5.9 Earthquake Rocks East Coast

Posted by: Noël Jones

Being that I'm from Alaska, I grew up with frequent earthquakes, as well as the lore of my parents' generation, who were around for the Great Alaskan Earthquake of '64, which was 9.2 on the richter scale--the largest quake ever recorded in North America, and the second
largest in the history of the world. It ripped streets and buildings apart within four minutes. It opened chasms that swallowed people and slammed shut. The resulting tidal wave left boats suspended in treetops. In one area of Anchorage,  the land dropped to such a degree that the top of the marquee in the parking lot of the movie theater ended up level with the rest of the parking lot. I grew up trained from toddlerhood on what to do when a quake hits, in case it's another big one. One of my earliest childhood memories is from when I was about four years old. I was sleeping, and thought I felt my mom shaking me vigorously to wake me up, but when I opened my eyes, my mom wasn't there, and the whole bed and room were shaking, and then suddenly she ran into the room yelling for me to get up and that we had to get out of the house. I stood outside in my nightgown and bare feet (it was summer) waiting for aftershocks with my mom and my little brother until we were sure it was over.

As a result of growing up with frequent earthquakes in my life, my first thought is always of a quake when I feel a building or the ground shake, but it's usually just a a big truck rumbling by. Today around 2pm, I had a similar thought--I was in my living room, on the sofa and felt what seemed like the ground under the house moving, and it made my stomach feel funny for a second. I thought, "Eathquake?" followed by, "Oh, Noël, stop thinking every time you feel the ground move that it's an earthquake, it's probably just a big truck." Then a few minutes later, I got a text from a friend in Brooklyn, saying, "did you feel the quake?" And it turns out, it was a 5.9 on the richter scale with an epicenter near Richmond,
Virginia. The quake shook Washington vigorously enough that they evacuated the Pentagon and other government buildings. It knocked out most communications, and put the North Anna nuclear power plant on a low state of emergency because they lost power there. Now they are waiting to see if there will be large aftershocks, like the ones in Japan earlier this year, which was a 6.4 on the richter scale. Keep in mind though, that each full point on the richter scale is 10 times stronger than the one before, so the Japan quake was five times stronger than this quake.

I lived in New York for 13 years, and occasionally trembled at the idea of what would happen if an earthquake ever hit that city. I used to have dreams about it when I lived there. But everyone reassured me that New York never has earthquakes, and that it's built on bedrock (unlike Anchorage, much of which is built on clay). I hope they're right. But it scares me that Manhattan is built over seven fault lines, and is long overdue for a major quake. A lot of skyscrapers have been built in recent decades. Most are "earthquake-proof" but I've always felt that to be an arrogant term. I temped in an earthquake-proof building in Manhattan years ago, that swayed even in heavy winds. Sometimes the elevators would grind to a stop on the way up, waiting for the building to flex back to continue. I would get queasy in the office, and I don't even have a light stomach. When the leftovers of Hurricain Floyd hit Manhattan, my chair rolled two inches. Several buildings in New York were evacuated today.

The quake today will likely cause a lot of structural damage in our capitol. They are already reporting that a water main broke at the Pentagon. This is one of the dangers--aside from the initial dangers of people being crushed or hit by falling objects and glass in a big quake--water and gas mains can break, fires can break out, as happened in Japan. Hopefully the North Anna nuclear plant didn't sustain any structural damage.

I will be posting updates in the comments. Did you feel the quake today?