Strong Earthquake Rocks East Coast USA, Virginia
August 23, 2011, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
VIRGINIA: STRONG EARTHQUAKE ROCKS EAST COAST USA
Magnitude 5.9
(later downgraded to 5.8 by USGS)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 17:51:03 UTC
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 01:51:03 PM at epicenter
Location 37.975°N, 77.969°W
Depth 1 km (~0.6 mile) (poorly constrained)
(later updated to 6 km (3.7 miles)
Region VIRGINIA
Distances
6 km (4 miles) SSE (152°) from Louisa, VA
6 km (4 miles) SW (236°) from Mineral, VA
26 km (16 miles) SE (133°) from Gordonsville, VA
66 km (41 miles) NW (318°) from Richmond, VA
134 km (83 miles) SW (219°) from Washington, DC
Earthquake depth was VERY SHALLOW, ~1km, meaning lots of shaking…
(update, USGS just changed depth to 3.5 miles still pretty shallow)
Shook much of Washington, D.C., felt as far north as Rhode Island, New York City
Brings down cell phone / landline service to New York (apparently now restored)
All Flights Grounded at New York Airports
Pentagon Evacuated
Office Workers Scramble onto Streets in Washington DC
Rattles Manhattan
US Capitol Building Evacuated
2 Nuke Reactors Taken Offline
Downtown Baltimore: Office Workers Run to Streets
Felt in Toronto Canada
Geologist Warns of Aftershocks
Union Station Evacuated, Chunks of Ceiling Falling…
National Monuments Evacuated and Closed
LaGuardia Airport Evacuated
Verizon and ATT say Very High Volume Making Service Spotty
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: …not immediately aware of any damage
NRC: Officials are still assessing the situation
North Anna Nuclear Power Station, now using four diesel generators to maintain cooling
People “Panicking”
News Agencies telling people to ‘Calm Down’
JFK resumes flights
Could be some structural damaged buildings: being inspected
University of California, R. Allen: “Cannot rule out larger quake to come”
Workers return to Pentagon…
Washington Monument Reportedly LEANING?!
Tremors felt as far north as Bath, Maine
President to speak and calm people’s nerves
Californians chuckle…
USGS: The largest damaging earthquake in that zone since 1875
Wall Street Surges, Rallies while earth shakes
Broken Spire at the National Cathedral, DC
“a thunderous noise”
The largest to ever hit the D.C. area
White House Roof Snipers Scramble From Hiding Holes During Quake
Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard Courthouse Evacuated During Quake
Obama didn’t feel it while on Golf Course, but apparently ‘double bogeyed’ oops…
and the best news is…
DC Employee Evacuation Results in Temporary Economic Recovery
Washington DC earthquake damage
(sorry, i couldn’t resist…)
Cracks Found at Washington Monument
Quake waves raced west, 500 miles/min, reaching CA seismo monitors in 5 minutes
…even on the East Coast you want to be prepared
Virginia Earthquake Seismic Waves Race Across the Country
Food For Thought,
Could This Be A Foreshock??
(probably not, but it is possible)
You may be interested in
Earthquake History East Coast USA Continental Shelf
If you enjoyed this, or topics of current events risk awareness or survival preparedness,
check out our current homepage articles…
I live in the Metro Detroit area and work on the fourth floor of our building. We felt the earthquake here!!!!
Am 50 miles from epicenter in Shenandoah Valley. Shook hard here, waiting for any aftershocks or was this a precursor?
I live in Brooklyn, NYC and happened to stay home today and the whole room was shaking. I wasn’t really scary and just got up and stood in the door way because I figured what else could it be an earthquake. Even though I was born and raised here and in 28years I’ve never experienced an earthquake!
Hmm, I guess for those of us in non-earthquake prone areas with brick-built houses, storing part of our survival stuff away from the house in a shed or bin or something suddenly seems like a very good idea. It would be rubbish if you had good supplies, but couldn’t get to them because of all the rubble and iron supports!
To those who felt the quake, stay safe!
Look at the % of gravity that this earthquake reached, about in the 50% range. The earthquake hazard map shows a maximum of about 15% should be reached within a 50 year period. When these characters talk about the maximum earthquake being under 8.0 out in California remember this. The earthquake out in California was always thought of as a 8.3, expect this size or larger when the San Andreas breaks, especially the southern part that has accumulated more than 320 years of stress. These USGS individuals are not idiots and they know that California and other areas are more than capable of much, much higher forces of shaking, they are simply playing politics in regards to real estate sales.
Can we please just break off already and become our own giant island!
That aint a real earthquake, those begin from 7 up. Youe tremor here would get only a footnote in the newspaper here in Chile, i was in the coast for the 8.8 in a surf camp, been in a 24th floor for a 7,2 replica, didnt even hesitate to leave the building.
Obama was asked about the earthquake and said it was not his fault he inherited it from George Bush. But it would have been far worse without his new programs.
Best post to date! Though I guess we should still address him as President Obama to give respect to the office, certainly not the man.
So if you look between the Colorado quake and the Virginia quake, you find the New Madrid Fault right in the middle. Also, I read somewhere that the pressure of high river flooding can trigger earthquakes after the water recedes and with the Missouri floods this year… it makes me wonder. Any thoughts?
I enjoy the 2nd one the most it is more simple