Earthquake? In Maryland? (updated to include non-Marylanders)

Well at least you guys won't give us such a hard time about not having basements and brick buildings everywhere =P

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I thought to myself that it felt like a tiny earthquake, except of course NC doesn't get earthquakes, so that couldn't possibly be it.

Actually you guys are sitting on a nice earthquake zone.

IMAGE(http://www.selmanandassociates.net/images/ibc_seismic_map.jpg)

Norfair wrote:

Actually you guys are sitting on a nice earthquake zone.

IMAGE(http://www.selmanandassociates.net/images/ibc_seismic_map.jpg)

That's South Carolina. North Carolina's West Virgina.

BadMojo wrote:
Norfair wrote:

Actually you guys are sitting on a nice earthquake zone.

IMAGE(http://www.selmanandassociates.net/images/ibc_seismic_map.jpg)

That's South Carolina. North Carolina's West Virgina.

He's right. That's what we all say here.

You guys are ridiculous. There is no such thing as plate-tectonics! It is a theory that can't be scientifically proven!

SallyNasty wrote:

You guys are ridiculous. There is no such thing as plate-tectonics! It is a theory that can't be scientifically proven!

End of days.

That would be a great name for a jazz club, wouldn't it?

So I was on the fourth floor of my building in Fairfax Virginia when it hit. The problem... I have a broken leg. Do I take the stairs? Even worse, I am using a knee scooter instead of a pair of crutches and it is heavy enough that I don't think I could hop down 4 floors and carry it at the same time.

I took the elevator and hoped it was my lucky day

Paleocon wrote:

The only thought I had was "Oh shiznit, I'm sitting on 20k gallons of highly flammable liquid."

You should really go to the bathroom.

Ego Man wrote:

So I was on the fourth floor of my building in Fairfax Virginia when it hit. The problem... I have a broken leg. Do I take the stairs? Even worse, I am using a knee scooter instead of a pair of crutches and it is heavy enough that I don't think I could hop down 4 floors and carry it at the same time.

I took the elevator and hoped it was my lucky day

Wow, your leg really is broken if the notion of carrying it even enters your mind!

I was in our office on the third floor of an old townhouse in downtown DC. Whole building wobbled. Scarier than I thought it would be. Our wall now has a nice crack in it, who knows when they will let us back in our offices again, the powers that be may not allow us to re-inhabit our offices come tomorrow.

The only way I was able to get home was to walk clear across DC. Thank goodness the humidity was low today and the temperatures bearable.

Paleocon wrote:
Nomad wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Some crazy woman just came into my station and started ranting about how this was the beginning of the "end of days".

snore.

Was this her?

IMAGE(http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsH/7331.gif)

Almost. Just 30 years older, 100 pounds heavier, and black.

Same hair?

wordsmythe wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Nomad wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Some crazy woman just came into my station and started ranting about how this was the beginning of the "end of days".

snore.

Was this her?

IMAGE(http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsH/7331.gif)

Almost. Just 30 years older, 100 pounds heavier, and black.

Same hair?

How did you know? Friend of yours?

Kinda looks like Tina Turner hair!

It is the End of Days! Apparently we had one here in CO. I got an IM from my mom asking if I'd felt the quake. I replied, "The one in Maryland?!" Obviously the Earth is just stretching for the 2012 fun times.

Apparently the displacement was about 40 microns, which is less than the thickness of the human hair. Phil Plait put a blog post up on it, including this rather nifty video:

I'm outside of Philadelphia and we felt it pretty strong. I grew up in California and I sort of miss Earthquakes, so it put me in a pretty good mood for the rest of the day. It was also pretty amusing being around a lot of the Easterners that hadn't ever felt this before. A lot of our coworkers left the building completely, but I just chilled out.

Edit: I forgot to mention that this underscored for me just how different the geology is out East than in California. It would be really unlikely to feel a 5.8 Earthquake in CA if you were 200 miles away. It felt more like I was 20-30 miles away from the epicenter.

I think another aftershock just rolled through.

^
I just heard that on the news; but I didn't feel anything, did you?

Michikodesu wrote:

^
I just heard that on the news; but I didn't feel anything, did you?

Felt it in the not-quite-NOVA area -- didn't last very long. Thirty-odd seconds up here.

RSPaulette wrote:
Michikodesu wrote:

^
I just heard that on the news; but I didn't feel anything, did you?

Felt it in the not-quite-NOVA area -- didn't last very long. Thirty-odd seconds up here.

Felt it in Tysons Corner, VA for about 5 seconds. Would have just thought it was someone doing laundry if I didn't know better though.

My buddy and I were working on a 5-ton truck for the first time today. We turned the engine on, getting ready to check out how it worked. We pressed one button, and suddenly the entire cab started shaking. It was wobbling pretty intensely from side to side. We locked eyes, knowing instantly that we had done something terribly wrong, and that the air pressure brakes were about to blow! We kicked open the doors and jumped the 4 feet down to the pavement and dove for cover. Our coworkers all started laughing. Luckily for us, it was just an earthquake. The truck was fine, and we were fools.

I'm in the Petersburg/Hopewell area, no real damage here.

My cubicle started shaking it seemed, so I looked at my cubicle mate confused. "What's that?" He asked. My first thought is it's Jim in the cubicle next to ours messing with us. I stand up, notice a picture on the wall is wobbling as well. Two guys in the office behind me notice their desk is shaking. I step out of the cubicle and one of the older guys is walking down the hall saying "It's an earth quake, get out! It's an earth quake, get out!"

The entire building emptied. I resisted going right to Facebook via my phone for a few minutes. I realized that I don't actually know anyone in my building. Ten minutes after the quake my boss looked at his watch and ushered the e-Media team back inside. After all, we had a deadline to face.

I was wondering if I felt a weird shaking around 7:00 or so, but didn't feel anything around 8:00. I'm more curious if my mind is going to be making stuff up. "Phantom shakes" so to speak. Still, I'm mostly amused how us East Coasters are reacting to a Quake like Texans to snow.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/7kDXs.jpg)

I was in NYC, my building shook a lot and people started screaming and evacuating. I just kept working and didn't really care.

Earthquake? In Maryland? It's more likely than you think!

Yonder wrote:

I'm outside of Philadelphia and we felt it pretty strong. I grew up in California and I sort of miss Earthquakes, so it put me in a pretty good mood for the rest of the day. It was also pretty amusing being around a lot of the Easterners that hadn't ever felt this before. A lot of our coworkers left the building completely, but I just chilled out.

I was wondering why people were txting me asking if I was ok, and why people seemed freaked out. When I lived in CA, I felt earthquakes all the time. Heck, even living in KY, I felt them every once in a while. I didn't know these DC folks never had them.

Tanglebones wrote:

Earthquake? In Maryland? It's more likely than you think!

Dang it, I was going to say that earlier and forgot. Except, you know, NC.

I was certainly asleep when it happened, but I was woken up by my sister-in-law rather than the quake I think.
Just waking up I'm not sure how much time passed. I also couldn't really feel it even though I was in the basement.
I could tell the top of the house was shaking but couldn't figure out why.
I thought the probability of the house collapsing was high enough that I went to my basement door.
I didn't do that because I thought it was an earthquake though.
I just wanted to see what was happening outside and inside at the same time to see if there was any correlation.
I didn't know it was an earthquake until my brother called and told me it was a 5.8 from Mineral, VA.
None of my theories seemed likely: outside there wasn't any wind and if it had been a sonic boom or succession of them, I would have heard them in addition to feeling them.
My mom also felt it out in Indiana.

Tanglebones wrote:

Earthquake? In Maryland? It's more likely than you think!

It could have escaped from the zoo.

NSMike wrote:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/7kDXs.jpg)

Best evar!