Earthquake Rocks DC

“An earthquake just hit Virginia, and the tremors were felt all the way up here in Manhattan. It was a quake in Mineral, Virginia, southwest of DC, in the middle of Virginia. The magnitude was 6.0, according to USGS — they upgraded that from an initial 5.8.” [WSJ — WaPo’s offline]

48 Comments

Does this mean that god hates Pat Robertson?

WaPo still offline, or just crushed by traffic. Pentagon, White House evacuated, and Above the Law reports that all NYC government buildings cleared out.

Reuters: Control towers evacuated at JFK and Newark airports.

A lot of this will be Standard Safety Measures, but the quake’s geographical reach (and local population density) means a lot of details are flowing.

Oh great. And now the second once-in-a-century storms in the last fortnight is heading up the coast for the Hamptons.

I’m unharmed and unfazed, in case y’all were wondering.

And now that I’m back at World Domination HQ…

CNN chyron: “NUKE PLANT NEAR EPICENTER SHUT DOWN”.

But I’m not hearing any damage reports yet. That can take awhile — didn’t know about the Bay Bridge for maybe an hour after the SF World Series quake.

Wolf: “Was there panic? Was there screaming?”

Yes, that’s certainly informative.

@ManchuCandidate: Yes, but I can imagine Robertson’s interpretation: It’s giant fucking avenging jesus ready to rip out of the earth in Virginia and stride to DC, tear the islamofascist out of the White House and overhand him back to Kenya. Then he’s going to stop by the 700 Club for an interview.

@nojo: Were people shitting themselves and stuff? How did it smell? Was it like the Poseidon Aventure or more like the original Day the Earth Stood Still?

Airports open again, four backup diesel generators working at nuke plant.

@FlyingChainSaw: On the other hand, CNN Newsbabe very competent. I’m not looking forward to Wolf cutting in later.

WaPo, back online:

Three pinnacles from the central tower of the National Cathedral fell off, there are reports that two floors of the Pentagon have flooded, and a possible fire broke out in one of the Senate buildings.

Virginia reports no serious injuries or damage yet.

It was a 5 point-whatever?

Please tell me that vengeful Jayzus has spared future US Capital Lynchburg, VA.

I am flying into Newark allegedly on Thursday morning from Barcelona. I am going to be insufferable if I am stuck against my will in Barcelona during the summer doldrums and I have the whole city to myself and local collaborators. Double dang.

@¡Andrew!: Jayzus did spare the great city, while whistling Dixie!

Speaking of Vengeful Gods, here’s Keef:

Irony: 3/14 Eric Cantor pushes for cuts to US Geological Survey, NWS, NOAA. 8/23 5.9 quake felt by 1/3 of us. Epicenter: Cantor’s district

@Dodgerblue: Back down to 5.8. The USGS is so excitable.

Despite rumors, the Park Service insists that the Washington Monument remains proudly turgid.

@nojo: I wish I could say the same. Chemotherapy, not good.

On 5th floor of 560 Lexington Avenue – 10 seconds of mild shaking, and that was it.

A colleague’s father was in Tokyo on business this past Spring when they had The Big One. The ground shook so violently that it threw all of the water out of the hotel’s pool.

I was sitting on the roof painting the chimney and all I could think of was that the washer must be really out of balance on the spin cycle.

@Dodgerblue: I am reliably informed that the Japanese don’t even look up from their desks if it’s less than a 5.0.

@blogenfreude: Neither do I. Sub-5.0 is barely worth a comment.

But you get near 6.0, that’s pretty damn serious.

@nojo: The scale increases exponentially, not numerically, right?

@Tommmcatt Be Fat, And That Be That: By a factor of 10, so that a 6.0 is ten times as powerful as a 5.0.

@Dodgerblue: Yeeps, so a 7.0 is 100 times as powerful as the 5.0.

Wow…

@Tommmcatt Be Fat, And That Be That: Yep. I lived through a 7.0 in Santa Monica. I don’t want to think about what the 9.0 off Fukushima felt like.

MellBell, glad to hear you’re good.

I’m on the Olympic Peninsula for a few days sans computadora or TeeVee. Mr SFL is cursing the NYT app for not working but so far we’ve name-checked geologists on NPR, CNN, WaPo, SF Chronic, and nj.com.

@Dodger: I’m with Catt, try the weed but not too much. Keep going through the fucking chemo. It sucks but it’s better than the alternative. Thoughts or images of nekkid Hope Solo with nothin’ but a couple soccer balls might help…

@SanFranLefty: There is no such thing as too much weed, silly.

And props to you, Dodger. My sister and Grandfather went through this so I know how tough it is. I am totally available for anything you need, even just a walk and a talk with somebody outside the situation.

Just don’t tell anyone. It will wreck my reputation as a butch top and Benedick will call me a sissy.

@Dodgerblue: Same here.

@Tommmcatt Be Fat, And That Be That: Butch top? You sweet old-fashioned thing.

@mellbell: Might be in DC next week.

@Benedick HRH KFC: thank you. I’m grateful to have supportive friends like you and Catt. Also thanks for not rebuking me for whining, which I need to stop.

@Dodgerblue: You can keep whining. Why should you be different from the rest of us? Besides, it’s not whining. You are commenting on your life and we’re interested to hear.

Me on the state of musical theatre or Catt complaining that he can hardly squeeze through doorways these days – that is whining.

@Tommmcatt Be Fat, And That Be That: I’m a Dodger fan. This means nothing to me.

@nojo: But there is, apparently, a crack at the, uh, tip.

We just had a baby earthquake. Enough to shake the bed and rouse me from semi-consciousness, but I’m guessing most people slept through it.

@mellbell: Expect those for a couple weeks. And a couple weeks after that, thinking you felt one…

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