EARTHQUAKE!!! And not the ride on the Gatlinburg strip...

[claymore]

Glad to hear everyone O.K. and no property damage. Boy, just when you think you got a handle on things ugh ? People say they felt it up here in Mich. but I didn't know a thing until the news came on. Imagine not having that television or that radio.

[Buktoof]

I live near fort bragg, and honestly thought that it was them practicing again. Never once did it cross my mind that it was an earthquake. Quess I failed this test. But hey first experience of an earthquake maybe next time Ill know what it is.

[1Admin]

Don't feel bad Buk- we failed too. Never even knew about it till the MIL called and told my wife about it.

Course we are pretty far south

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Course we are pretty far south

Southern Idaho right :)
Hows the aftershocks out there folks?

[Noble]

Wasn't there something about earthquakes in places not known for them? End times prophecies or something like that? If anyone knows the quote I'd like to hear it again.

The scripture is Matthew 24:7 "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places."
I've read studies where "various," as translated, could mean "in all places" or "all over," as opposed to just the "normal" places for earthquakes.

“But all these things are merely the beginning...

[WiseOwl]

Southern Idaho right :)
Hows the aftershocks out there folks?

Ahahahahahahah....out there in tater country

[eeyore]

It actually woke me up (i'm working nights now). We did not lose anything at the house, but the ceiling at the store i'm remodeling had part of its act ceiling fall and lost some product off the shelves.

[Yeti]

Was in DC when it struck.
Took me a second to recognize what it was. Of the meeting of 5 in room only 2 of us recognized what it was. Both of us turned to each other and mouthed 'earthquake?'. Promptly ended the meeting and told the people on the other end that we were evac'ing the building.

Overall as an event, it was minor. But it did let us see a realistic dry run of a mid-day crisis.

[monkeybird]

It's wonderful to know that all of my forum friends living in the area are all OK. When I first heard the news I didn't quite believe it. I'd not heard of earthquake activity along the East coast. A few months ago it was Oklahoma. We live in strange times.

[HDM]

We are in Myrtle Beach, SC on vacation and didn't feel anything. Imagine our surprise when we turned on the TV last night and saw something about an earthquake!

[610Alpha]

Here is a drill that was done this year... there are some key points in it bought the middle of the article.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/quake-nightmare/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

also a a video talking about the New Madrid earthquakes that happened about 200 years ago.

[snarlbuckle]

Honestly, it sounds like the quake wasn't all that bad. I don't know much about them, but I would wager that in the case of a fault line that has been quiet for decades, there are two possibilities. 1) Tension has been building for a long time and when a quake does hit, it'll be devastating. 2) There isn't a whole lot of tension on that particular fault line, so quakes will be light and infrequent.

In light of the timing and strength of the recent quake, I would find my first possibility pretty remote and the second one more likely. What I would consider to be a problem though is the reaction of people to a minor quake in an area that doesn't often have them. I notice in the news reports that some people were pretty freaked out over the whole thing.

As far as preparation goes, I wouldn't worry about a major quake hitting the east coast but I would use the opportunity to prepare for anything else that might scare the local populace. Just my two cents.

[Deep Operator]

There have always been small level earthquakes in the Middle Atlantic region, there was a 4.5 or so quake in 2003, there have been others in the 3-4 range in VA/MD area as long as I can remember. The USGS classifies the area of this quake as the "Central Virginia Sesimic Zone" there are a collection of some small seismic lines there. The whole underground of the I-95 corridor is solid bedrock so it acts like a giant bell and the wave is felt for longer distances then on the West Coast. The concern was that a 5.8 quake was serious, especially in an area not constructed for Earthquakes, with some exceptions here and there.

The area of concern, is the new Madrid fault line in the Central U.S. It has serious potential to release a massive quake in the St. Louis, Mephis, and Kansas City areas. Buildings there are not preparred at all for such a quake, it happend in that region sometime in the 19th century, seems to be building for a major quake.

D.O

[EX121]

I would think that a more likely Scenario is a disruption of services due to a falling high tension electrical transmission line tower.