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 5.9 Earthquake Rattles the East CoastPosted on Aug 23, 2011
Editor’s note: This post has been updated from its original version to reflect new information. A magnitude 5.9 earthquake shook the East Coast on Tuesday afternoon. The epicenter was in Virginia but shaking was felt as far away as New York, Ohio and the Carolinas. In the first hours after the quake there were no reports of deaths or major destruction. The Washington National Cathedral in the District of Columbia lost at least three of the four pinnacles on the central tower, a cathedral spokesman said, referring to the tips of the spires. The central tower appeared to be leaning, the spokesman said. A nuclear power plant near Washington, D.C., shut down, and plants as far away as Michigan reported “unusual events,” the lowest of four emergency situations, federal authorities said. The Washington Post said, “It would appear today’s quake is the largest on record in that region [central Virginia]. USGS [the U.S. Geological Survey] said it was the strongest quake to hit the entire state since 1897.” Cosmic Log, an MSNBC website, reported that Tuesday’s event had a long reach for a medium-size quake because of the geology of the East Coast. “ ‘The reason an earthquake in the high 5s is felt so far away is that it occurred in an area … where the bedrock is solid, it’s not really fractured or broken up by faults the way it would be, say, in California,” Cosmic Log said in quoting Peter Powers, a USGS geophysicist. The Geological Survey said that when the East has an earthquake, the area affected could be up to 10 times larger than the area shaken by a West Coast temblor of equal magnitude. —BF
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By Jimnp72, August 24, 2011 at 10:09 am Link to this comment
The repugs will blame Obama for the earthquake
Report thisBy ardee, August 24, 2011 at 4:53 am Link to this comment
Is this a reaction to dropping the charges against Strauss-Kahn? Could it be that even Gaia simply cannot stand such a blatant violation of justice?
A 5.9, to we in California, is not even worth much of a mention.
Report thisBy PatrickHenry, August 24, 2011 at 2:46 am Link to this comment
D.R. Zing,
The candy asses I speak of are those county workers who immediately after the tremblor, abandoned their jobs ran to their cars and created the unnessessary gridlock and got paid for it.
Schools are closed today and I sit in amazement at the local and federal governments carnival attitude regarding this event.
Report thisBy EmileZ, August 23, 2011 at 10:48 pm Link to this comment
@D.R. Zing
before you unconditionally side with Patrick Henry in an arguement which I seriously doubt you at the point of writing your comments have any idea about, you should relax or something. It is not really your concern.
Just a thought.
Yours Truly,
Report this-EmileZ
By D.R. Zing, August 23, 2011 at 10:38 pm Link to this comment
My Dearest Patrick:
Who is this Candy Ass of which you speak and what videos has she been in?
I really liked those papers you published back in the day. Pity newspapers today don’t publish your essays.
“In the sweet old country where I come from nobody ever works and nothing gets done. Hang fire.”
—The Glimmer Twins
Report thisBy D.R. Zing, August 23, 2011 at 7:45 pm Link to this comment
“No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. The poor bastard’ll see them soon enough.”
—Hunter S. Thomson
Report thisBy EmileZ, August 23, 2011 at 6:18 pm Link to this comment
I am EmileZ I am the fucking candyass.
All comments go through me from now on.
That means YOU Patrick Henry!!!
Att-en…SHUN!!!
Report thisBy Potent_Placebo, August 23, 2011 at 4:31 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
.... God, reminding us we need to work on our failing infrastructure….
Report thisBy Maani, August 23, 2011 at 4:13 pm Link to this comment
PatrickHenry and christian96:
LOL to both of you! BTW, I hear that Obama not only felt it in Martha’s Vineyard, but that it helped him sink a putt, when it caused the ball to roll into the hole…LOL.
Report thisBy christian96, August 23, 2011 at 3:19 pm Link to this comment
God sent an earthquake near Washington. Hurricane
Report thisIrene will be bearing down on Washington in a few
days. Wonder what it will take for those politicans
to wake up?
By PatrickHenry, August 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm Link to this comment
At about 1:50PM I was in my office debriefing my foremen on their daily work and we felt the shaking, we went outside and everyone was having a good laugh. We are about 100 miles away from the epicenter.
All the phones were busy, all the county workers left the courthouse, administration buildings and the schools closed. Private industry went back to business.
What a bunch of candy asses, wait till a real disaster hits.
Report thisBy Maani, August 23, 2011 at 1:15 pm Link to this comment
A 5.9 in Virginia. A 5.3 just hours earlier in Colorado. Must be the end of the world. LOL.
Report this