A low magnitude earthquake in Maryland that would make California residents laugh scared the daylights out of Washington D.C.. The D.C. earthquake caused no property damage or traffic delays, and the trains ran on time. But thousands of confused people flooded the 911 switchboard after the ground rumbled and buildings vibrated for about 10 seconds. {There was no word of fighter jets scrambling or members of the executive branch being hustled to an undisclosed location|Evidently there was no need for fighter jets to scramble or to send the President to his bunker|No reports surfaced of fighter jets scrambling or politicians running for their bunkers.
Media feasts on mild earthquake in Maryland
The magnitude of the earthquake in Maryland was considered mild but because it affected Washington D.C., the earthquakes effects were magnified a hundredfold by the media. MSNBC reports that the D.C. earthquake, as outlined by the U.S. Geological Survey, hit at 5:05 a.m. with a3.6 Richter scale magnitude. Rockville, Md. was near the epicenter. Residents in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia Pennsylvania and also the D.C. area reported rumbling, the USGS said.
D.C. earthquake risk negligible
A geophysicist with the USGS who was not shocked by the D.C. earthquake told the Washington post the temblor wasn’t “something out of the ordinary”. But she added that it was rare for a quake measuring above 3 to hit the area. Since a database was created in 1974 to track seismic activity, the quake was the largest measures. As to Washington D.C. earthquake risk, the largest magnitude earthquake before Friday morning’s was a tremor of 2.7 on the Richter scale in 1993, Vaughan said. USGS earthquake data shows there was also a 2.6 magnitude tremor in 1990 and quakes barely nudged the Richter scale at 2.5 in 1997, 1993 and 1974.
Earthquake sounded like a jet crashing
Within two hours after the 10 second earthquake in Maryland, more than 6,700 individuals weighed in on the USGS website. CNN reports that some residents in and around Washington D.C. awoke Friday to what one witness said sounded like a jet about to crash outside his bedroom window. The quake sounded like an explosion Judy Rudolf told CNN. Smaller aftershocks might hit the area, the USGS said, however they will peter out easily.
Citations
msnbc.msn.com
washingtonpost.com
cnn.com
