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I felt nothing, although my housemate and her Daughter said they did. It was a 5.9 quake centered in Mineral, Virginia. No word yet on injuries/deaths/property damage anywhere and no damage of any kind or injuries here in Southwestern New York State.
Catherine Linda Michel
Comments
iMacs are Great Earthquake Monitors
I'm in New Jersey, 25 miles from NYC. When I saw my trusty old iMac waver back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, I said, 'Yep! It's an earthquake. Time to hit 'Save' and head on out."
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Here, too!
From Yahoo:
NEWARK — A rare earthquake rattled parts of New Jersey and New York several minutes ago, causing buildings to sway in cities, towns, streets and beaches across the region.
The earthquake was also felt in Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to television news reports.
The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting that a magnitude 5.9 earthquake was centered in central Virginia, and the Associated Press is reporting the quake was felt in Washington, New York City and North Carolina.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Earth Shaking Zones!
Welcome to the Ground Shake Zones - They can happen anywhere in this world where there are Earth Faults, which is just about everywhere. Richard
Richard
Considering...
Samirah M. Johnstone
I was about ninety miles north ...
... of the epicenter in Mineral, VA, and i felt the office building where I work swaying and then shake for an extended period. I looked out my office window across the rear parking lot to see the walls of two smaller buildings fall away from the buildings and towards each other to collapse into heaps of rubble. I only went to stand in the doorway after most of the quake was done. *smile* Cell service was down for a while, which made worrying about my husband a primary concern. But he ended up being evacuated from his building in DC and wound up heading for home.
Considering I've never been in an earthquake before, I guess all I can say is ... Wow, what a wild ride! *grin*
Randa
What NOT to do in an earthquake
Having lived in earthquake country, California), most of my life.
Standing in a doorway IS NOT considered a good idea, for couple of reasons
An open doorway is a weak spot in a wall.
And an open door may swing shut on a hand doing major damage.
From FEMA:
If indoors
# DROP to the ground; take COVER by getting under a sturdy table or other piece of furniture; and HOLD ON until the shaking stops. If there isn’t a table or desk near you, cover your face and head with your arms and crouch in an inside corner of the building.
# Stay in bed if you are there when the earthquake strikes. Hold on and protect your head with a pillow, unless you are under a heavy light fixture that could fall. In that case, move to the nearest safe place.
# Use a doorway for shelter only if it is in close proximity to you and if you know it is a strongly supported, loadbearing doorway.
# Stay inside until the shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a different location inside the building or try to leave.
# Be aware that the electricity may go out or the sprinkler systems or fire alarms may turn on.
# DO NOT use the elevators.
From California Dept of Conservation:
During an Earthquake
#If you're indoors, stay there. Get under -- and hold onto --a desk or table, or stand against an interior wall. Stay clear of exterior walls, glass, heavy furniture, fireplaces and appliances. The kitchen is a particularly dangerous spot. If you’re in an office building, stay away from windows and outside walls and do not use the elevator.
#If you're outside, get into the open. Stay clear of buildings, power lines or anything else that could fall on you.
#If you're driving, move the car out of traffic and stop. Avoid parking under or on bridges or overpasses. Try to get clear of trees, light posts, signs and power lines. When you resume driving, watch out for road hazards.
#If you're in a mountainous area, beware of the potential for landslides. Likewise, if you're near the ocean, be aware that tsunamis are associated with large earthquakes. Get to high ground.
#If you’re in a crowded public place, avoid panicking and do not rush for the exit. Stay low and cover your head and neck with your hands and arms.
Elsewhere, I have been told that if you can get to an interior hallway, do so, and close the door behind you. This will protect you from flying glass if a window breaks, and closing the door will strengthen the wall,by eliminating the weak area of the open door.
In the 1989 quake during the start of the World series, I was on the lower floor of a 2 story apartment, lying on my bed. The building flexed so much the window, frame and all, popped out onto the ground. The sliding glass door in the other bedroom went to pieces and popped out of its track.
In that case, I broke the rule, yelling for Elaine to run out back through the open doorway, and I went out the window. We both got far enough from the building it would not fall on us. Our building stayed up, but an 'identical' unit near us did collapse.
Luckily, the only people inside were not killed. One was knocked down in the kitchen, but the stove prevented the second floor from crushing her. The other two were more seriously injured, though they were on the upper floor, and only the roof came down on them.
OOPs. Shalimar was logged in on my computer.
What NOT to do in an earthquake was my post.
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
'89 Quake
Holly, I was in the area at the time, quite the ride ;)
Glad you were safe.
Unreinforced brick is noplace to take shelter.
I was in SoCal for the Whitter Narrows quake (another 5.9), and did damage survey. One old residential hotel of unreinforced brick had finger-wide cracks in the outer wall of the basement, almost unnoticable behind the sprays from burst pipes. A few floors up, on the roof, those cracks were 3+ feet wide. A major aftershock could have brought the whole place down. A steel reinforcement strap around the top of the masonry, constraining it to all move as one unit, would have prevented that damage which was enough to get the building condemned. Hope they think about doing that in DC, now that they know they're not immune to seismic events.
Here in MA, I look at all the unreinforced brick buildings in Boston's Back Bay, and large old factories in Waltham, and think about the 4.5 feet of lateral stress built up under Boston...
I almost laughed
A friend is in the area on business and has evacuated himself from his hotel, made me giggle a little. I will say if that's the biggest quake you have been in then it is a big quake to you.
My personal best is 7.2 and I nearly moved away from the area to not experience another one like it.
Friends as far away as PA said they felt this one, pretty wide area.
I have a friend that lives
Samirah M. Johnstone
I love your newish name....
...I'm just noticing it now. And I still maintain you've got the best lookin' shades on the site!
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
I'm in New Brunswick, Canada.
We didn't feel it down here near the Nova Scotia border but they felt it and reported it on the news that they felt it in Fredericton which is middle of the province more or less. They reported feeling it in Toronto here too.
Bailey Summers
Earthquake
I'm a little west of Toronto and we felt it here...
Lisa
Shaken, Not Stirred
I heard they have a lot of quakes in Pennsylvania
which I would've thought you felt in the surrounding states, so I was surprised this was news.
But 5.9 is plenty big, depending on the type of slippage or what kind of ground you are on,
and especially where buildings weren't built with their jerking + rolling around in mind.
Glad casualties were few & damage was moderate...
~hugs, Veronica
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
I've a friend
Who attends a university in Virginia. She reports some walls at the school split. Don't know what university it is, sorry.
* * *
There are plenty of people in this world who think they are wits. They are half right.
Karen J.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Shake, Rattle and Roll...
I felt it here in south jersey.... Walls shook, Desk shook, I felt the ground rumble, and I got nauseous....
I moved out of California to get away from these things and they are chasing me I tell ya!
-P/KAF/PT
Hell, I live in Northern New Jersey....
.....a giant sink hole opened up in the Paramus Mall, and this flew out just now....
Oh gosh...that's make believe. Never mind! (Tokyo is doomed!!!!!)
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Paramus mall
If it is anything like the old Paramus Mall I knew, I hope it fell in taking all the evil yuppie spawn with it :)
No feely the shaky
I felt nothing in Delaware, but people have called me to see if I am okay. I kind of think I was pre-conditioned not to feel it, spent many years on the big ponds during hurricane and rough seas.
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Actually, there were two!
Here's a site I go to when I think I feel one...
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Earthquake Details
Here is a link to the information about the Virginia earthquake on the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program website.
So far there have been 13,861 responses covering 3,754 zipcodes at distances of up to 1,000 kilometers (and a couple reports even further) to their "Did you feel it?" public reporting facility.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/se...
The fault plane solution seems to indicate a focal mechanism of an overthrust (one side riding over the other) along a line that is nearly north / south (slightly towards NE / SW). The fault plane solution cannot differentiate between left over right versus right over left.
Long ago in my college years I worked with the Seismology research group at school so I'm working from my deep memory.
Michelle B
I live in Australia
And I didn't feel a thing!
Hope nobody was hurt?
The quake in Cristchurch NZ was a bit too close!
LoL
Rita
Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
(Mark Twain)
LoL
Rita
Rattling DC
I lived in Washington for a long time, and did a decade ago, but don't now. The thing you have to remember is DC is different. In DC when your building moves you don't think about an earthquake, you think about things a whole, whole lot worse. When some random psycho shoots people in LA you think it's probably some random ass psycho; in DC you think it is something a whole, whole lot worse and call out the Army and Air Force. You just do, and that was true even more than a decade ago too.
But now that it's over, I got to say I wish I'd been there. I've been through a hurricane (Well, I was living near the center of Houston, and it hit Galveston, but that's f-ing close enough for me.); a few tropical storms (par for the course if you live in Houston or New Orleans - that's why they have moats in front of a lot of the houses.); a huge flood (in central Texas where it ain't even supposed to rain much.); and two tornadoes (OK, neither hit me, but I saw one and the other demolished my grocery store and the houses two blocks from me). However, I've never been in a earthquake in spite of nearly six months total time visiting California (there wwas the time that I was helping a friend empty a metal storage shed ten feet from a freight train track, and I thought that was an earthquake until I heard the whistle, but that's it.) The last time the place I live now felt an earthquake was the early nineteenth century, and it's epicenter was a thousand miles away. I'd kind of like to be in one sometime, but not one any bigger than yesterday's.
This is for all my friends in DC and California.
Things are different on this side of the continent
I live in LA for awhile and never did get used to the trembling. The buildings are built for that stuff, but here on the East coast that is not true. There are a lot of old stuff from the 1800's still standing and earthquake proofing things were never a priority. Normally we worry about things like where Cat 3 Irene is going to go.
Jan is right about the whole stressful thing in DC. Years ago, I worked in the Pentagon for some time, and I think it was the hotdog stand that said it all. It sat right in the center of the Pentagon courtyard, in the bull's eye if you know what I mean. You knew when you ate at 'Cafe' Ground Zero' there was at least two nuke missiles targeted right at you. So yeah, a little paranoia. :)
FYI I didn't feel anything here in Columbia, SC.
hugs
Grover
The weather channel said it was felt as far south as georgia.
They said it was felt as far south as here in georgia. Personally the only thing I felt rumbling yesterday morning was my stomach,if something major was going down they would have turned on the sirens over at the base. Though they really need to turn the volume up on there sirens/loud speakers as ya can barely here them and I'm like 5 miles from the base.