Earthquake in DC???

[Djarum]

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

[edwin hubble]

Here in Richmond I was four floors up in a large state building.
The vibration was like someone was drilling through the rock face of the building. A higher frequency of vibration than I would have expected, but a really unnerving amplitude. I went to stand in a doorway and the laughed... what good would that do 4 floors up? It went on for about 30 seconds.

[Grampa Dave]

Nah! There are millions of very conservative Californians who get jolted, rattled and sometimes shook each week. We still continue to be conservatives before, during and after the earthquakes.

The Follywood crowd suffers from Lunatic Lib syndrome, and earthquakes have no impact on that mental illness.

[Howlin]

My friend in Lynchburg says she was in her car and didn't feel it, but her friends at home did -- the ones that live on the James.

[Djarum]

Heard about it after the fact, but didn't feel it over in Arlington area...

Were you on a first floor?

[Howlin]

Did you immediately know what it was?

I'm in North Raleigh, but I don't think I felt anything at all.

[Moose4]

The Corps of Engineers is doing a major dam strengthening project here near Columbia, SC, because of the earthquake risk should our big earthen dam collapse and let Lake Murray loose. We're near the same fault that caused the 1886 Charleston quake.

If you ever go to Charleston, you can see the "earthquake bolts" they used to put the old houses on the Battery back together. They ran huge rods lengthwise through the walls, threaded on both ends, and literally screwed the houses back into place. Gotta love Charleston, it's survived hurricanes, earthquakes, and even Yankees. :)

Guess I better call my mom in Lynchburg tonight and ask her if she felt anything.

}:-)4

[Grampa Dave]

Probably both.

We have more seismographs and maybe better ones. Oregon can get rattled in some areas on a fairly regular basis. Our centers pick them up and so do the centers in Portland and other areas.

We don't notice the small ones, but they often trigger the dogs in the neighborhood. If I have a piece of paper handy and a pen, I will note the time the dogs go off. Then the next days check to see if we had an earthquake, most of the time there was one.

What we see are the pictures and paintings not hanging straight from the nail/holders in the wall. If the epicenters are north or south of us, the pictures on the northsouth walls will be off center. If the epicenters are east or west, the pictures on the east/west walls will be off center. The last big one we had came from several directions so the paintings/pictures were all off center.

[concerned about politics]

Maybe that's why the hollywood crowd is so messed up in the head... their brains have been subtly rattled too much.

It's called the shaken head syndrome. Most liberals get it at birth. When the doctor screams at the sight of the liberal kid, he drops it.

[kevkrom]

Were you on a first floor?

Nope... 7th floor of an office building.

[Myrddin]

My house was 1/4 mile away from the epicenter of a 5.5 that hit Federal Way, WA in 1963. You really don't want to be that close. My mom was holding the kitchen cabinets closed to keep the dishes from crashing down on her. I watched vases dancing down a table toward the stone shelf in front of the fireplace. My hands were planted on the hallway walls to avoid being knocked down. It lasted almost 30 seconds. The kids on my school bus reported that the bus was bouncing from the left set of wheels to the right set of wheels. They were afraid it was going to turn the bus on its side. Our brick chimney was cracked. Neighbors nearby lost their chimneys. It is an experience better missed...especially if you don't have earthquake insurance.

The Landers quake dumped all the "stuff" my wife piled on the shelf above the clothing in the closet on top of me in bed. It hit just minutes before I was scheduled to get up for a flight to Omaha, Nebraska. A couple hours later, I was sitting in the lounge at Lindberg Field when another aftershock occurred. The terminal has huge glass windows so you can watch the airplanes outside. I was expecting them to shatter and cover all of us with glass.

[GOPJ]

Maybe it's Bush's fault...

Certainly not. I don't know of any faults in this area.

[judicial meanz]

I did notice a few pictures hanging crooked when I returned home, but nothing else seemed to have suffered much abuse.

When I was driving, my two kids were battling in the backseat, so I missed it all except for the little ones blaming each other for something.

I guess kid fights outrank earthquakes in the scheme of things.

[RightWhale]

If the quake lasts about 4 seconds, it is probably about a 4-5. If it lasts 10 seconds, it is probably about a 7. If it lasts 4 minutes, it is probably about a 9. This, combined with how it feels, you get a feel for a 3 or a 5, and the direction things are moving can give you an idea how far and which direction. If it feels like a 5, but it lasts over 10 seconds, it would be a 7 about 100 miles away. If it is a single or multiple thump like a truck hitting the building, it is probably very close and about a 3. If you feel it while sitting, but not while standing, it is below a 3 locally, and if the shaking is 3-4 seconds, it is a 4-5, but 100 miles away. The time duration will be less for distant quakes, so it is hard to judge conditions at the epicenter. If it starts and stops over the total duration or the intensity varies, it is probably more distant. Still taking seat of the pants data at this time.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yep. I wasn't trying to scare anyone in #269.

You just have to be prepared. Earthquakes are the most psychologically damaging natural phenomena because you can't see it.

Watching your neighbors home get swallowed up by liquefaction, and then coming back to the surface a short time later is a mind bender.

Do you have a small boat?

[judicial meanz]

Yes I do...a 15 foot bowrider.

My favorite toy..LOL

[Pagey]

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

A "That is the Absolute Truth" BUMP!

[Joe Hadenuf]

Oh, good.

[I'm ALL Right!]

"The Country is moving to the right"

Yeah Baby!

[GummyIII]

Felt in Roanoke, and daughter in Richmond felt it tremendously.

[CindyDawg]

I'm always curious about is how people that claim disasters are some sort of "message" KNOW what the message is?

True. Natural occurrences happens all the time but what is curious to me are the ones that automatically say, "No, this wasn't a wrath from God". How do they know? It's kind of like hearing, "We don't know what happened. An investigation is going on, but we can definitely say it wasn't terrorism". How do they know?