5.9 Magnitude Quake Rocks Washington D.C. Region

Anyone who wants to file a report of their earthquake experience with USGS ca do so here on USGS site

AP reports they are evacuating the Pentagon. But I guess those folks are on edge as a way of life.
content.usatoday.com...

Felt this in Stamford, CT. Entire building was shaking.

Felt it in NW Connecticut. Our building nudged back and forth for about 30 seconds or so. First one I've felt out here since arriving about 15 years ago.

i was at home on my desktop and i felt my table shaking so i backed and thought it was me but then it felt shaking and then i got a call from my bud and he asked if i felt it, which i did.


but my real question is that the new madrid fault is right around there and does anyone think that it could of been somthing with that? since there hasnt really been any quakes in the east

I'm in Baltimore md and my whole business was shaking pretty violently for 20 sec or so
I can't make any phone calls or texts with my phone but I can use the internet on my phone.
Anyone else having the same problems?

reply to post by Beaux


Little Richard

Good tune to turn on right now, if that's what you were referring to.

I live in central FL so of course we didn't feel a thing. Been trying to contact my mom though since she is on a week vacation with my grandparents and other family in VA. I think the phones are down or something because it's not getting through. Good thing I just left NJ, because i've never been in an earthquake and would rather not be.

Hope everyone is ok.

felt it here in Brooklyn, NYC. very strange feeling. first time i've ever experienced this. not pleasant lol. my friend just filled up her car with gas and bottled water

Looks like Hurricane Irene is headed to DC next. haha

reply to post by loam


Felt it in Northern CT! WOOO!!!! EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!

I have never been in an earthquake before, and now I'm all giddy. I hope those closer to the epicenter are okay, it just kind of felt like the house was sitting on jelly for a little while. I was at my computer, then I thought I was getting woozy or something, because everything felt like it was swaying, but when the things in my room started shaking and rattling slightly, I burst out of my room and ran downstairs shouting, "EARTHQUAKE!!! WE'RE HAVING AN EARTHQUAKE!!!" My sister was in the shower and my mom was downstairs, so my mom and I just stood there in the living room like, "Okay, what now?" It stopped pretty quickly, but if it had gone on for much longer, I would've evacuated the house.

I'm more excited than scared, but I still have a HUGE surge of adrenaline running through me right now.

Looking at USGS, the depth of the Earthquake was only 0.5 mile.

Link:
earthquake.usgs.gov...

Is that usual? - seems a little shallow.
Even USGS comment by saying "The depth where the earthquake begins to rupture. This depth may be relative to mean sea-level or the average elevation of the seismic stations which provided arrival-time data for the earthquake location. The choice of reference depth is dependent on the method used to locate the earthquake. Sometimes when depth is poorly constrained by available seismic data, the location program will set the depth at a fixed value. For example, 33 km is often used as a default depth for earthquakes determined to be shallow, but whose depth is not satisfactorily determined by the data, whereas default depths of 5 or 10 km are often used in mid-continental areas and on mid-ocean ridges since earthquakes in these areas are usually shallower than 33 km".

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


I don't have much knowledge about quakes. Does the depth of an earthquake indicate anything specific?

My parents in SW VA heard it but didn't feel it....my dad thought it was a racoon messing with the gutters.
Hope everyone is ok.
I don't ever remember when living in VA hearing about any earthquakes happening, there were tornado drills though.....I wonder if building codes can handle it especially with all the older brick houses.

and now for the bad joke:
oh so that's why potus is on vacation? (he might not be I don't really follow politics but I remember it being mentioned somewhere recently)
yeah I know not funny but I'm guessing harp will be brought up and then conspiracies and all that jazz so that joke was in my head and it made me smirk for a second.

Why would people in CA being me laugh you just had a quake that matched the largest ever in your local recorded history. Even if it is only a 5.9 that's still newsworthy.

This is wierd for the entire northeast to have that many miles spread out of the earthquake.I live only about a hour away from where people felt the quake but I felt nothing.

never experienced a quake with this kind of feel in NYC. like a gentle prolonged S rocking not just up and down. building felt like it was going to come down here in NYC. cell phones are over such a little thing.

and a 5.9 dc area quake felt basically all over eastern north america. wow.

My husband just called me panicked, he felt it!! He was in Elizabeth City NC! WOWZA!! Its all over the news now..

Was wild here in south NJ. My whole pre 1900s office building rocked back and fourth..my monitors were swaying. Ran outside and ground was moving...unreal!!

Originally posted by Arrrr
Is the depth of this earthquake common? (1.0 km)
second

edit on 23-8-2011 by Arrrr because: (no reason given)

I believe the depth was 7KM, which is very shallow.

A 6'er at that shallow of a depth would certainly give everybody a wakeup call REAL fast. I would be very surprised if it didn't cause some damage.

Originally posted by harlot7
The Californian's are probably laughing at us like we do the Southerner's in the snow!

As long as there are no casulaties and no real damage, you can bet that to be a safe bet...

California here...and welcome to the club...

Just got off the phone with a pal of mine on the east coast and he was pretty amused after it all settled...but food for conversation for sure...

If you wanna learn more about Earthquakes in Virginia check about this link.

The last "big one" in Virginia (about a 5.8 on the Richter scale) was on May 31, 1897, in Pearisburg, the county seat of Giles County.