Virginia Earthquake!

Hey there, everypony! I was just wondering if anypony else that lives in the eastern United States felt that earthquake that occurred in Virginia today. According to the United States Geological Survey, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred at 1:51 PM EDT (17:51 UTC) 36 miles (58 km) to the northwest of Richmond, VA.

For those of you that are used to quakes, this may not be news, but I've never felt a quake before in my life. Up here in Pennsylvania, I felt it as well. I was in class at the time and heard the windows shake. I first thought it was wind, then I felt the building shake. It shook for probably about 5 or 10 seconds. It's also on the news right now.

So, the purpose of this thread is to ask if anypony else felt this quake (supposedly a lot of states did), and if we have any bronies that are, by any chance, close to the epicenter, is to find out if they're okay.

I suppose we could have general earthquake discussion here too. Have you ever been in a quake?

 

Yeah, I made a joke after it happened. I said to my friend sitting next to me, "Hey, I wonder if there are any Californians here, they'll probably think we're crazy getting worked up over a tiny shake." I'm about 200 miles away from the epicenter. It's such a rarity to have a quake around these parts, so this was definitely an exciting experience. Only exciting because there isn't any damage here, thank goodness. To someone such as myself, feeling the ground shake is a brand new experience.

Yeah, it's definitely something new for me. I have family that lives about 40 miles to your northeast, and they said they felt it too. I live about 75 miles to your northwest.

Good to know that everything's okay with you. I don't know how I'd feel about being that close to it.

Similar situation here. I thought my friend sitting next to me was shaking his leg. I asked him, "Is that you?" then he said, "No, man, I'm not doing anything! Are we having a quake?" The professor didn't even notice. She was too busy trying to get the projector to work. We had computers in the class, so I immediately went to USGS's website to see if anything was there. At first, there was nothing, but about a minute or two later, a big red block showed up in Virginia and said it was a 5.8 earthquake. That's when we realized we just witnessed and felt an earthquake. Quite the shock. On an unrelated note, you're in North Carolina, right? I don't know if you are near the coast or not, but if you are, are you keeping an eye on Hurricane Irene?

 

I've never been in a hurricane, but I have been through two tropical storms (while I lived in New Jersey) that I can remember (Bertha in 1996 and Hanna in 2008). I also remember Allison in 2001, a tropical depression at the time, which dumped a lot of rain in locations nearby (Philadelphia had over 15" of rain), but where I lived we only received about an inch of rain.

Good, glad you're taking precautions in case it does hit. There's still the possibility it won't. In fact, latest analysis is suggesting it may make landfall somewhere in the Northeastern US, but it's still too far off to be certain. I don't want to scare anyone. Pretty much anyone along the eastern seaboard should be watching it.

 

Yes, I had the same problem. I was trying to call someone, but the phone call wouldn't go through. Text messaging worked fine though, but unfortunately the one I was trying to contact doesn't have a cellphone. I did reach them eventually though. Through Facebook, of all places.