Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Earthquake Hits Washington DC

About 10 minutes until 11 am pacific time, an earthquake struck Washington DC.  I was listening to Thom Hartmann live at the time.  Hartmann does his show from DC and we are getting word that a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit Virginia.  It was felt as far away as New York.

They are saying it was 3.7 miles deep.  That is fairly shallow which makes destruction more likely.

The magnitude was upgraded to 5.9 but MSNBC and some other outlets are claiming it was actually a 6.0 magnitude quake.  Each tenth of a point it goes up is significant. 

15 comments:

  1. Felt it here at the Watergate

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  2. We just felt in in Bennington, Vermont

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  3. Some old stone buildings there. 5.8 can be scary.

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  4. felt it here in greenfield mass

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  5. Strong in the DC area - window were vibrating at several buildings. No damage discovered yet.

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  6. Felt it in Kannapolis NC

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  7. Hope it shakes up all our Congressman so they understand what it means to have their Karma come back on them.

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  8. Felt it in Great Falls, VA.

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  9. Felt it in West Chester, PA

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  10. A quake that size in LA caused 360-million dollars in damage according to Dr. Lucy Jones. She is always on TV out west when we shake. Jones works for USGS.

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  11. Now they are saying it is a 5.9 magnitude.

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  12. Those on sandy soil or land fill will feel it more. Those on bedrock feel less motion.

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  13. I'm in NW DC and it was kind of scary, though from the radio reports, I suspect the biggest costs (as such) will be from the confusion and lost work time because so many building have been evacuated. In my early 20th century brick house, the only physical effects were books falling from off some stacks that were too high to begin with. And some pictures getting tilted on walls.

    The USGS report can be found here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.html

    The USGS site asks people to report whether they felt it. There's a link on their site. You can help out by reporting to them though their servers may be a bit bogged down right now.

    Hi to whoever is in Bennington. I grew up near Montpelier and went to college in Bennington.

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  14. After things calm down, check for cracks around chimneys as they tend to dance in a different direction from the roof. We in Ca. have to patch and seal around fireplace flues and chimneys after most quakes.

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  15. Tom,

    Thanks for your advice. I will.

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US Senator Joe Liberman, WTC 7 Did Not Occur