VA Earthquake Rattles Cary
Story and Richmond VA photo by Hal Goodtree.
Cary, NC – Just before 2:00, I was sitting at my Jefferson desk pounding out something on the keyboard. That’s what publishers do – pound the keyboard.
Suddenly, my whole office sounded like it was rattling. I thought to myself, “seriously, am I hitting the keyboard that hard?” I stopped typing. Stuff was still shaking a little.
I assumed it was my wife or kids messing around downstairs. Maybe the cloths washer was unbalanced.
I went back to pounding the keyboard.
Maybe It’s an Earthquake
Within moments, Twitter lit up. Apparently the tremor was felt all over Cary.
The 5.9 magnitude quake occurred at 1:50 pm with an epicenter about 35 miles northwest of Richmond, VA. Buildings were evacuated up and down the East Coast, including the Pentagon outside Washington, DC and City Hall in New York. People reported feeling the quake as far north as Maine.
Twitter – Faster Than a Seismic Event
One Twitter user in NYC reported reading about the quake fifteen seconds before it hit the Big Apple:
I saw the tweets from DC about earthquake, then 15 seconds later felt it in NYC. Social media is faster than seismic waves! – JesseCFriedman – via twittermedia
VA Nuclear Plant Shut Down
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the North Anna nuclear power plant, close to the epicenter of the quake, lost electricity. The utility manually shut down the facility’s two reactors.
According to Dominion Power, emergency diesel power kicked in and no damage was reported.
Did You Feel It?
Where were you when the quake hit? Did you feel it?
Amazing actually. It is big news. It’s not armageddon. By the way, I felt one similar to this living in NY in the mid/early 1980s.
What was different about this one was after it happened, while it happened, I was getting Tweets that it was indeed an earthquake in Va…
I think an earthquake on the East Coast is big news. I’ve never felt one here before. Relieved to hear that damage was not widespread, but a fuller report will tell the true tale over the next days and weeks.
I felt it while putting my daughter down for her nap for a good 10 seconds over in Scottish Hills. My first thought was that the house was shaking due to helicopters flying by. An earthquake crossed my mind, but I quickly dismissed that thought. It’s pretty exciting stuff, but the media seems to be making it a bigger event than it really is.