Earthquake Hits Virginia with Shaking Felt Far and Wide

Update, 6:00 p.m.:

• Expect significant delays on Metrorail due to reduced operating speed.
• Metro is performing track inspections of the entire rail system, thus a speed restriction of 15 mph is in place.
• Metrobus routes are operating with delays.
• Metro is extending the shifts of bus operators and rail operators to extend rush hour service.
• Metrorail has continued to provide earthquake updates on their status throughout the day.

Update, 5:39 p.m.: Be advised there may be more tremors, in addition to the 2.8 magnitude aftershock the USGS reported at 2:46 p.m.

Mike Blanpied, USGS associate coordinator for the earthquake hazards program, said there could be more aftershocks and they could go up to 5 in magnitude. “Aftershocks could go on for days, weeks, or even months. They’re most likely to be felt under the next three or four days,” Blanpied said, as reported by the Washington Post.

The aftershocks are generally, but not always, of a lesser degree than the original earthquake, according to Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, as reported by sussexcountian.com

Jordan recommended removing any heavy or breakable objects that could fall and injure someone.

“A lot of people are injured by stuff falling, so make sure that big rock you picked up on vacation isn’t sitting on a shelf,” he said. “The chances of getting large shakes are small, but my advice would be to do now what you should be doing all along.”

Update, 5:07 p.m.: This is metropolitan Washington’s second quake in just over a year. A 3.6-magnitude tremor—less than one-tenth the strength of today’s quake—struck five kilometers beneath Gaithersburg last July.

Maryland’s earthquake history dates back to a 30-second quake reported in Annapolis in 1758.

USGS archives list no significant Maryland-based seismic events since an 1885 quake near the Frederick County-Loudoun County border. Reports over the last few decades have come from earthquakes in neighboring states, including:

• A 4.3-magnitude earthquake near Elgood, W. Va. in 1969
• A 1972 tremor centered in Wilmington, Del.
• A minor earthquake near the Delaware-New Jersey-Pennsylvania border in 1973

Update, 3:15 p.m.: Andrew Metcalf called to report that the earthquake tremors were felt just as secondhand smoke trial participants were returning to court after lunch. The Prince George's County Circuit Court building was evacuated and closed. Prior to the tremors, the defense had finished calling its witnesses. Biophysicist James Repace was slated to return to the stand and closing arguments remained. When the building closed, there was no announcement about when the trial would resume.

Original Post, 2:47 p.m.: By now you likely know the news, you felt it. People from across Greenbelt were jolted to attention by tremors that shook our homes this afternoon. Neighbors came out of their homes, many looking at each other in wide-eyed amazement.

USGS has declared a earthquake of 5.9 magnitude struck Virginia at 1:51 p.m. Tuesday, and we felt it here. We were not alone, according to USA Today the tremors were felt as far south as North Carolina and as far north as Buffalo and Boston.