Earthquake in DC???

[Djarum]

What was that?!? Shaking felt for several seconds near DC.

[xsmommy]

yeah, and i am throwing a tantrum over being left out of it too! ; )

[Howlin]

You're in Raleigh?? And you felt it?

[iceskater]

strong enough to cause some damage -just heard on WRVA that one school has been closed due to damage from the quake!

[AppyPappy]

Did you hear the Rev Mike King died?

[Darnright]

Wow! First time I've felt a confirmed Earthquake here in SW Virginia. I went through a couple years ago in California, but never in my native state.

I understand the quake was centered 30 miles west of Richmond. It's around 4.3 (although now we're hearing 4.6.

[sweetliberty]

You are probably thinking of the New Madrid fault. It is slightly furthur south. This map is showing the quake.

[yonif]

Thanks for the info.

[RightWhale]

Here's the USGS quake site. Earthquakes seem to be rare near Richmond, but if there is another you can read it out immediately on the website.

[putupon]

DC reports mobile homes being shaken

Hillary's?

[sonsofliberty2000]

The horror!

LOL; I never noticed my mistake!

[Ex-Dem]

Small Earthquake Occurs In Va.; Felt By Residents In WRAL Viewing Area

POSTED: 4:23 p.m. EST December 9, 2003

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A small earthquake that started in Virginia was felt by several counties in the WRAL viewing area.

Officials say at 3:59 p.m. Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale was reported.

Its epicenter was 30 miles west of Richmond. There is no word on the length of the tremors.

WRAL - Raleigh http://www.wral.com/news/2693847/detail.html

[John H K]

This guy just called in to a local radio station I am listening to and he said it was a "sign from God, warning the United States not to support dividing Israel, which belongs to the Chosen People."

Utter idiocy, but typical. Surprised the same cast of morons hasn't started claiming that on FR.

[bwteim]

http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/14/messages/265.html

[Nick Danger]

As a long-time Californian, I knew what it was but I couldn't believe it. I'm sitting here, there is a quick 'crack' noise followed by several seconds of shaking. "Oh. An earthquake," I think to myself. "But wait! I'm in Virginia! They don't have earthquakes here... we get hurricanes instead."

For a split-second I thought Al Qa'eda had done something and I was about to see a giant flash. Then I remembered that the shock waves through the ground are actually pretty slow. I'd have gotten the flash first. So I wrote it off as a big truck driving by that I didn't see. Hell of a truck, though.

Now I see that it was an earthquake. OK, so now what? Do we get to send the hurricane back? What about the snow? It's no fair to get snow and earthquakes. I mean, what kind of place is this?

[Howlin]

THE Reverend King? The Hash guy?

[Hatteras]

"Quake felt in Raleigh, NC approx. 4:10pm. We are on a second story office and felt it very strongly for around one minute. Everything shook - computers, desk, etc."

DANG! I'm in Durham, it must have shot right past me. I'm on the ground floor in a 100 year old tobacco warehouse, nuthin'....

[meowmeow]

Felt it here in Alexandria, on the second floor of the house. But DH is in basement and he didn't feel it. We live near the end of a metro line and sometimes the house rumbles when they pull the trains into the end-tunnel. I thought it was kind of strange to be putting trains to bed during rush hour. Guess they weren't.

[BunnySlippers]

People in California don't even NOTICE anything under 5.0!

[44magnum]

I'm in Chantilly and didn't feel anything

[Servant]

Here's some info from the USGS posted after a similar quake in May:

From: http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2003/eq_030505/

EARTHQUAKES IN THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA SEISMIC ZONE
Since at least 1774, people in central Virginia have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. The largest damaging earthquake in the seismic zone occurred in 1875 (magnitude 4.8). Smaller earthquakes that cause little or no damage are felt each year or two.
Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage out to 40 km (25 mi).

FAULTS
Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually several miles deep. Most bedrock beneath central Virginia was assembled as continents collided to form a supercontinent about 500-300 million years ago, raising the Appalachian Mountains. Most of the rest of the bedrock formed when the supercontinent rifted apart about 200 million years ago to form what are now the northeastern U.S., the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe.

At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the name of the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case. The Central Virginia seismic zone is far from the nearest plate boundaries, which are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. The seismic zone is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even the known faults are poorly located at earthquake depths. Accordingly, few, if any, earthquakes in the seismic zone can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in the seismic zone is the earthquakes themselves.