More Window Cleaners Caught In U.S. Earthquake Tremors

Did the Earthquake Tilt the Washington Monument? According to Fox News, the Washington Monument may be tilting as a result of the 5.9 earthquake that just hit the area.

Eastern alumni affected by East Coast earthquake: Four Eastern alumni were on the East Coast when the earthquake started at 1:51 EST, each experiencing their first major seismic event.

Jean Wright Medina, a 1988 Eastern graduate, felt the earthquake immediately while working in Washington, D.C., a few blocks from the White House. Similar to the other alumni, Medina didn't think the shaking was because of an earthquake. "We had window cleaners on our building so when I felt it I thought the scaffolding fell off the building." Medina felt the shaking and left her desk to look out the window. Then the window started to rattle and she realized it wasn't the scaffolding. "You could feel the building moving," Medina said. Medina said she and her Air Transport Association coworkers took cover while the shaking continued. When it stopped, everyone immediately evacuated the building. She said everyone from the buildings around them was doing the same thing. Once she got outside, she texted her family in Chicago. "The cell phone service was jammed so I was worried my family would see something on the news and worry when they couldn't get a hold of me," Medina said.

Eric Hiltner, a 2010 Eastern graduate, was in Richmond, Va., approximately 38 miles from the epicenter, when the earthquake happened. Hiltner said he was working at Lumber Liquidators when the building started shaking violently. He said he and his coworkers thought it was a passing truck. "We realized it wasn't because it was taking longer than a truck would pass," Hiltner said. Hiltner said a couple of old customers were in the store when he yelled, "Earthquake!" "I think the old lady almost died of fright," Hiltner said. Everyone in the store was OK, he said.

Another alumna was in her third-floor office in Takoma Park, Md. when she felt the shaking. She too thought it was a truck. "I thought a big truck hit the building," said Dru Sefton, a 1982 Eastern graduate. "Then the shaking went on." Sefton said her building did not seem to be shaking, rather she said it felt like it was "twisting or rolling." Sefton's husband, Andy Savoie, a 1983 Eastern graduate, was walking outside in Washington, D.C. and did not feel any tremors from the earthquake, she said.

Alycia Rockey, a 2010 Eastern graduate, was in Brooklyn, N.Y. when she felt the shaking. She said everything around her was wobbling. Rockey said the experience made her realize the world is unpredictable. "You never know what's going to happen next in this world," Rockey said.

A stone that broke loose.

 

Washington DC Earthquake Damages Washington Monument, National Cathedral: The 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rippled through Washington, D.C. on Tuesday cracked the Washington Monument and broke loose pieces of the National Cathedral, leading authorities to close the two symbolically and architecturally significant sites. Visitors were turned away from the Washington Monument, a 555 foot stone obelisk that is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, after the National Park Service reported finding cracks in the triangular stone atop the structure. The monument is shuttered indefinitely while engineers evaluate the extent of the damage. "The [National Park Service] will have structural engineers evaluate the cracks on Wednesday to determine the best way to repair the Monument before it is reopened," the Park Service told The Los Angeles Times.

Window Cleaner Says Earthquake Was More Like A Burp

Don’t panic – our quakes are comparative ‘burps’ says window cleaner:  A South Cumbrian councillor has dismissed four earth tremors felt in parts of the county in three years as nothing more than “burps”. Councillor Brendan Jameson – a Liberal Democrat member of Cumbria County Council and leader of South Lakeland District Council – is a keen amateur geologist who has studied seismology and the tectonic plates under the earth which cause quakes when they move, on an Open University course. An earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale struck North Yorkshire on Monday night at 9pm and was felt in some parts of Cumbria, with people in Kendal calling the police. It came two weeks after the 3.5 scale Coniston earthquake on December 21, which was felt all over South and West Cumbria.

But Cllr Jameson, who runs a window cleaning business and who lives in Kendal, did not feel anything and does not think the county council should take any special earthquake planning measures. Cllr Jameson said: “I don’t think there is anything sinister going on. There has been very little movement of the Eurasian tectonic plate which we are on.” He said of the four quakes in three years, which included one centred near Ulverston in 2009 and a 5.7 one in Lincolnshire in 2008, which was felt in areas like Barrow: “These are hiccups. I honestly don’t think there is anything to worry about. I think seismologists would have flagged up a warning if there was.” Cllr Jameson said he believed there was more chance of getting run over by a bus than the area suffering a serious earthquake and compared the earth tremors to “burps” compared with major earthquake areas of the world.

Another county councillor, Tory Bill Wearing, who represents Grange, said flooding was a much more worrying issue in Cumbria. Cllr Wearing said: “Personally, I don’t think it should be anything to worry about but you can never say never in business or in politics so you have to be prepared for everything. You can rest assured that Cumbria is ahead of the game with its emergency planning.” Cllr Wearing, who said the pavements in Grange shook in a quake three years ago, did not feel the Yorkshire one on Monday night. He said: “My wife is from Longridge in Lancashire and they are always having them down there. I just think people are a bit more sensitive about it these days. I don’t think it is anything for people to be worried about to be honest.” He said the county had strategic emergency plans in place with the police for any emergencies.

The pre-Christmas Coniston earthquake was felt 100 kilometres away. Julian Burkits, a seismologist for the British Geological Survey, which constantly monitors for earthquakes, said to have two 3.5 scale quakes in the North within two weeks was a unusual coincidence. But he said Cumbrians had nothing to worry about as nothing significant was going on. He said: “There is absolutely nothing for anyone to worry about. We have earthquakes that size about once a year. The worst that is going to happen is that the monitor of your PC is going to rattle for a few seconds. The most likely thing that will happen is you will get a fright from the noise, which sounds like a low-flying plane or a heavy lorry going down the street.”

He said the world had 14,500 earthquakes of that magnitude a year and in serous earthquake areas, which are near to the edges of tectonic plates, they would be unreported. He said: “A 3.6 earthquake is insignificant. People should just sit back and enjoy it.” The BGS said Britain remained safe from the threat of serious quakes that destroy buildings and lives because it was hundreds of miles from the edge of a tectonic plate. If you felt Monday’s Ripon quake, you can take part in the BGS urvey inquiry into the Ripon quake on its website.