where are you northern virgina?

People don't realize that we have 'em all the time in the Northeast.....   I didn't notice it up here in MA, but people in the tall office buildings  'downtown' noticed it.

All the lovely red brick row homes that East Coast cities are built of, will not fare well in an earthquake.....but ones this big (5.9) are very rare.  The center seems to have been about 50 miles NW of Richmond, VA.

The one earthquake I *did* feel was centered in Delaware, which actually experiences many earthquakes.... but they are really tiny ones that barely shift the teacups on the shelf.

I felt it here in my office at Walter Reed, D.C., a pretty good distance away.  Floor started to shake a little and then things almost fell off of my wall. 

Rule of thumb in CA is if you can walk to the exit during the shaking, then, not to worry, it isn’t much of a quake.  Buuuut, I would be awfully careful around buildings out there. Not much retrofitting to withstand a good quake, I’d wager.  Gonna be some falling buildings over the next
few days.  Please be careful !

Irene.

I basically live on top of the Ramapo fault in NJ (this may be geologically related to the one in Va).

Mostly we get quakes in the 3-4 range, with a few 5 or slightly above.

Usually no big deal, no damage.

People in my area felt today's one big time. 

I'm actually in Buffalo today, and there was some minor shaking even up here.