Earthquake Strikes East Coast, Centered Near Richmond, Virginia

I live in Maryland and Verizon is currently having issues, presumably due to the overwhelming amount of people attempting to use the network. Land lines are obviously still functional.

Solar flares, near miss asteroids, tsunami, earth quakes, wars, disease, famine, world economic down turn,December 21, 2012 is not to far away.

I live in Richmond, VA. Inside the one-story office where I work, it felt like a low flying plane (really low). Once we got outside, you had to sit on the ground to feel it, but you could still see the glass doors shaking. Most people in cars didn't even realize there was an earthquake. I did hear from a co-worker's boyfriend that he witnessed a swimmer who couldn't get out of a pool because the waves trapped her in the middle.

I felt it here in Michigan. It felt like I was on a boat (www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU). My boss was like, "do you feel that?" I had thought it was just me and I suddenly was taken ill. That was the first time I've ever actually felt an Earth quake. Pretty wild.

we have a serious deadly fault line here in the area where Arkansas Tennessee and Missouri meet. if it goes off, u will feel it in boston, again. happens every 200 years and its due again anytime now. look up new madrid fault n see for yourself.

I felt it on Long Island. Funny thing is I was talking about the Olympian gods and then about a minute later, the ground starts shaking. Cool stuff lol

Since I'm from California, I can't help feeling a little bit amused by people on the east coast freaking out about an earthquake. That being said, an earthquake over there is actually a serious matter, since buildings in that region generally aren't specifically built to withstand earthquakes and preparations for what to do in the event of an earthquake are more or less non-existent there.

Solar flares, near-miss asteroids, tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, disease, and famine have all been with us over the course of our brief existence on this planet. As for world economic downturn, it has happened before, during the Great Depression. Also, back when the world was a smaller place, the Roman Empire suffered an economic crisis as well. If these events seem more frequent or brand new, I submit that it's mostly or entirely due to advances in communications, which have brought information about nearly every natural or man-made disaster in the world right to our doorstep. Look into the past, and you'll see that we weren't always so knowledgeable about events on our planet or out in the rest of the universe. In fact, it used to be so bad that we were only aware of events in our small part of the world, which we thought of as our entire world at the time. Of course, for some people in remote or developing parts of the world, that limited perspective still exists because they don't have access to or can't afford luxuries like computers, smart phones, books, magazines, or newspapers.

As for December 21st, 2012, I have no reason to believe that it will be the one doomsday prediction that will come true out of all the countless doomsday predictions that have failed. The fact that the Mayan calendar lasts so long is an incredible achievement for an ancient civilization, but when it ends, it will start again, just like the Gregorian calendar ends and starts again every 400 years. In fact, the Gregorian calendar ended for the first time in 1982, which is likely where Pat Robertson got the idea of the world ending in 1982.

Not to forget Japan: "....A nuclear power plant in central Virginia has lost offsite power in the wake of a 5.8 earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., U.S. nuclear officials said.The North Anna Power Station, which has two nuclear reactors, is now using four diesel generators to maintain cooling operations. The plant automatically shut down in the wake of the earthquake...,..."As far as we know, everything is safe," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre.
Nine nuclear plants have declared "unusual events" today, which is the lowest of four emergency situations, the NRC said. The plants are located in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey....."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576526642400085456.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

sheesh :) that was fun :) I was in the second story of a two story building. at first it felt like someone dropped a big object that would have vibrated the floor, but I noticed the chair in which I sat was shaking in a circular type pattern when I realized that it was an earthquake. I near bolted for the door if I wasn't so far from an exit !!!

This won't come as a surprise but...nothing was felt here in Texas. However, that map of all the recent seismic activity in the US is pretty interesting.

On another note, PopSci! What are you doing about these annoying spammers in your comments?

i live in Maryland and i felt it. at first i thought i was feeling dizzy than i noticed that the mirror started to shake. i was in the bathroom at the time and i was ironically thinking about super powers and being able to move objects with my mind. scariest experience in the bathroom.

I guess I'm blind... I dont see any "spammers"

Or maybe you're paranoid... seeing spammers everywhere!

Been through multiple earthquakes living on the west coast... The most recent of which was in Hawaii... A 4.6 earthquake was responsible for knocking out power for around 24+ hours... That was fun... Then there was Seattle area over 10 years ago... didnt really notice that one. Woke up the next day having heard that there was an earthquake... the day went a long as normal.