I was shocked to learn that the Natl. Cathedral was built according to medieval building methods — no steel bracing, etc. — just stone on stone. This would never be allowed in CA. There will be aftershocks for weeks, and it would be wise to stay away from buildings like that.
I talked to my daughter last night. She is a teacher in a private school in Richmond and they are in session already. Much of yesterday was spent reviewing fire drills, etc., so the earthquake was just a natural part of the planned day.
BUT, they seemed to have no rational plan on how to deal with it. I asked if she put her kids under their desks, and she pointed out that they have no desks. (She teaches music, and the first sign of the quake was that all of the chimes in her classroom started ringing.)
But the school ordered the students to leave the classroom and line up in the hall on the side where there are no lockers. My daughter’s class found that their spot was already taken by another class and they had to line up on the locker side — bad idea. I’m sure that there are going to be teacher meetings today on a new plan. I hope that the first thing they do is to bolt those lockers to the wall. That would be a cheap precaution.
My SIL’s business (a major CC company) was just chaos. Employees were told to evacuate the cafeteria and then were ordered back in. Nobody had a plan. I hope they get it together.
My granddaughter (on the 3rd floor of her private school) fell off her chair during the quake. My grandson (who was at home because his school has not started yet) didn’t know about the quake. His excuse? “I felt the house moving, but we don’t have quakes in Virginia, so I knew it was not a quake.”
The main disruption is that nobody could make a phone call. All the networks were jammed.
Actually, the roof of the National Cathedral is held up by steel I beams.... IE modern construction (by 1920s standards, when it was mostly planned and built). Certain elements (spires, flying butresses, etc.) were however, built by the only standards we have for such structures, that of medieval cathedrals.
Considering the vast majority of medieval-era cathedrals still stand—after 800+ years, of wars, fires, and violence.... not a bad method of construction, IMHO. Of course most of Europe, like the USA’s East, doesn’t normally have earthquakes.