On 2011-08-23, Jim Stewart wrote:
Heard you had an earthquake. Didn't feel it
out here in California.

Yep, we did. Scratch one more thing off my "bucket list".
(I've actually experienced one before, but I slept through it, and woke
up to the cry of "terramoto" (earthquake in Spanish) from the street
vendors outside.) Maybe the springs of the bed kept it from waking me
up. :-)

This one (I'm in Vienna Va) was quite noticeable sitting in the
Lay-Z-Boy and typing on the computer. The vertical waves were
relatively minor -- but easy to feel. The transverse waves started
making things dance and dumping a few things to the floor -- including
my Father's ships' clock, which survived, a can and an outlet strip, and
quite a few books here and there.

One cat totally freaked, and still had not really calmed down
yet. The other is still operating on "Something happened? I didn't
notice it." time. :-)

Shortly afterwards, everyone out in the street, talking to
neighbors and comparing experiences.

Interestingly enough, I'm about two miles from what the
local Television stations picked as the most video-worthy damage, where
the triangular part of the end of a brick building (under the roof end)
fell down and damaged four cars -- totaling at least one. Nobody hurt
there, though there could have been fatalities if anyone had been in one
or two of the cars, or walking on the sidewalk between the cars and the
building.

And there seems to have been damage almost as bad in some areas
of Maryland -- significantly more distant from the epicenter.

There may be more damage showing when the Mobile TV vans are
allowed up the ramps to Culpepper (much closer to the epicenter) where
currently all tractor-trailers are being turned away. In the
meanwhile, they show what they consider the most photogenic damage. :-(

If I were expecting more of these of this magnitude (we've had a
couple of unfeelable aftershocks in the 2.8 range), there are certainly
things which I would do differently.

There are later reports of some minor injuries, but nothing
serious so far -- thank God!

Enjoy,
DoN.

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