August 23rd, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
I work near Valley Forge. At first we thought a truck ran into our building (wouldn't be the first time).
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^
Just sitting in front of my laptop when the house shook. Again, don't get earthquakes in this region often. Some stuff got smashed, my Aragorn statue is pretty much planking on the desk, but everything is mostly fine
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
How about your framed poster of the band Asia, did it survive the calamity?
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:57 PM ^
give the statue two Athelasiprin and call me in the morning.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^
I'm in Richmond's west end about 15 miles from the center and its pandemonium, but mostly overhyped pandemonium. Phones don't work, some structural damage, and apparently alot of underground natural gas line leaks but idt anyone was injured. Pretty wild, tho.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:58 PM ^
....annnnnnnd apparently my TV crashed off the entertainment center. Pandemonium = justified.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^
Didn't feel it in Columbus. God, I'm bored.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:47 PM ^
God was clearly not responsible for this particular earthquake, then.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:48 PM ^
The first photos of the damage from the earthquake and they are not for the faint of heart. Brace yourselves:
August 24th, 2011 at 8:23 PM ^
lost plastic garden chairs.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 PM ^
I had just told my nephew to pull my finger ...
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^
That was rather immature of you.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:51 PM ^
According to my Facebook friends, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Cinci, Pittsburgh, Raleigh all felt it. That's a pretty big range.
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:23 PM ^
My brother in Grand Rapids felt it. I work in downtown Lansing at the state capitol complex, and neither I nor my coworkers felt it, but those in the building across the plaza did.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:54 PM ^
Felt it very clearly in DC. A colleague in a 5th floor office had her file drawers pop open during the shaking. My office got rattled pretty thoroughly (though I'm happy to report that my aircraft models all came through unscatched).
No power outages or traffic jams that I could see. Everyone was turfed out of their buildings for about an hour while they checked for gas leaks etc. Got back in a short while ago. Seems to have been relatively minor here, which I think is only about 120 miles or so from the epicenter near Charlottesville.
I noticed the local bars filling up pretty quickly. I'm headed to one of them now.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
The washington monument might be tilting from the quake?
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
Aftershocks expected to be 4.5-5.0.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:56 PM ^
Felt it in Howard County Maryland. The house shook for 15 seconds. The largest in Maryland since 1880's.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
A lot of people in my state, Connecticut, felt one. But I was in basement playing Fifa and did not.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
But my mahogany-framed degree from UM appears perfectly oriented on the wall. Now that's some nice hinge/nail work.
Going to put on my MICHIGAN FRAME HANGING t-shirt now.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:02 PM ^
I'm on the 23rd floor of a building in downtown Chicago and I didn't feel a thing out here.
:shrugs:
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
I was in line at the DMV in Columbus and felt the rumble...I figured I was getting swallowed into hell, then I remembered I was already in the DMV...in Columbus
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
Pretty Crazy my family is in Philly , Western PA and North Eastern PA and they all felt it some of the cell phones are down. From what I've read the entire east coast and some of the mid west felt it but not us down in Florida.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^
Felt a small shake in Ithaca NY on the campus of Cornell. Hope everyone is safe.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^
...and I'm so glad I was home when this hit. My house shook violently for around 30 seconds or so. I sent my daughter and dogs down to the basement and started assessing the damage. A pitcher and a plate smashed on the kitchen floor. A plaster half column with a bronze sculpture smashed. I thought a lamp was broken in my daughter's room but it turned out it was only the CFL bulb. Books and pictures knocked to the floor. No apparent structural damage to the house.
Very unsettling experience.
So, regarding North Anna Nuclear Power Plant: I turn on CNN and they've got a CNN meteorologist who apparently had lived in Richmond for some time. He's showing the Google Earth map of Louisa County and he says, oh this is rural land, just farms and here's a lake, nothing to worry about. And I found my screaming at the TV, "you fucking idiot, that's Lake Anna where there's a fucking nuclear power plant. How about telling me about that!"
I was a little exercised.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
You probably heard already but most nuclear power plants are immediately taken offline when an earthquake strikes. That is exactly what happened at North Anna. (I actually toured the plant when I was in high school in NOVA - pretty darn cool.)
Also, do you make the commute into Crystal City from your home every day? If so, BRUTAL!
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:36 PM ^
...but until I heard that they had, you can understand why I was concerned.
I've commuted from just outside of Fredericksburg to Crystal City for 14 years. Yes, it's brutal. Yes, I'm sick of it. Yes, it was worth it.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:59 PM ^
they've got a CNN meteorologist who apparently had lived in Richmond for some time. He's showing the Google Earth map of Louisa County and he says, oh this is rural land, just farms and here's a lake, nothing to worry about.
So you're telling me that CNN had the chance to warn people about a nonexistent threat like a 5.9 earthquake breaching containment to the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant (rated for 6.1 earthquake) but they DIDN'T? This is cause for a celebration! Finally, news stations aren't spreading false myths about nuclear power!
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
...you don't want the news to report that a nuclear power plant located 5 miles from the epicenter of an earthquake successfully shifted power from the grid to its emergency generators then completed an orderly shut down? Surely those silly people that live within its vicinity shouldn't be worried that this had been accomplished.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
I suppose it's a good idea to report that the power plant successfully SCRAM'd its systems when an earthquake was imminent. However, that is standard operating procedure for the reactor, so it doesn't need to be a front-page headline requiring immediate reporting.
What you don't want happening is misinformation regarding the release of radiation as a result of the earthquake, which is the norm during every natural disaster that occurs near a nuclear-related facility.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:19 PM ^
...was imminent, they scram'd after it occured. I don't give a shit about the hysteria that CNN is obviously willing to foment by making stupid comparisons to Japan's reactor situation because that's just noise. When you live in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor, what you want to know is that the reactor is safe. That's all.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:14 PM ^
Get out of your house! If u cant get under your table or in a doorway(reinforced to hang doors).
I currently live in SoCal and we have them all of the time. The biggest myth is to stay in your house. If u are capable and will not expose yourself to harm you should leave.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:16 PM ^
...that point. I was trying to keep everyone from stepping on the broken dishes and the like.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:13 PM ^
In an Earthquake?
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:18 PM ^
Damn weird thread trail in App. Thought it was over, instead it's explained. Though it was worded strangely in the post.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
I'm at school in Albion and people said they felt it, but I call b.s. because I (nor my roommate) didn't feel anything.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:55 PM ^
Stop posting that!
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
Mom called me to ask if I felt the earthquake in NYC. Said I didn't, but apparently people in Times Square did. Surprised it happened, but I know that the plates do shift and there are numerous minor quakes all year. This just was one of the bigger ones.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
DC reporting in. Building was rumbling as if a train was going past, which is pretty normal. Then, after about 10 seconds, the walls started trembling and things started falling down.
Let's all run outside and watch the ensuing traffic jams and police shutdown!
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
Earth Crust Displacement. Time to head for China.
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:12 PM ^
I work in Richmond, Va and it was loud and forceful. I was sitting in a room listening to a presentation and the projector image on the wall started shaking violently. Lasted for about 15 seconds or so and didn't feel any aftershocks. It was definitely intense
August 23rd, 2011 at 5:49 PM ^
Felt it at Camp Lejeune, NC
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:09 PM ^
We felt it in Belleville at my office. The floor and desks vibrated for several seconds.
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^
I was raised in the Los Angeles area. We start every morning off with a 5.9 for breakfast!!
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:20 PM ^
In Ann Arbor, I have never felt them.
<br>
<br>I'm good with that.
August 23rd, 2011 at 8:40 PM ^
...on the 3rd or 4th floor in a discussion section for my PolSci 3XX Arab-Israeli Conflict class when we felt the room shake slightly. We all looked at each other and said, was that an earthquake? Turns out there was a minor earthquake with an epicenter under Lake Erie near Cleveland. Unfortunately, it did not spawn a lake tsunami. Cleveland is still there.