house shook, check your gas pipes! Sometimes the shake is just enough to loosen a pipe and cause a leak. Just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention.

Lets hope this is just a once in a life time thing.

reply to post by aorAki


Just realized you are in Christchurch. Are the buildings there up to standards for earthquake prone zones? You have problems with old brick structures?

52 pages for a 5.8 quake.

What a novelty for the yanks.

The “Triangle of Life”: Ten Ways to Survive the Next “Big One”
Thought I would Post this link ''The next big one!'' obrag.org...

Originally posted by AGWskeptic

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Had to share this one.

One of these days I'll figure out the linking on this site.

Don't let the other guy fool you. Finding the place to upload to ATS is hard enough. Then you have to figure out what to paste into the thread. It'd be nice if ATS made it easier to insert images, but basically I'll tell you the easy way.

Find the URL of the image that is already available for view. It will begin with http:// and end with .jpg most likely (.gif is also common).

Find the IMAGE button above (as you already did), and paste the URL. Photobucket also allows you to copy the "IMG code" to paste here into ATS directly. (See their website in the upper right.)

s86.photobucket.com...

If photobucket is getting a really high number of hits for an image, they will refuse to "serve" (send out) that image. Instead, they will require people to visit their website to view it instead. That's why it isn't visible as I inserted it in this post. But, click the link above, and you'll see it.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by aorAki

 

I was on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles in 1971 when the 7.1 ( I think about a 6.5 under the new scale) hit. Pretty much everyone who was hurt, got hurt running into or out of buildings. That's where all the action is so to speak when the brick facades come down or the glass starts raining down.

Sure, I guess I misunderstood you! But, immediately the shaking stops don't stay in the building if you can. Certainly be aware of falling masonry, glass etc.

Originally posted by Blaine91555I ended up being a Geology Major oddly enough, when I entered College ...

You too

Originally posted by Blaine91555

There are some arguments on this point and it may depend on a case by case basis, but often the injuries are a direct result of evacuation and with earthquakes you have all that debris from facades, signs and what not coming down on top of people exiting or entering buildings.

Yes, this is a fair point. I'd say I'm spoiled, being in a well-built Ministry of Works Building!

I guess individual assessment of the situation would be ideal, but trusting people to have the requisite skills to recognise actual, rather than perceived threats is a big call, especially if a Government Department.

The unsettling thing is that a lot of managers don't have any more experience than their employees regarding disaster/hazard management and response and often in situations such as this the rule book gets thrown out.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
reply to post by aorAki

 

Just realized you are in Christchurch. Are the buildings there up to standards for earthquake prone zones? You have problems with old brick structures?

We're a bit of a curate's egg. While some are designed to Modern standards, even some from the 1980s, which were up to code then, collapsed. There has been earthquake strengthening going on for years (we're mindful of the Alpine Fault going) but it is over a long period and was only requiring the older buildings to be brought up to 30% of the modern code. Having said that, a lot of the buildings that were strengthened did perform admirably, particularly during the February earthquake which blew any design codes out of the water due to its immense gravitational acceleration. This event has caused a rethink and redesign of the codes becuase of the sheer vertical acceleration.
Lots of chimneys fell down (mainly in September, but also Boxing Day, February, and June) and, well, I wouldn't be happy in a brick building these days. Some are still standing, but most buildings have earthquake-related cracks somewhere (including this one, at work) and I agree: at what point does concern for public welfare overtake concern for heritage? We are having that debate right now.

Originally posted by RUDDD
You say its not 'normal' for East Coasters to experience a 5.9, well here in the UK were even further out of seismological reaches from plate boundary's. Yet never once during any 5+ quake the UK has felt did the country halt air-traffic into airports, evac capital city buildings or freak-out like you guys did so today.

If that's how the East Coast reacts to a brief 5.9, your going to need all the luck going for when either the Ramapo Fault crossing NY state or the New Madrid Fault ruptures.

sooo.. what you are saying is.... if the ground starts shaking and buildings start moving, you should just hang around and wait for the magnitude of the earth quake to be confirmed? how long after the quake did they know exactly the stregnth of the quake? # forget you, first shake i feel, i will be so alert that my ass will round up my family as fast i can and get to a safe place. if it ends up being not that big a deal like this one then have a laugh on me.

all i know is when a really big one happens, i now know who will have the most casualties...

reply to post by harlot7


Dont sweat it

Hurricane Irene is coming up the coast to finish us off

I live in NJ - things shook here. My GF said shelves in her house were knocked down and the cat freaked out

Otherwise no major damage

I find it interesting that USGS has now removed the 4.2 quake in the same location that they had posted at 8:04....any idea why it was removed?

Another Illuminati card about to be revealed?


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ea0de50f73ab.jpg[/atsimg]

IF the house shakes a little it might be alright.I think you will be able to tell when to get out.A little shaking might be okay but if things start falling down fall down you might want to get out.

reply to post by loam


I feel as though this could be related to HAARP. The planes where I live spray often and I am very use to seeing it. However, today in the earlier portion before the quake, they seemed to be going overboard with the spraying. They were spraying at least 3 to 4 times more than I have ever seen. Now I know that they (TPTB) can use the HAARP system for weather control / manufacturing. I live in Virginia between DC and Richmond. Did anyone between NY, PA, DC, MD, VA see any other over spraying today before the quake hit?

reply to post by harlot7


Bravo...knowledge is power.

Good work. Rest yourself. You have been very brave.

God's Speed harlot7.

reply to post by My Call


I did not, and this is something I pay attention to often. I'm in VA about 10 mins from the NC border.

reply to post by Logman


What people that don't live here to actually experience it don't understand is...a 5.8 quake here feels much stronger than a 5.8 quake elsewhere. The type of rock that this part of the country is resting on transmits energy much more easily and more powerfully than on the west coast or other parts of the world. We are also on one extremely large plate. We are not broken into several small pieces like other areas where quakes happen often.

There's a reason this was felt from Canada all the way down to Georgia.

Also remember that the buildings and houses here are not made to withstand quakes as they are on the west coast or in other countries.

I'm in New Jersey and it was a pretty violent shake for a good 30 seconds. Things fell off my dresser and shelves. My TV almost fell off the stand, I thought all the walls were just going to crumble, it was pretty intense. It was also a very shallow quake.

I see a lot of people criticizing it but this isn't your average 5.8 due to the circumstances. Look at some of the videos that have been posted already and you can see that it appears much stronger.

reply to post by Logman

Maybe better than 52 pages with info on how to find a dentist?