http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.html
I know of a dozen people that felt it from Virginia northward to New York. Was on the phone with my Mother when she commented that things were shaking in the house. What have you felt?
Revised the post title to reflect the downgrade from 5.9 to 5.8
Did not feel anything in Indiana, but my boss was on a videoconference with people in suburban DC and said that he could see the shaking on their end.
Quote from: Alex on August 23, 2011, 02:25:50 PM
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005ild.html
I know of a dozen people that felt it from Virginia northward to New York. Was on the phone with my Mother when she commented that things were shaking in the house. What have you felt?
In my 6th-floor cubicle in an 8-story building in Philadelphia, I felt something odd about 1:45, then definite horizontal swaying a couple of minutes later. Most people within earshot obviously felt it too. Most people, me included, spontaneously evacuated the building (I was thinking terrorism, actually). Heard the reports of an earthquake while I was outside. Couldn't reach my parents by cell while outside, but other people were starting to talk of people they'd reached who'd felt it in other places. After about 15 minutes outside, went back in, and my mother reached me on my office phone; she'd gone outside because of the shaking, heard from a neighbor what was going on, and went back in and started watching the news.
I'm surprised a 5.8 (or 5.9, depending which source you look at, at least at the moment) could be felt like that 250 miles away. Let alone farther (my parents' in northeastern New Jersey; New York City reportedly; even Concord, N.H., I saw somewhere).
It was noticeable here in Pittsburgh...
Friends on FB reported it in NJ, PA, NY, CT, MD. Spoke with a friend on the phone in Newark, DE and he felt it. Mom was in Townsend, DE. Cell networks are having problems with all of the call volume up there. One friend in Richmond reported that nothing broke where she works and that things were fine.
Didn't feel anything in Winston-Salem, but I was in my car.
5.9? Pffftt, that's nothing to a Californian... :)
Seriously though, I hope everything and everyone is OK and there isn't any significant damage. Pretty sure that quake came as quite a shock to a lot of people out there. Just remember there will probably be some aftershocks so be prepared.
I was driving on the Beltway. Did not feel a thing. Had no idea. I parked the car in Old Town and wondered why so many people were out on the sidewalks. Then my wife and brother sent me text messages. Got home and found some pictures on the floor, drawers had slid open, some stuff fell off closet shelves...weird stuff.
Dammit, I missed all the fun!!!!!!!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 23, 2011, 02:44:58 PM
Got home and found some pictures on the floor, drawers had slid open, some stuff fell off closet shelves...weird stuff.
Dammit, I missed all the fun!!!!!!!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:
Ummm... trust me, if you were at home and everything started to shake and things are falling off shelves you would not be thinking "hey this fun" especially if you haven't experienced an earthquake before.
My first (and only so far) big quake was the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake that hit during the Giants-A's World Series and it scared the living crap out of me. What was equally as frightening was seeing the damage the magnitude 6.9 quake did to San Francisco, Oakland and the Bay Bridge. Remember this quake lead to the quick demise of the Central and Embarcadero Freeways in downtown S.F. and caused significant damage to California 17, California 1 and I-80 (Bay Bridge).
On a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east? Out here in quake country, we were taught in grade school to "duck and cover" (i.e. get under a sturdy object like a dining room table or desk) in the event of a quake.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 23, 2011, 03:01:54 PM
Quote from: Michael in Philly on August 23, 2011, 02:31:49 PM
(I was thinking terrorism, actually)
good grief.
I work at a Jewish organization. And am not in earthquake country. Other people in Washington and New York had the same thought. Don't be an ass.
Quote from: Michael in Philly on August 23, 2011, 03:03:54 PM
I work at a Jewish organization. And am not in earthquake country. Other people in Washington and New York had the same thought. Don't be an ass.
you're not in "terror country" either.
the basic laws of probability still say "earthquake", not "terrorist attack". the primary reason why so many people in DC and NY still have such a response is because the 9/11 attacks were so completely out of the ordinary ...
and they will remain so.
earthquakes, on the other hand, will happen on occasion.
Quote from: myosh_tino on August 23, 2011, 02:52:12 PM
....
On a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east? Out here in quake country, we were taught in grade school to "duck and cover" (i.e. get under a sturdy object like a dining room table or desk) in the event of a quake.
Not that I've ever experienced. I've never had any such lessons.
I was just outside talking to my next-door neighbor and he is pissed because he grew up in California and thought he had escaped earthquakes by moving here. :-D
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 23, 2011, 03:08:04 PM
Quote from: Michael in Philly on August 23, 2011, 03:03:54 PM
I work at a Jewish organization. And am not in earthquake country. Other people in Washington and New York had the same thought. Don't be an ass.
you're not in "terror country" either.
the basic laws of probability still say "earthquake", not "terrorist attack". the primary reason why so many people in DC and NY still have such a response is because the 9/11 attacks were so completely out of the ordinary ...
and they will remain so.
earthquakes, on the other hand, will happen on occasion.
Earthquakes of this magnitude do not in fact happen on occasion on the East Coast. At least not frequently enough that someone in his mid-40s would have felt one before.
But excuse me for not thinking so rationally during the first couple of minutes. After that, I did indeed think that an earthquake was the only thing that made sense.
Now what's your excuse for being an ass?
I didn't feel it here.
Felt it in Mt holly NJ, near exit 5 on the NJTP.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 23, 2011, 03:11:06 PM
I was just outside talking to my next-door neighbor and he is pissed because he grew up in California and thought he had escaped earthquakes by moving here. :-D
Tell your neighbor that because he lived in California means earthquakes will follow him for the rest of his life. :) You can never "escape" an earthquake! LOL :-D
I felt it near New Castle (Corporate Commons), DE around 1:51 pm. Seemed like my desk was shaking horizontally a couple of times. My building was evacuated for about an hour.
Michelle Bachmann: There is no such thing as an Earthquake. Hell just burped.
Rick Perry: Clearly the gays did this.
Jon Huntsman: All the government ran into the street and the stock market shot up 100 points. This should tell us something.
Newt Gingrich: This is how diamonds are made.
Ron Paul: Yabba Dabba Doo!
Mitt Romney: This is Obama's fault. As a matter of fact, it happened along the Obama Fault.
Muammar al-Gadhafi: There has not been an earthquake. All is well. The rebels will be crushed.
It was all BUSH'S FAULT!!! :verymad:
Felt nothing here in NE Wisconsin.
Mike
Barack Obama: This proves we need to raise taxes on the rich, and that allowing this kind of activity to go unregulated is dangerous, so I am going to establish a new deparment to regulate this activity.
Earthquakes in the East coast is in comparison more common than Hurricanes landing on the California coast (none on record). From a geological perspective, the closest mountain range: the Appalachias to the west of Washington DC has a small likelihood for seismic activity.
The M6 tremor sure rattled nerves in the Northeast Corridor (esp. New York and Washington DC) and the Carolinas as well...and on the news: Thousands of people went outside the US government office buildings, the Wall Street stock market exchange (so far a good trading day) and major airports had to close.
There has been a rash of earthquakes lately in the south Pacific islands of Vanuatu (about a few M6 and 7s) and Solomon Islands. It is common for that part of the world, while any earthquake outside a major tectonic fault zone is unusual.
Revised magnitude is 5.8.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/se082311a.php (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/se082311a.php)
They talk about it being near Mineral, the nearest incorporated place, but the closest place name seems to be a place called "Cuckoo". lol
This places the quake in the heart of pre-Cambrian metamorphic bedrock that dominates central Virginia. Relatively unfaulted, this transfers the energy of the occasional earthquake quite well.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geobop.org%2FimagesGW%2FPre%2FMaps%2FGeological%2Fva.gif&hash=622cc2c41c55fd8f960aa167327f3f8bede4adbc)
No shaking detected by this Cheesehead.
I just read a news report on MSNBC claming it was felt as far south as Georgia, and as far west as Illinois. It may not be the big killers that you had in the San Francisco Area in 1989, and Los Angeles in 1994, but it still gives me doubts about all the infrastructure of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states at this point.
Remember that thread on scary bridges?
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=2970.msg112561#msg112561
How is the Millard Tydings Bridge holding up right now?
:paranoid:
Didn't feel it but my wife (in Philly right now) did...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbishopdan.com%2Fimages%2Fquake1.jpg&hash=dcbc1dc0deb1c3a022e4430f4485f1e6a9baeffc)
A bit earlier this week, a 5.3 Earthquake shaked Colorado http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0823/Colorado-earthquake-is-largest-in-four-decades.
I still have some memories of the 1988 Saguenay quake who shaken Quebec http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/histor/20th-eme/saguenay88/saguenay88-eng.php
Quote from: 6a on August 23, 2011, 04:57:09 PM
Didn't feel it but my wife (in Philly right now) did...
....
Reports are that the quake caused about $5 million of improvements to Philadelphia.
I thought it was my apartment shaking(since I'm living off campus at Va Tech this year) from someone walking on the floor above, but my mom back home in Prince George was freaking out.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 23, 2011, 05:13:48 PM
Reports are that the quake caused about $5 million of improvements to Philadelphia.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 23, 2011, 05:13:51 PM
That sounded stupid, didn't it?
:pan: Ok, that was a funny typo 1995hoo.
I didn't really feel the Colorado Earthquake. :/ I have heard that others felt slight movements as a result of it.
Quote from: Mike D boy on August 23, 2011, 04:41:06 PM
Earthquakes in the East coast is in comparison more common than Hurricanes landing on the California coast (none on record).
we got the last of Hurricane Dean on August 28th, 2007 (after it had crossed Mexico), resulting in a rarely seen thunderstorm over coastal Orange County.
Quote from: Zmapper on August 23, 2011, 06:03:50 PM
:pan: Ok, that was a funny typo 1995hoo.
....
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
Typo? Where did I make a typo? :-P
It must have been that period somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 where I thought I was having vertigo, otherwise I didn't feel anything and I didn't hear nor see anything move.
PennDOT Inspectors Begin Precautionary Bridge Inspections after Earthquake (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdNews.nsf/8c5bc4e349ab4db6852576c800678468/dfebc9a69d193fea852578f50072c673?OpenDocument)
Quote from: myosh_tino on August 23, 2011, 02:52:12 PMOn a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east?
The only drill I had in school was for tornadoes.
I was in my recliner working on my laptop when I felt it shake. Thought it was one of our cats tugging on the blanket draping over the back. Didn't think anything of it until my wife called from Malvern, PA, having felt the same shaking there.
At 1:51 PM I was in the vicinity of Columbus Circle in New York... felt nothing, saw nothing. Same goes for most people I talked to, although someone did claim she saw the building across the street from her office shake.
...which seems a little odd to me. Should a 5.8 really be detectable by humans 300 miles away from the epicenter?
Quote from: Duke87 on August 23, 2011, 08:19:30 PM
...which seems a little odd to me. Should a 5.8 really be detectable by humans 300 miles away from the epicenter?
Good question, some humans might be more able to detect them then others, then does animals like cats and dogs could feel it 300 miles away from the epicenter?
And I spotted this article which talk of a worst-case scenario, the Indian Point nuclear power plant
http://gizmodo.com/5833746/what-if-the-earthquake-had-hit-manhattan
Didn't feel it all the way up here in New Hampshire, however relatives in Bennington, VT felt it. It's a shame, the one time an earthquake occurs at home, I'm away. :meh:
Quote from: PAHighways on August 23, 2011, 07:02:56 PM
It must have been that period somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 where I thought I was having vertigo, otherwise I didn't feel anything and I didn't hear nor see anything move.
PennDOT Inspectors Begin Precautionary Bridge Inspections after Earthquake (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdNews.nsf/8c5bc4e349ab4db6852576c800678468/dfebc9a69d193fea852578f50072c673?OpenDocument)
Quote from: myosh_tino on August 23, 2011, 02:52:12 PMOn a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east?
The only drill I had in school was for tornadoes.
We had both in school here in Illinois. With Tornado Alley and New Madrid, we could get either. Granted, an EF-5 is far more common, but the other could be more widespread.
Quote from: Mr_Northside on August 23, 2011, 02:36:34 PM
It was noticeable here in Pittsburgh...
Especially in the North Hills. My dad was sitting in the car and he felt it move the car.
Next earthquake I feel will be the first one.
Quote from: PAHighways on August 23, 2011, 07:02:56 PM
It must have been that period somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 where I thought I was having vertigo, otherwise I didn't feel anything and I didn't hear nor see anything move.
PennDOT Inspectors Begin Precautionary Bridge Inspections after Earthquake (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdNews.nsf/8c5bc4e349ab4db6852576c800678468/dfebc9a69d193fea852578f50072c673?OpenDocument)
Quote from: myosh_tino on August 23, 2011, 02:52:12 PMOn a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east?
The only drill I had in school was for tornadoes.
I'd have said more like 1:45 if they weren't reporting 1:51. Certainly, nothing had happened as of 1:40.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 23, 2011, 05:13:48 PM
Quote from: 6a on August 23, 2011, 04:57:09 PM
Didn't feel it but my wife (in Philly right now) did...
....
Reports are that the quake caused about $5 million of improvements to Philadelphia.
I snarl in your general direction.
Quote from: Duke87 on August 23, 2011, 08:19:30 PM
At 1:51 PM I was in the vicinity of Columbus Circle in New York... felt nothing, saw nothing. Same goes for most people I talked to, although someone did claim she saw the building across the street from her office shake.
...which seems a little odd to me. Should a 5.8 really be detectable by humans 300 miles away from the epicenter?
I was wondering that too, but apparently because our geology is older (more brittle, I suppose) and we're in the middle of a plate....
Quote from: Duke87 on August 23, 2011, 08:19:30 PM
At 1:51 PM I was in the vicinity of Columbus Circle in New York... felt nothing, saw nothing. Same goes for most people I talked to, although someone did claim she saw the building across the street from her office shake.
...which seems a little odd to me. Should a 5.8 really be detectable by humans 300 miles away from the epicenter?
My cousin (California native, lived there his whole life) was around Union Square when it hit. He said it felt like a 2.5 to him there, but was surprised that NYC would ever feel anything.
Quote from: Michael in Philly on August 24, 2011, 09:35:49 AM
Quote from: PAHighways on August 23, 2011, 07:02:56 PM
It must have been that period somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 where I thought I was having vertigo, otherwise I didn't feel anything and I didn't hear nor see anything move.
PennDOT Inspectors Begin Precautionary Bridge Inspections after Earthquake (http://www.dot.state.pa.us/Internet/pdNews.nsf/8c5bc4e349ab4db6852576c800678468/dfebc9a69d193fea852578f50072c673?OpenDocument)
Quote from: myosh_tino on August 23, 2011, 02:52:12 PMOn a related note, do they teach earthquake preparedness back east?
The only drill I had in school was for tornadoes.
I'd have said more like 1:45 if they weren't reporting 1:51. Certainly, nothing had happened as of 1:40.
I reported 1:51 yesterday because that's the time that was on my monitor when I was saving everything. Has that been reported as the "official" time?
^^I don't know if it counts as official (presumably they're all relying on an official source, though), but I kept hearing 1:51 in the media, and I just looked at the office copies of the Philadelphia Inquirer* and New York Times and it's there as well.
*Which has the obligatory if-it-were-centered-here-we'd-be-screwed (thanks to our older housing stock) story.
I was on I-81 at the time. Don't recall feeling anything, but I probably thought it was a gust of wind.
Indeed yesterday's earthquake was felt over a wider area than any (most not registered above M7.5) known to occur in California.
Wider, flatter and older geological ages of the earth (in this case the eastern half of North America) will have a higher range of seismic waves to travel, compared to the smaller, more mountainous and younger region such as California. Most of the state's land age is thought less than 200 million years old.
The Laurentine shields and the (southern) Appalachias are about 300-350 million years old, but the northern Appalachias including the Aridondacks and the Green or White Mountains, including Eastern Canada all the way to Hudson Bay and the Ungava peninsula plus Labrador are 400-450 million, you can even find 500 or 550 million year old rocks and formations.
Mountains absorb seismic shock waves to be felt in less strength when seismic waves travels onto the other side, and mountain ranges are are less active in earthquake occurrence in the historical seismic record than valleys known for more fault lines.
Quote from: Stephane Dumas on August 23, 2011, 05:09:25 PM
A bit earlier this week, a 5.3 Earthquake shaked Colorado http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0823/Colorado-earthquake-is-largest-in-four-decades.
I still have some memories of the 1988 Saguenay quake who shaken Quebec http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/histor/20th-eme/saguenay88/saguenay88-eng.php
About the one in Southern Colorado was felt from west of the Rockies to northern New Mexico to Denver as a relatively small one to them. The Rocky Mountains has some faults responsible for the formation of high elevated mountainous terrain, as well the widening of the Great Basin from the Wasatch Front in the east (Salt Lake Valley of Utah) to the Sierra Nevada in the west marked by some volcanic calderas, prehistoric lava fields and hot spring geysers.
Seattle had a M7 tremor in Feb. 27, 2001, the largest recorded quake for the Pacific Northwest, and the Puget Sound has several active or dormant faults, depending on each one of its given histories. Seismic activity does occur in the Cascades, esp. on the western side of the range through its 11 or 12 dormant volcanoes plus Mount St. Helens known for its velocity for over 30 years.
St. Helens is indeed damous for its' major landslide-explosive (about the power of over 500 A-Bombs!) eruption in May 18, 1980. It sure devastated a radius of 20 square miles mostly north as it's ash cloud spreads a mighty force to known down a whole forest, and the mixed rock-ice caused very hot mudflows. Ashfall covered hundreds of miles in northern Oregon and Washington state, esp. the May 18th eruption dumped a foot or more of genuine volcanic ash eastward in Yakima and Spokane.
I have to wonder if anyone was playing Jenga when the earthquake hit? :-P
Quote from: Michael in Philly on August 24, 2011, 09:35:49 AM
Quote from: PAHighways on August 23, 2011, 07:02:56 PM
It must have been that period somewhere between 1:15 and 1:30 where I thought I was having vertigo, otherwise I didn't feel anything and I didn't hear nor see anything move.
I'd have said more like 1:45 if they weren't reporting 1:51. Certainly, nothing had happened as of 1:40.
OK, I should have said "somewhere between 1 and 2" since I was just estimating as I also didn't look at my phone or a clock.
I was in my car waiting for a light in downtown Annapolis. The rear end of the car bounced up and down. I thought I had been rear-ended.
The MLB Network reaction was priceless
Oddly, I felt it around 2:10 near NYC, though having been ill at the time, my perception of the clock could have been at a different time and my brain just stuck them together.
That video is priceless indeed - I hope it wasn't live at the time. I don't think he should be talking about Manhattan like that.
On US 50/301, there was a light board warning that "Nice Bridge Closed; Use I-95"
First of all, who knows the bridge by name and not as the US 301 bridge?
Second, the Woodrow Wilson bridge was also closed and I 95/495 was a parking lot.
I've seen it called the Nice Bridge enough to think that it must be regionally known to some degree. That and, even with the Wilson Bridge closed, at least there is SOME way across there.
A lot of people in Southern Maryland know it as the "Potomac River Bridge," I assume because it's the only one down there.
Quote from: Steve on August 28, 2011, 11:56:59 PM
I've seen it called the Nice Bridge enough to think that it must be regionally known to some degree. That and, even with the Wilson Bridge closed, at least there is SOME way across there.
We were headed to Arlington VA. We ended up crossing the Potomac on the I 395/US 1 bridge in crawling traffic, then exited to VA 27/Washington Boulevard around the Pentagon. I wouldn't have wanted to stay on I 395. It was the worst traffic I have ever seen in DC.