Virginia Aftershock/Earthquake Cover Up

Recently, I've read some things talking about the USGS covering up earthquakes or downsizing them for whatever reasons. After what I've been told today, I feel this is absolutely true!

First off, I live about 2 hours or so from the quake that occurred on August 23rd. We felt that one pretty good. Since then I have been checking the USGS site a lot more than I was before, numerous times a day.

This morning when I talked to my mom that lives about 5 miles from me, the first thing she asked was how did you sleep last night? I said pretty good I think. She said well at 1am we had another pretty good aftershock. She was up in her bedroom and she said her bed started shaking, her fan was shaking and the dress bag hanging on the back of her door was rattling around pretty loud. She couldn't believe that one didn't wake me up!!!

Then, when I got to the office this morning, a co-worker asked me if I felt the earthquake during the night last night? I said no and asked if it was the one around 1am? She said NO this one was around 3am. She said it only lasted a few seconds but everything in her house was vibrating and shaking.

I heard on our local news station this morning that it was being reported that a 3.4 mag. aftershock hit a little after 5am this morning. They said absolutely nothing about the other two that were felt during the night! So, I checked the USGS site and they show nothing for those times either. What is going on??

I figured that here in my area, nobody has said they have felt any of the other aftershocks that are in the 2.0 to 3.0 range but a couple of earthquakes that were obviously strong enough to be felt here and in the little town over, were felt really well and not reported by the USGS??? The 3.4 that occurred a little after 5am this morning was not felt by anyone I know, in my area, but they reported on that one?

Can someone explain why the USGS would be hiding these little aftershocks or not reporting them at all???? What is there to hide?? It's not out of the ordinary to get aftershocks after an earthquake. Why would they be reporting on some and not others?
USGS Website

I saw it here this morning when I checked...Source

reply to post by Starseed32


3.4 earthquake jolts Virginia

Here it is. (USGS)

Apparently the first two posters didnt read your OP. You clearly stated that they reported the 3.4 at 5am, but didnt report the other two at 1am and 3am.

Is your mom and your coworker positive about the times they say they felt the quake? If so, something does seem odd about why USGS didnt report the other two. I'll be watching this thread for further developments...

reply to post by Starseed32


One of my friends posted on Facebook regarding the 1 am earth quake. I noticed their post this morning on my way out and totally forgot about it. She never posted about the 3 am one.Tell your mom she isn't crazy, my friend in Virginia felt it too

I kept checking this forum hoping someone would post and confirm what I felt wasn't my imagination. First off, I got an attack of mild vertigo around midnight and again around 3 am. I didnt note the precise times but went to walk my dog around three a.m. and continued to feel odd. At the time I got the vertigo I wondered if we would get a quake later because it was so unusual a feeling and I had gotten it before in conjunction with previous huge quakes further away for some reason. I ended up with a sleepless night between my cats and dog being restless and my feeling vibrations and hearing what sounded like rumbling around the times you noted. I'm in MD.

I did not get vertigo to "warn" me the day of the larger quake and my animals and I were taken by surprise that day but afterward I did feel subtle vibrations and that unsteady feeling below my feet off and on the rest of that day.

I was very hesitant to post about it, especially if nobody else was going to, so thank you for making this topic and letting us know about the even smaller quakes. I couldn't understand why the ground felt like a gurgling stomach to me last night and why the darned animals wouldn't settle down for the night.

reply to post by kennylee


My mom said when she felt all the vibrating and shaking she made a point to look at the time. She said it was 1:01 am and she almost called me but was afraid that I was asleep and she didn't want to wake me. My co-worker said she thought is was about 3am because she dose off in her recliner and had woke up just then, felt the shaking and went on to bed.

It just doesn't make any sense why they didn't post these. Even in other places they have posted some 1.1's where it would be very difficult to feel those!

Sorry nevermind

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain


It funny you bring up the vertigo thing. I have never had vertigo. About 45 mins. ago I just went to my co-worker and told her that I felt like my equilibrium is off. I feel like I'm about to tip over. Even right now sitting at my desk I feel like i'm toppling over! It's truly a weird yucky feeling!

If it helps any here is a link to the closest webicorder to the Virginia quakes for the hours you are discussing...it's still current as well. IRIS Webicorder

reply to post by Juggalette


I don't know how to read graphs of that sort but noting the times and all the squiggles I can say if someone were to ask me to make a drawing of how I felt from last night through this morning, that's the sort of drawing I'd make!

I can only describe the feeling as akin to when you get a stomach gurgle that just won't settle. Or more accurately, when I was pregnant and my baby got a bad case of hiccups inside the womb. Everything appears okay on the surface but inside there is this persistent rumbly feeling inside that is very bothersome and disquieting. The ground felt that way to me throughout the night and morning and on the day in the aftermath of the big quake itself. This is in contrast to the quake we had in Maryland July of last year. When that quake was over, it was over. No subtle tremors and such afterwards. My animals settled back onto their sleep almost immediately.

I must note my pets are STILL a bit restless. It makes me wonder if this is all over. I can't trust my own feelings at the moment because I got such poor sleep at this point and am running on a big cup of coffee that I could set off seismographs with my jitters!

I think this might be one of your quakes...


MAP 2.1 2011/08/31 13:44:10 37.922 -77.882 0.7 10 km ( 6 mi) SSE of Mineral, VA

You have to explore the USGS site...they don't post every single quake on the main page, just the significant ones.

Here's another one:

MAP 1.8 2011/08/31 15:01:54 37.953 -77.977 3.6 8 km ( 5 mi) SSE of Louisa, VA

Yep, I'm not sure if everything we can feel is recorded by instruments, either because they're at a distance where it barely registers, or who knows? I live in NJ, and on Aug 23rd, about 1:10 or 1:15 pm, my husband and I heard a very strange, loud, deep, pervasive rumble that we also felt through the ground. It was definitely not truck or equipment noise, and gave the impression of being from N and S at the same time. We thought it very strange at the time, and at first when we heard that there had been an earthquake, thought oh, that was what that was. But turns the quake that was felt by others was around 2. I didn't feel the 2ish quake, but others very closeby did.

Why would the USGs not list a couple of tremors when they list so many others?

earthquake.usgs.gov...

dozens today alone

reply to post by Essan


Thank you Essan! You took the words right out of my mouth! The info Tasty has posted is just for August 31st. These quakes occurred during the early morning hours of Sept. 1st!!!

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain

I live on the border between Ohio and West Virginia and when the 5.8 occurred it felt (for a few seconds) like I was standing on a boat. "Swimmy" is the best word I can find for it I thought I was having vertigo or something until I realized that I was also hearing my townhouse creak. I have never experienced an earthquake before that one and I can say that it is definitely an odd feeling.

reply to post by Starseed32


My apologies but can you just confirm the time these quakes were experienced in UTC. I am assuming that you are saying 1 am US time so is that 4 hours behind there?

Remember also that sometimes quakes are posted later after they have been evaluated as is the case at Yellowstone where the small ones are NEVER posted straight away. Only Mag 2.5+ get posted immediately.

These could take a day or more to get on to the lists, but if you can give me an exact UTC time I will get the wave form and confirm they were there.

USGS do not remove quakes from the waveform files, they cannot. Some may not get posted but that is another matter.

quakewatch.wordpress.com...

Being thick. Your paper said 5am and the quake was 9am UTC so yes - 4 hours. I'll be back.




I have looked at about a dozen seismos around the area of the latest 3.4 quake and I cannot see any quakes between the hours of 04:00 UTC (Midnight EST?) to 08:00 (04:00 EST?). There are sevral small ones after the 3.4 as you can see on this plot.



I have also downloaded the waveform file for that time period and I cannot hear anything that sounds like and earthquake, at least not on the broadband channels, but possibly something at 07:00 UTC (03:00 EST?). Now that happens to coincide with the start of the wiggly line on that plot which is the 5.9 Santa Cruz quake coming through. It would be extremely very unlikely that anyone felt that!

You said two hours but what sort of distance is that? I may be looking in the wrong area entirely.

reply to post by PuterMan


Thanks Puterman! I don't understand why these aren't showing up. Maybe if we wait they will, i don't know. Originally, my mom was thinking that it had something to do with the land below her house. She is in Roanoke City, VA. Many of the towns and cities in this area are built over caverns. We have caverns in the area where they give tours. Several years ago the road in front of her house collapsed. They filled it, it collapsed again, and the filled it again. You could not see the bottom of the hole so I have no idea how deep it was. So that was her first concern. Then when my co-worker mentioned another one to me that would have occurred a couple hours later, I thought there was more to this!

This afternoon, I emailed a friend of mine and she said she felt and heard a loud "thud" sound at her house last night between 1-2am that woke her. After that her baby woke up and was crying. Maybe a coincidence or it could have been the same quake, i don't know.

So far, no one I have talked to felt the 3.4 at 5am. We are about 35 minutes from Virginia Tech, so it seems like they should have picked up something down this way.

For the longest time,
i could not figure out,
the same,, mean level,
of the 5.9 wave.
From Toronto,
to Virginia.
Maybe some lava,
found its way, too the
PTB's,
bunkers.
They can drill the,
English Channel too within,
an inch, i think it was.
starting at opposite,
ends.
amazing really.
It's a thought.

reply to post by Starseed32


I have to say that I am perplexed! I cannot see a quake on any seismo in the area that matches the times stated.

Based on your Mother's location this is the closest seismo (26 miles) to Roanoke.

BLA.US.00.BHZ.2011.244

As you can see there is nothing at 05:00 or 07:00 UTC (1am and 3am EST)

It definitely seems that whatever it was it was not an earthquake but something at a higher frequency that has not registered on the seismograms, or - see the next bit - something local. I am afraid you will not see these coming into the listings anywhere since seismologically speaking they do not appear to exist.

I am intrigued by your description of caverns and holes. Sounds like a limestone karst area. The sounds could indeed have been a collapse very locally that was not big enough to get out to the seismogram 26 miles away. It would have to be very local for that however.

Sorry I can't be of any more help than that.