Earthquake in DC!

[Foxlike Mulder]

Wow, I have never felt a real earthquake before, a 5.9 just hit us about 30 minutes ago! So, a 5.4 in CO and 5.8 in the DC area in the same day. How many times have there been two earthquakes of 5.0 or greater in one day in different US cities? Let the conspiracy theories roll...

[siren13]

Everyone here at my job south of Cleveland felt it. 5.9

[tizme4158]

I feel the Earth ... move ... under my feet

My office is just below Hartford, CT ... we all thought we were having dizzy spells.

[tizme4158]

WOW. I didn't hear anything about the CO one! We felt it here in CT, 20 minutes south of Hartford!

[siren13]

it is not odd if you live in LA but in Ohio it is pretty creepy!!

[tizme4158]

My sister lives in VA, near Quantico. She thought they blew something up there. Thankfully all are well in VA. This is my 2nd time to feel an earthquake. Back in '85 or '86 I lived right outside of Manhattan. We felt something similar at that time as well. Very creepy indeed!

[seeker1117]

Evidently, Colorado got hit, as well...

http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-denver/earthquake-swarm-strikes-colorado-strong-magnitude-5-3-biggest-of-11-temblors

[mahalla2]

yes, very strange - And have to wonder just where the freakin' frackers are now.

Here is an article from March 3, 2011 about the connection between hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes:

Recent swarms of seismic activity in Arkansas, Texas and West Virginia is likely related to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) wells nearby, according to experts interviewed by Fox News.

In a report at FoxNews.com, thousands of small earthquakes in each of those states started soon after natural gas companies opened fracking wells near the epicenters. Some seismologists and ecologists believe the injection of salt water into disposal wells at fracking sites is likely to blame for the quakes.

Salt water is one of the many byproducts of fracking, and gas companies have determined the best way to dispose of it is to reintroduce it into the ground in disposal wells. Fox learned that massive injections of salt water, such that would be produced at a fracking well, could lubricate underground rock formations and cause them to shake.

At locations in Texas and West Virginia, local historians told Fox there had been no recorded seismic activity in the history of their areas, but that changed when natural gas companies began probing underground shale for fuel reserves.

The Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission has placed a moratorium on the drilling of new disposal wells at fracking sites in the wake of the increased seismic activity.

Fox reports the town of Greenbrier, Ark., has been plagued by constant shaking in recent weeks and on Sunday the U.S. Geological Survey recorded the largest quake in that town’s history, a 4.7 reading on the Richter scale.

In West Virgnia, when gas companies eventually stopped injecting salt water into those wells, the seismic activity lulled and then stopped.

Few scientists are ready to declare as fact that seismic activity is directly linked to these fracking disposal wells, but the coincidence is hard to ignore.

http://accident-injury-blog.com/2011/03 ... -to-blame/

[ke5ehi]

We've had a LOT of small earthquakes in Oklahoma over the past year. Even though none were major or made national news, the USGS supposedly moved in monitoring equipment due to the frequency of them. Makes you wonder with all of the earthquakes happening in parts of the country (world?) that don't normally have them, at least to this level, if there is a cosmic gravitational force at work on the planet causing the plates to shift.

[cesarnc]

Wow, I have never felt a real earthquake before, a 5.9 just hit us about 30 minutes ago! So, a 5.4 in CO and 5.8 in the DC area in the same day. How many times have there been two earthquakes of 5.0 or greater in one day in different US cities? Let the conspiracy theories roll...

No Comet Elenin alignment today

[mahalla2]

Here is a link to earthquake information for the New Madrid Fault Line:

http://www.showme.net/~fkeller/quake/

[Ace Rimmer]

I heard about it! I thought they meant Washington St. at first. We are due for one.


I combined the Earthquake threads.

[Tiberius]

This morning Colorado gets hit...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/23/colora ... ?hpt=hp_t2

And now this afternoon The US east coast feels the Virginia quake

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/23/virgin ... ?hpt=hp_t1


If you notice these 2 stories... they are the biggest the region has felt in YEARS

[armedequation]

my better half and I had left Rye, CO (about 30-45 minutes north) at 7pm.

We were visiting my grandfather at the home that he's owned since '65. My aunt was pointing out fissures that have opened up in the mountainside behind the house........

wonder what they look like now

edit: just for claification, she was pointing them out before the quake happened

I may be able to get pics of them posted tomorrow

[Moon]

I noticed the news used the term powerful earthquake when describing the seismic activity. While a magnitude 5.8 will damage, it is not a devastating earthquake.

Still, there are small fault lines all over the US and the world, so this is nothing new. They should be glad they don't live near the major fault lines like the San Andreas or San Madrid fault lines.

I also merged this post with an ongoing one-MM.

[Foxlike Mulder]

We are about 100 miles from the epicenter in the VA quake today, and that was a 5.8...there was a point in the middle of the quake as it was getting worse when I thought I needed to leave the house, it was definitely getting a little scary. So, I can't imagine what a 6.8 feels like (10 times more powerful) or a 9.0 which is over 1000 times more powerful than what we felt today; gives me just a tiny perspective on what happened in Japan.

[Moon]

We are about 100 miles from the epicenter in the VA quake today, and that was a 5.8...there was a point in the middle of the quake as it was getting worse when I thought I needed to leave the house, it was definitely getting a little scary. So, I can't imagine what a 6.8 feels like (10 times more powerful) or a 9.0 which is over 1000 times more powerful than what we felt today; gives me just a tiny perspective on what happened in Japan.

A 5.8 is strong, but it is not considered major. I have friends who experienced the major quake that was the Loma Prieta Earthquake (World Series Earthquake) in 1989 which was a 6.9 magnitude.

Here is the Richter Magnitude Scale:

Less than 2.0 Micro
2.0–2.9 Minor
3.0–3.9 Minor
4.0–4.9 Light
5.0–5.9 Moderate
6.0–6.9 Strong
7.0–7.9 Major
8.0–8.9 Great
9.0–9.9 Great
10.0+ Massive

It is wise to get out of the house in areas that are not used to earthquakes. Most of the buildings are not earthquake proof and might collapse.

[Ace Rimmer]

We live in a really old house, built in 1890's and anyway. the last big quake we had about 10 years ago, my husband said it felt and sounded like the house was going to fall down! So he grabbed the dog and ran outside. I work in the basement of a big office building and it was really a rockin and a rollin!.

Living on the West coast and being 59 yrs old, I felt quite a few over the years.

[mahalla2]

We live in a really old house, built in 1890's and anyway. the last big quake we had about 10 years ago, my husband said it felt and sounded like the house was going to fall down! So he grabbed the dog and ran outside. I work in the basement of a big office building and it was really a rockin and a rollin!.

Living on the West coast and being 59 yrs old, I felt quite a few over the years.

yes, we had strong cluster earthquakes here in Eastern Washington about the same time (epicenter was near the Columbia River). Since I live in a turn of the century house too, I have taken the advice of friends and attached a small windchime to an inside ceiling whereas if there is any movement at all with the structure of the house it will chime and we will immediately run outside -

[Tiberius]

Today Peru gets hit with 6.8... thats pretty big. Shes coming apart at the seams captain!

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/24/6- ... ?hpt=hp_t2

[Moon]

Where I found the Richter Magnitude Scale they also had how many of those each year there are. There are around 800 5.0 to 5.9 Richter Scale earthquakes and around 120 6.0 to 6.9 Richter Scale earthquakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

Mother Earth is quite active!

[Wanatouchit]

Ok, I know a lot of you here are west coast people, and probably got a good laugh out of our reaction to a 5.8 quake, or maybe it didn't even make the news in the west. It definitely got our attention here. I was in Gaithersburg MD at the time working on a 7 ton condensing unit when the thing started to shake violently, it was already out of balance anyway. My gut reaction was that the 30' high concrete wall next to me was about to fall from the shoddy construcion going on in the building at the time. Ironically when I jumped out of the way and realized it was only an earthquake I was relieved.

I work out in the field and have to communicate constantly with other techs, the office and my supervisor etc. and I couldn't even make a phone call for nearly 2 hrs just from sheer call volume. On top of that the schools, govt buildings and offices in DC all closed and let out at the same time completely making travel impossible. That definitely doesn't bode well for the DC metropolitan area disaster preparedness!!

The moral of the story is, that even though a quake of this magnitude may seem insignificant, and even though they happen here every century or so, it's just one more coincidence showing major planetary changes. Is it also a coincidence that there are so many coincidences for next year and even current events? Let's see there is-

-the end of the Mayan calendar
-nibiru/nemesis
-comet elenin
-so many other ancient civilizations with close beliefs of the Maya
-the solar maximum and increased solar flares
-some star I forget the name of that's lined up for a gama ray burst
-the interstellar photon cloud
-increased seismic activity all over the world
-earths magnetic field weakening
-increase in tornados along with hotter and hotter summers
-the web bot predictions
-the pole shift and the polar pivotal axis
-the US economy and god knows how much current worldwide political turmoil

I'm sure I forgot a few, but the point is it's a lot to be coincidence. Don't get me wrong, I don't buy into most of the conspiracy theory B.S. but I really think we are on the brink of major worldwide changes like our civilization has never seen before. And believe it or not I think it will be for the better, for all of us. Not just a new beginning, but maybe we as humans will finally get our crap together and put aside our differences, not just race and religion anymore but it seems like political party preference is the new way to discriminate, which is pointless because both parties are equally useless! Anyway I won't go there, that's another story for another time.

Take care people, it will be a bumpy ride. But don't worry, it will all work out, and it may be kind of fun!

[Serene]

I can assure you - nobody here is laughing! Any earthquake is scary, even minor ones can cause serious damage and take lives.

I agree with you. We are living in times of major worldwide changes, and I have a feeling that history may repeat itself.....again....that mankind has reached a turning point and we are either on the "eve of destruction" or the "Dawning of a new era" .....with or without help from ET's.....

[Ace Rimmer]

We live in a really old house, built in 1890's and anyway. the last big quake we had about 10 years ago, my husband said it felt and sounded like the house was going to fall down! So he grabbed the dog and ran outside. I work in the basement of a big office building and it was really a rockin and a rollin!.

Living on the West coast and being 59 yrs old, I felt quite a few over the years.

yes, we had strong cluster earthquakes here in Eastern Washington about the same time (epicenter was near the Columbia River). Since I live in a turn of the century house too, I have taken the advice of friends and attached a small windchime to an inside ceiling whereas if there is any movement at all with the structure of the house it will chime and we will immediately run outside -

Hey that is such a great idea! I'll have to try it too.

[Moon]

Wanatouchit, no one is laughing at the earthquake that was experienced. I was putting up the information to show what constitutes a major earthquake. It did make the news here in Chicago, and I also know the buildings around these areas are not earthquake proof so a 5.0 on the Richter Scale might be enough to take them down.

Also, there are 800 or so earthquakes of that magnitude each year (5.0 to 5.9), so they are quite common. It does not mean the end of the world is coming.

[mahalla2]

The risk of damage from earthquakes can actually be as high on the East Coast as on the West Coast:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/ ... rthquakes/