This morning I heard about the Earthquake that shook the Eastern Seaboard of North America, and have been busy since then so have only just found time to post. I hope everyone in the States are okay and that you did not have any damages. Springie, Becky, Garnet, UW, LB, Allentown? (Sorry I can't think of any other regulars at the moment.) We had no damage occur here in Ontario although some people say they felt the quake.

We're fine in northern VA, although I'm sad to report the Washington Monument has a crack and has been closed indefinitely. It was an experience I never thought to have. Kind of exciting and scary at the same time.

5.8 that was just a baby. I haven't heard of much damage or about the movement, but it was likely mostly horizontal. Now if you want to talk 7 or 8 and vertical movement, that's an earthquake.

I know those of you in California have experienced a lot worse, but we never have them. It'd be like you getting a blizzard. The National Cathedral was also damaged. Some of the tops of its spires fell off. I know here was some damage near the epicenter. Building facades fell off, chimneys came down. Ame, were you out there in the late 80s when that bad quake hit San Fran?

I had heard some of the monuments in Washington had been closed, but not why. Thank you for letting me/us know. I find it interesting that the news I heard went no further than reporting an earthquake, but not reporting the damage. Usually I think Canadian news is better than that or maybe since I was hearing about it so late, all the damage reports had already been announced. *shrug *

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I was interested to hear a statistic about earthquakes in Eastern Canada. , approximately 450 earthquakes occur every year. Of these, perhaps four will exceed magnitude 4, thirty will exceed magnitude 3. I had always thought I lived in a non earthquake area (if such a thing exists), considering I always hear about earthquakes on the West Coast, obviously I am wrong.

My understanding is anywhere can have a quake, just some areas are more prone than others. A lot of the buildings in DC are old and obviously, not made to withstand an earthquake. They closed all the museums to check them out. A lot of govt buildings, too. Some water mains broke and one did in the Pentagon. One of the strongest quakes in the US was actually along the Mississippi back in the 1800s. It was so strong it changed the path of the river. I can't remember where - will have to go look it up tomorrow, as I'm pooped from making plans incase we have to deal with Hurricane Irene.

Yes that is the next problem you are going to have to deal with. Best of luck. Right now we are dealing with tornado warnings here in Southern Ontario. Luckily so far I have only had a lot of lightening, thunder and rain but not the strong winds or hail.

Becky I've already volunteered to go to the coast to help my employer. My hubby would be coming also. So I will see where Irene goes. Good luck to everyone on the East Coast. What a week!

Yeah, lived through Loma Prieta. Fortunately I was north of San Francisco at the time in Napa. However, I have very close ties to the other two cities that took major damage. I was born in Santa Cruz and my mother's family is from Hollister. Many of the buildings that I remember from my childhood in both towns are gone. Not damaged, but gone. I remember watching the fire that swept through the Marina District in the city. Radio, phones, tv all were disrupted. I think radio and TV came back within 20 minutes to a half hour for those areas that had power. Being where we were, we were lucky. I had an uncle in Hollister and one in San Jose that we couldn't contact because of damage. That one was felt throughout the San Andreas fault which means, it was pretty much felt from just north of Los Angeles to north of Santa Rosa. But I suppose it's like the few times we get a twister stronger than a dust devil out here. I don't get wound up, but some do. Now we ever have a hurricane out on this end of the Pacific, then maybe I'll get uptight. Heck, we don't even get the monsoons that Asia and Hawaii get. Although, we might have had a few El Nino storms that make us wonder, I doubt they are on the same level.

Best wishes to all in the States and Canada caught in any form off natural issues

Thank you Littlewolf!

The big earthquake on the east wa the New Madrid earthquake of Dce 16, 1811. It occurrred about halfway between St. Louis and Memphis. It was 7.7. It caused islands in the Mississippi River to disappear and raied one area up to 10 meters. There were also two more, but were not considered afterschooks because they weren't at the same location. the one Jan 23, 1812 was a 7.5 and the one Feb 7, 1812 was 7.7. They raised and lowered land as well. One created a lake when the land fell and ground water seeped up.

Yeah, there is a major fault line in that area. It's been awhile since I studied this stuff. There are a few faults on the east coast, mostly minor and they follow along the mountains mostly. There are a lot in California, but the San Andres is the big on. Some day maybe a decade from now or 10,000 years the coast line of California will split off and become on island leaving the central valley as the coast. That is if it doesn't disintegrate first.

I've felt a few earthquakes in my life, in Montreal, Ohio and Indiana, but all very mild. The most recent one, I didn't notice it at all here. I'm a little more concerned about Hurricane Irene, mostly with an eye to how strong it will be if/when it reaches Nova Scotia, where my parents live. Currently, it's not predicted to be very strong by the time it gets that far. Hurricanes usually aren't, though every once in a while, Nova Scotia gets slammed (like in 2003 with Hurricane Juan). Best wishes for all in the Carolinas and the northeast to make it through safely!

Good luck to all. I'm probably going to be headed for somewhere between Myrtle Beach and Willmington, NC tomorrow night. I'm a sucker for a good disaster flick, but this is getting scary real quick. I would rather take a major hit in NC. We are prepped to handle such stuff. NYC isn't. The History Channel did a documentary on NYC getting hit with a hurricane. If you want a real eye opener watch the link I'm going to post then watch the Weather Channel. Hopefully, NYC doesn't get hit with Irene. After riding out Andrew I don't mess with hurricanes. I will forever give them their due and respect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjWVpY4_sPM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I hope everyone is able to get out of the hurricane's path!

I felt the earthquake. I was talking on the phone to my dad, and all of a sudden, the whole room shook, and he said that it shook where he was too.

I didn't know there was an earthquake until I watched the news. We spent the week readying the East side of the Allen Building for possible evacuees from Savannah. Never happened.

I wish Irene would just get here and we could get this over with. We've been dealing with it for days. Waiting is torture. We had Isobel in 2003 in northern VA and that was just a Cat 1 that had weakened to a TS by the time it got to us. Got pounded for about 12 hours and lost electricity about 8 hours into the storm for about 18 hours. More prepared this time, having had the experience.

Just saw a news clip over about them doing evacuation for Irene , looks serious. Is everyone on this Thread out of harms way? (ps don't watch much news anymore, but trying to find out if there were anymore updates on the "Daniel Morcombe" Case)

Becky and everyone else on the East Coast, Irene is a very slow moving storm. It has been raining in Willmington for about 10 hours now. It just won't stop. It has only slowed down twice. The power went out about 8 hours ago. I'm sitting in my car charging my phone and IPad. Hurricane Andrew was over and gone in 8 hours. Irene isn't going to blow down this town, it's just going to wash it out to sea. The official rain fall total is about 7 inches, where I am now. It's like being under a fire hose. The authorities say that it will be another 12 hours of this. The freaky thing is that sometimes it is raining so hard that you can't hear the wind. I expect that to change as the eye wall gets closer. So, basically, it's all the rain that will be everyone's major problem. Sunrise is going to be an eye opener. Be well and be safe everyone. I'm going to go take a nap.