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Breaking news....it has been confirmed that the DC earthquake was caused by our founding fathers collectively rolling over in their graves!

Ed4032 wrote:Breaking news....it has been confirmed that the DC earthquake was caused by our founding fathers collectively rolling over in their graves!

knotquiteawake wrote:Having lived in Southern California its really amusing to see the east coast get shut down for a little 'ol 5.9 Earthquake. Although I suppose they laugh when they hear about freeways getting shutdown because of an inch of snow in Southern California.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I was thinking the same thing. My neighbors are the same way when we talk about earthquakes and I can't help but smile. I guess it is all just what we're used to.

Better get right with the Lord, ha ha. (But IMHO ya should be anyway. )

I recently moved here after living in WA state for 18 yrs and if a building doesn't fall on you they're actually kinda neat to ride out...

My wife who is from Friendswood had been up there with me (at the time) for about 2 years when she had her first earthquake experience. She was 8.5 mos pregnant with our daughter and her work was to have a system wide "Earthquake Drill". Well... she was sitting in her office when a real earthquake started to shake the building. According to her and her co-workers she looked around and said, "WoW... when they have a drill they go all out...how are they shaking the floor?" her co-worker yelled to her from the hall as he stood in the doorway "Get under your desk this is a REAL earthquake!" she then all pregafied tried to crawl under her desk while yelling, "Make it STOP!" ha ha ha... Thankfully it was a kinda medium sized quake but very deep so it didn't do much damage. I was at an ER dropping off a patient and had just stepped out to put the gurney away and saw the parking lot undulating and rolling like the ground was waves on a beach...it was AWESOME!

An East Coast Quake...It's not an unheard of phenomenon...just not common. Contrary to popular knowledge there is actually a very large fault line under NY. Growing up there we had discussed this at length in my Earth Science class. The difference is it's one HUGE tectonic plate as opposed to many smaller ones on the west coast.

Let's just hope the caldera under Yellowstone Natnl. Park doesn't blow cause then we're all in BIG trouble!

One of the things our engineering group used to do at least once a week, was wander over to the state museum and check the seismometers.

That's the NY State Museum in Albany NY!

Some of us were always aware that the Hudson Valley is an ancient fault line, and that earthquakes happen wherever they want to.

I spoke with my family in VA yesterday and they have assured me....

ELB wrote:Picture of earthquake devastation in DC here: http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earth ... evastation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen this joke a lot over the last day and understand the spirit of it, but if an earthquake were to move the ground enough to knock over that chair, buildings would be on the ground.

SQLGeek wrote:

knotquiteawake wrote:Having lived in Southern California its really amusing to see the east coast get shut down for a little 'ol 5.9 Earthquake. Although I suppose they laugh when they hear about freeways getting shutdown because of an inch of snow in Southern California.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I was thinking the same thing. My neighbors are the same way when we talk about earthquakes and I can't help but smile. I guess it is all just what we're used to.

I think people unacquainted with earthquakes fail to comprehend how the Richter scale works. The 1964 Alaska earthquake - a 9.2 - was, according to my Wikipedia-based calculations, 125,000 times more powerful than this 5.9.

AlaskanInTexas wrote:

ELB wrote:Picture of earthquake devastation in DC here: http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earth ... evastation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen this joke a lot over the last day and understand the spirit of it, but if an earthquake were to move the ground enough to knock over that chair, buildings would be on the ground.

Well, maybe. I can look at one of those cheap plastic chairs and it will fall over. Even (or especially) if I am sitting in it.

I was about 9 miles from the Northridge earthquake epicenter, and saw a lot of strange stuff in that one, and in the many aftershocks. For instance, later that day I was out in the yard when I saw water leaping out of a five gallon pail straight up into the air about two feet. It was so unnatural looking that I was astounded -- it looked like something out of a Exorcist movie. I could not see any reason for it. Then I heard my house very gently creaking and realized it was an aftershock, but I could not feel it myself when I was standing on the ground. If I was in the house, I could feel the shock, as the house very slightly swayed I guess, but standing on grass-covered ground - no. Earthquakes are peculiar events.

All joking aside, there was some significant damage to historical landmarks in DC. The Washingon Monument has damage and cracks and is closed down indefinitely, and the National Cathedralhad statues and other decorative roof items damaged. Not sure about other damage, but I am sure there was some.

And, earthquakes can be devastating. I grew up on top of the countries 2nd largest fault line, and studied quite a bit of geology and building code info both for work and personal when building a house. The amount of damage can be very large and extremely widespread depending on thh geological makeup of the underlying subsurface. The biggest issue is the aftermath if you have the big one and the lack of resources and civil unrest that ensues. Would be very similar to New Orleans and Katrina over a larger area.

Tip:

Gas prices have been falling across Texas but
Hint ...
Refineries up yonder all along East Coast closed today due to Hurricane will arrive somewhere



P.S.
(Walmart card, 10 cents off a gallon, HEB gift card, 11 cents off a gallon thru Oct, Personally, I signed up/called Discover 5% cash back on gas July/Aug/Sept so that's more than 15 cents per gallon off while it's over $3.00 a gallon)

I used to live near train tracks. I wonder what that rumble would register on the Richter scale.

ELB wrote:

AlaskanInTexas wrote:

ELB wrote:Picture of earthquake devastation in DC here: http://jmckinley.posterous.com/dc-earth ... evastation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen this joke a lot over the last day and understand the spirit of it, but if an earthquake were to move the ground enough to knock over that chair, buildings would be on the ground.

Well, maybe. I can look at one of those cheap plastic chairs and it will fall over. Even (or especially) if I am sitting in it.

I was about 9 miles from the Northridge earthquake epicenter, and saw a lot of strange stuff in that one, and in the many aftershocks. For instance, later that day I was out in the yard when I saw water leaping out of a five gallon pail straight up into the air about two feet. It was so unnatural looking that I was astounded -- it looked like something out of a Exorcist movie. I could not see any reason for it. Then I heard my house very gently creaking and realized it was an aftershock, but I could not feel it myself when I was standing on the ground. If I was in the house, I could feel the shock, as the house very slightly swayed I guess, but standing on grass-covered ground - no. Earthquakes are peculiar events.

I was living in Pasadena when the Northridge quake hit. That apartment building that pancaked into the underground garage that they kept showing on TV is where a coworker of mine lived. She went to bed on the 2nd floor, and woke up on the first.

raptor wrote:I used to live near train tracks. I wonder what that rumble would register on the Richter scale.

My off-the-cuff guess is high-2s to mid-3s. <JeremyClarkson>To find out, I went to wikipedia.</JeremyClarkson> (I think I've been watching too much Top Gear again...)

Edit: Neither Wikipedia or Google seem to know, but I've had to cut my search short because I need to get back to work.

Dave2 wrote:

raptor wrote:I used to live near train tracks. I wonder what that rumble would register on the Richter scale.

My off-the-cuff guess is high-2s to mid-3s. <JeremyClarkson>To find out, I went to wikipedia.</JeremyClarkson> (I think I've been watching too much Top Gear again...)

I lived within 2 blocks of a switch yard growing up and had several relatives that worked for MoPac railroad. It all depends on the type of train, engine, speed, etc. The biggest hit and shake (not counting when the boxcar full of military munitions blew up 25 miles away down the tracks) was when they would couple cars in the switch yard, which felt about like a 3 -3.5 two blocks away in the house.

As to the explosion, it blew windows out of the houses within a mile of the train, and we felt it shake our house like about a 4.0 from 25 miles away. Was in the middle of the night, so was quiet and nothing else moving around the area or in the switch yard.