Open thread: U.S. east coast earthquake

An earthquake (5.9, preliminary magnitude) was felt up and down the U.S. east coast moments ago. It’s being reported that the epicenter was Mineral, Virginia and the quake was 3.7 miles deep.

Many federal buildings, including the Pentagon, have been evacuated in Washington, DC. According to The Associated Press, “Obama and many of the nation’s leaders were out of town on August vacation when the quake struck at 1:51 p.m. EDT. The shaking was felt on the Martha’s Vineyard golf course as Obama was just starting a round.”

Some buildings in NYC have also reportedly been evacuated.

We felt it up here in our palatial summer headquarters in Saratoga Springs, NY. Reminded us of any random month in Cali (but a bit stronger than average). No damage here, besides our Operation and Jenga games which will have to be restarted.

In influx of voice and data users following the quake has temporarily disrupted cellphone and landline service on AT&T, Verizon, and other carriers.

Interestingly, another quake (related?) with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 and centered about nine miles from the city of Trinidad, Colorado hit at 11:46pm local time yesterday on Monday, August 22, 2011. It was felt as far away as Greeley, CO about 350 miles north, and into Kansas and New Mexico.

Did you feel either quake? Where were you? Any damage?

133 Comments

    1. Get With The Program?! What Program??? Useless Dems in Senate still haven’t passed a budget in over 800 days and Barackalypse Now Obamageddon just called in actual business people, versus the Harvard Faculty Lounge misfits he had. As usual the “Skate-by” in Chief is having others do his work, giving him cliff notes for this grandiose scheme that you know is gonna be nothing but BS, because that’s all the Bamster knows… How to spread crap!

      1. Dude, such anger! Chill, kick back, have a Dos Equis… just enjoy the Barackalypse! And once you get the guy/gal you want in office surely they will fix everything… and everything will be perfect.
        Ahh, the coming Conservative Utopia! There will be no taxes and insurance companies will provide everyone with low cost insurance. Cant wait!!

    1. Thanks for the enlightened post. The colorful descriptions, sound effects… why, it’s like a combination of IMAX and Sensurround! What ever would we do without your in depth commentary on geology and history.

    1. ….and I for one intend to! Dealt with a lot of things, sat through my share of hurricanes, dodged a few tornadoes, outran rising floodwaters, had my apt building catch on fire, hunkered down through a couple of blizzards but when the very ground itself starts shaking violently… nah, i can live without that. You keep yer volcanos and earthquakes, Chrissy.
      I likes ground what DONT move.

  1. This is the 3rd East Coast quake I have experienced, and like the previous ones, it wasn’t even worth mentioning by Cali standards.
    “Ooo, ooo, we felt the ground move!” But so far as I can determine, NO reports of injuries or damage.

    1. Hey, Pam… we concede! You win the “My Ground Shakes Bigger’n Your’n” contest. Take the trophy, you can have it. But when you live in a region considered generally geologically stable, where an earthquake of ANY sort is a rare occurrence, a 5.9 is newsworthy.

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