The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Donal's picture

    Earthquake in VA MD DC

    By Donal on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:04pm | Potpourri

    I felt a small vibration around 9 AM this morning, like a big truck was near the building. My nearest coworker thought I was tapping my foot. That was apparently the 3.6 quake that Dickday posted about.

    Update: We heard it again this morning. The guy that parks right below my desk must have gotten a diesel.

    A few minutes ago, around 2 PM, the building started seriously shaking and we all filed out and down to the sidewalks. Someone says it was 5.8 and the epicenter was Mineral VA. USGS says it was 5.9.

    Update: Seems that USGS changed it back to 5.8.

    Kottke writes: A look at the historical data for the eastern US states shows that this is the biggest quake to hit this coast since 1897 (a 5.9 in VA) and the second biggest of all time (well, since they started recording such things) after a 7.3 that hit South Carolina in 1886.

    Topics: 
    Potpourri

    Comments

    I felt it in NYC. The floor of the coffeeshop where I hang out trembled a bit, which unnerved a few patrons. Not much compared to what I've felt in California, but we're a long way from Virginia.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:13pm

    This earthquake (now 6.0 rated) in DC goes all the way south to the Carolinas and all the way west to Detroit as well as parts of OHIO.

    THIS IS A BIG DEAL!


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:14pm

    I have to call my wife and ask her if she felt the earth move.


    by Donal on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:19pm

    What happens in Vegas DC stays in Vegas DC.


    by PeraclesPlease (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:38pm

    I live in Montreal, Quebec Canada and we felt a little tremble at 1h55 pm. We are located on the 10th floor of a big building. The motion felt like when you get dizzy.

    I'm surprised we felt it this far up North.

    Hope no one has been injured down near the quake.

    God Bless you All.


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:30pm

    Now we have a transcontinental earthquake!

    Thank you for this report!


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 4:27pm

    That was pretty scary. At first it was just a low rumble feeling, and I figured it was the base of someones car. Then it got bigger and my desk started to shake, and I looked over in the other room and everything was shaking, and th took a few seconds to realize what was happening.


    by Sierra Petty, W... (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:32pm

    Now MSNBC reports the quake is felt in NH, VT, NY...all the way south to Georgia and as far west as Chicago.

    epicenter in Virginia as Donal reports...


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:32pm

    I live in southern md. I thought maybe it was a machine around doing contstruction work or a low flying helicopter. I felt 2 strong trimmers


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:34pm

    I felt it in Bethesda, MD - Montgomery County.


    by Ambiance of Love (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:38pm

    I live in Alexandria, Va, about 10 miles south of DC. Felt very strong shaking... It didn't feel like a heavy machine or low flying plane. It felt like an earthquake. And it felt like it lasted around one minute. Still shook up. Cell phone networks are down, can't make calls.

    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:42pm

    Wow - I live in Manassas and this felt like a large truck going by, then intensified to the point that the floor and walls were shaking and my chandelier was swaying!  Nothing fell off of shelves or walls but seemed to last for at least 5-6 seconds. I've been to CA so many times that I thought that the first earthquake I would experience would have been out there!


    by lcmazzit (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:03pm

    Land lines in Baltimore seem to be intact. Cell phone service seems to be down for some servers. Family is OK, just doing regular daily activities.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:04pm

    I live in MD. I was in the doctors office when my mom, my doctor, and all the nurses felt something shake. my doctor went outside and said "oh it's just a little earthquake". But it was funny because it was a 5.8 earthquake. You were only able to text people on your cellular device and you weren't able to call anyone from a cellular device. It was creepy and I thought the world was going to end. What is God trying to tell us? 


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:06pm

    What is God trying to tell us?

    Texting is divine


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:31pm

    Maybe he's telling the folks in DC 

    "Let me have your attention please."

    "You arrogant, self serving jerks, you've made the lowly people fall to their knees; lets see how well you can stand; when I shake things up.

    Who will be your deliverer; and you folks in DC thought you were the movers and the shakers?

    Financial collapse........HaHahahaha, how about a tectonic collapse.

    Let me show you how fracking really works you destroyers of the planet.  


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:10pm

    The message might be less ambiguous if he texted their cell phones


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:22pm

    Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

    If you see that text message; it's too late.


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:29pm

    OK, I'll keep an eye out. Do you think it will be in the original Aramaic or the English transliteration? I have my iPhone set for international mode, but I don't think that it has Aramaic. Why doesn't God just write, "You're toast"?


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:39am

    If "God" was trying to tell us anything with this earthquake you woulda thunk he would've used a bigger one than a 5.9! (Or 6.0, 5.8, whatever.) I mean it was impressive (biggest earthquake I've even been in), but not all that scary, and I was in an old office building less than 30 miles from the epicenter!


    by Verified Atheist on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:26pm

    So stick around.

    Pompeii' residents didn't heed the warnings either.


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:33pm

    It would sure be a disaster if another quake happens during Hurricane Irene?

    Maybe that'll drive the point home;  you folks in DC should have helped the homeowners.

    How do you like being out in the elements with out a safe place to weather the storms.

    REAP WHAT YOU SOWED.  


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:44pm

    Who will be your deliverer

    Wasn't that Edward G Robinson's line?


    by jollyroger on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 8:29am

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6HRL28W0Hc&NR=1

    @1:38

    The Earth swallowed them up.  


    by Resistance on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 11:19am

    Now,   that's an earthquake... When you want it done right, get Cecil B. DeMille on the job.(Who, btw, with no sense of irony whatsoever, chose himself to do the "voice of god".)


    by jollyroger on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 11:32am

    It may be that we are being told that there are fault lines that developed after land masses slammed into each other as the earth was forming. The first documented earthquake felt in Baltimore was in 1758.

    Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks the the earth is actively trying to kill human life given that there are earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, etc.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:46pm

    Plate tectonics is just a theory. Children should also study the more reasonable principle of Intelligent Earth Jiggling.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 4:41pm

    Earth Jiggling

    President Perry, is that you? :)

    I can't vote for Perry , myself since Texas is supposed to be under a drought risk for 2 more years despite Perry's political prayer stadium rain dance. Perry is obviously not one of the chosen.

    http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/08/23/Climatologist-Texas-drought-ma...

    (I do dislike people like Perry who politicize religion. I do hope that those suffering in Texas do get their much needed rain.)

     

     


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 5:03pm

    The Earth is a violent place, without Divine intervention it will kill us,

    Keep saying you don't need him, he'll be glad to oblige you.  

    Don't blame him for withdrawing support to those who didn't think they needed it.

    "Hey smart Earthling man......., hold the plates from moving. Hahahahaha;  hold back the tides. Hahahahah.

    "All I asked you to do was take care of your fellow man and I would take care of the rest" 

    Here's your eviction notice.


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 7:22pm

    Do you believe God caused the earthquake or that he let the earthquake happen and prevented loss of life? If God caused the earthquake, was the message in this earthquake different from the message he wanted to deliver in the earthquakes in the area in 1758 or 1984?


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 9:24pm

    The epi-center was in Cantor's district. I don't know if that helps.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 9:49pm

    LOL

    It is amazing how often God's actions fall into line with mine when the outcome agrees with my personal position on an issue. The Constitution always agrees with me. It's just the horse's behinds on the Supreme Court that don't understand the law.

    I live a very secure life.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 11:53pm

    And here's another bit of information. The epicenter is near an area which has been laced with new drilling rigs pumping salt water under the shale layer in the practice known as fracking. This would fit a pattern of fracking cum earthquakes in other areas since 2009, such as Arkansas.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:39pm

    Make you say, Hmmmm?


    by Donal on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:44pm

    I hate fracking with the passion of a million suns, but...

    The fracking that they're saying is "near" the epicenter is in West Virginia. Anyone who knows the area knows that's stretching the definition of "near" quite a bit!


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:02pm

    The fracking/earthquake connection is here in an article on OEN:

    http://www.opednews.com/articles/Did-Fracking-Cause-the-Vir-by-Dr-Stuart...


    by Ramona on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:47pm

    I think it's plausible that there's a fracking/earthquake connection in general, but in this specific case (per the link) the connection being made is between two points 160 miles apart. Trying to associate this specific earthquake with fracking can only serve to damage the credibility of those making the connection in general. If I were paranoid...


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:56pm

    Right. I had understood that there were wells in the immediate area which is apparently not true.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 3:09pm

    I do not attribute any evil to God.

    I only pray; that he'll hear his servant's plea, in a time of distress.

    I remember a time in the past, when people were warned about an impending danger (Hurricane Andrew?) Some refused to heed the warnings. Do you think God should be held responsible for people ignoring the warnings? 

    I remember hearing reports of people who stayed in their homes during a hurricane, thinking they wouldn't be hurt. At the height of the storm they were calling 911, but no help could be sent.


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 10:54pm

    Nostrodamus predicted earthquakes but he did not predict DickDay, so I'm going with the U.S.G.S on this one.   


    by LarryH on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:07pm

    hope all goes well to you all. dont forget there are bigger earthwuakes happened like the one in Athens, Greece 1999 which was 6.9 and 100 people were dead...a friend form Greece ...


    by vini (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:29pm

    ahhahahaah


    by Richard Day on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 4:00pm

    Apparently CO, where I reside, was also shaken today by the biggest quake we've had in 50 years.  I assume this is connected.  IMO it is the earth saying 'WTF ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING?!'


    by synchronicity on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 6:19pm

    Either that or "Get the hell off me!" Unlike that other Montrealer, I didn't feel a thing.


    by acanuck on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 6:37pm

    BTW Apparently the quake in CO preceded the one on the east side. It was very early this morning...


    by synchronicity on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:09am

    I think that might have been what we felt around 10 AM. My coworker thought it was around 9, but I think it was later.


    by Donal on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 8:44am

    If the Earth keeps shaking, what are the chances the Republicans will authorize stimulus money too rebuild DC?  

    Everyone else can get swallowed up?  

    Wake up call to the hypocrites?


    by Resistance on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 6:58pm

    There's a very simple explanation.

    1. Congress is not in session.

    2. Nature abhors a vacuum.

     


    by Beetlejuice on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 8:38pm

    That's not it, Beetle. If Congress were in session, there would still be a vacuum.


    by acanuck on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 9:02pm

    did anyone feel a small tremor sometime in the last few days?  I did in bed one night not nearly this size but a tremor alright" please comment anyone at all feel it


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 9:25pm

    Just a thought as I followed this today.

    I mean it was in the middle of Andrea's show centering on Khadaffi (Or Gaddaffi or Achooooooooo!) that I heard about this lock down of Gov buildings in DC.

    By the by, Happy 102nd Birthday to Andrea!

    But I have heard of after shocks.

    But Donal, you spoke of preshocks, which really shocks me!

    Explain the tempus discrepancy if you will!


    by Richard Day on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:21am

     tempus discrepancy

    Simple:  You only know if the first quake is the quake, and the second one is the "shock" after the second.  If it's smaller, it's an aftershock.  Otherwise, the "quake" was a foreshock, and the joke's on you...

     


    by jollyroger on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 8:22am


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:41am

    Hope springs eternal.

    But seriously, has Virginia put a call into Morgan Freeman yet?

    But really seriously that is one of top five of the year.


    by Elusive Trope on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:29am


    by Richard Day on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 2:04am

    I see your Jerry and raise you a John


    by Elusive Trope on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 2:23am

    You mock us‽‽ I'll have you know that we actually had something fall off one of our walls at home. You always imagine that will happen to someone else, but never to yourself! (sniff) Ironically (given the previous conversation with Resistance), it was a cross we had picked up in Mexico… (seriously)


    by Verified Atheist on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 7:43am

     we actually had something fall off one of our walls

    I was standing on the corner of Geary &  Van Ness, in October '89, and I saw Geary undulate like a rodeo roper's lariat--it was straight outta Cecil B. Demille...That was an earthquake...


    by jollyroger on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 8:20am

    I was working near Foster City and commuting into the "inner Sunset", near the Park. A heavy lathe tipped over an missed me by a couple of feet. It took eight hours to drive back into the city where some buildings were completely down on my block. Yeah, that was an earthquake, even the pan handlers took a couple of weeks off and the police cleared out the remaining hippie vans along the Park.


    by Oxy Mora on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:01pm

    This IS funny, but this picture was actually taken by my friend's wife. It is in their back yard. She also sent around a shocking image of an actual pill bottle that had toppled on their kitchen table!

    Their home is located outside Mt Airy, MD and was taken immediately following the July 16, 2010 earthquake...

    Oh the humanity!


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 10:20am

    That's hilarious. Thanks for the backstory.


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 12:31pm