An earthquake rattled Virginia’s capital on Wednesday night, felt as far north was Washington D.C.
The quake, which measured 3.2 on the Richter Scale, was significantly smaller than the quake in the same region 2 ½ years ago that caused the Washington Monument to be closed until last week.
Virginia officials say over 1,300 people in the region reported feeling the impact of the quake. Quake reports came in from as far away as Maryland and the District of Columbia. No major damage was reported and no one was injured.
Residents told the Washington Post the quake reminded them of a big truck driving past their home or a very powerful thunderstorm.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered only 7/10th of a mile underground about 30 miles west of Richmond.
History has been made by the U.S. Geological Survey in issuing the first earthquake warning for an area east of the Rocky Mountains.
The USGS issued a joint statement with the Oklahoma Geological Survey saying that the risk of an earthquake greater than 5.0 on the Richter scale has significantly increased after a rash of smaller quakes.
“We haven’t seen this before in Oklahoma, so we had some concerns about putting a specific number on the chances of it,” Robert Williams of the USGS said. “But we know from other cases around the world that if you have an increasing number of small earthquakes, the chances of a larger one will go up.”
The number of earthquakes per mile in Oklahoma this year is the same as California.
Most of the buildings in Oklahoma are built to withstand a light earthquake but officials say a medium size quake could cause mass devastation. The last major quake was November 2011, when a 5.6 magnitude quake destroyed 14 homes.
Vancouver was shaken up Wednesday night as a major 6.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Vancouver Island.
The quake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck just after 8:10 p.m.
The USGS said that three strong aftershocks followed the main quake over the next two hours measuring magnitudes 5.0, 4.2 and 4.2.
Emergency Management B.C. reported that the quake, located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, did not cause a tsunami for the region.
“We can confirm at this time that there is no reporting of any injuries or any significant damage, so all folks are safe,” said Pat Quealey, assistant deputy minister for Emergency Management BC.
Witnesses say while the quake was very strong, it only occurred for a short time and most people didn’t have time to react before the quake ended.
A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City and the surrounding regions Friday.
The quake was so strong that people rushed into the streets out of fear that building would collapse.
Mexican authorities said that walls cracked and fell along with the collapse of some smaller buildings but no major building collapses or deaths.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred along a fault line that was considered dormant by most geologists. However, Gavin Hayes of the USGS says the plates in the Guerrero Seismic Gap were locked, which allowed a potential build up of devastating energy.
The last quake along that fault was a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1911.
The USGS says the fault line has the potential to cause a quake that is above magnitude 8.4 and could kill more than the 9,500 people in the 1985 magnitude 8.1 Mexico City quake.
Residents of Nicaragua have been on edge for days after a series of earthquakes rocked the country.
A string of quakes that started Thursday night with a magnitude 6.1 quake has caused many residents to sleep on the ground outside of their homes in fear that a quake while they are sleeping would collapse their houses.
The country’s government has placed the nation on red alert and is urging them to continue sleeping outside until further notice.
The Thursday quake was followed by a stronger 6.6 magnitude quake on Friday. Sunday night, 4.6 and 5.6 magnitude quakes kept most of the nation awake through the night.
“We didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Ana Maria Echaniz, 30, told the Associated Press. “It’s continuous anxiety, fear that comes and goes all the time.”
The first lady of Nicaragua, the government’s official spokeswoman, told state media that the recent activity has reactivated the Managua fault that caused a 6.2 magnitude quake in 1972 that killed close to 10,000 people.
One resident told the AP that the fear is so bad people jump in the night from a gust of wind because it “breaks the silence.”
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck southern France Monday according to the French National Seismic Monitoring Network.
The quake was located near the resort city of Nice and was only 7 miles deep. A local seismic expert said that the quake should be seen as a “warning” to France.
“We don’t know when a big one will come, but it will and there will certainly be fatalities,” Remy Bossu of the European Mediterranean Seismological Center told a French newspaper. “In Italy or Greece everyone is fully aware of the risks simply because earthquakes happen more often. Everyone knows about them and it’s part of their culture, but not in France.”
Monday’s quake, which lasted 15 seconds, reportedly only caused minor damage to buildings throughout the region. Seismologists say a quake of this nature strikes France only one every 30 years.
The quake was the second surprise quake to strike France in the last six months. In November, a 4.5 magnitude quake struck in northwest France near Brittany.
The Japanese believe that the oarfish, which lives at ocean depths of up to 3,000 feet below the surface, are so sensitive to tectonic movements that they surface or beach themselves in advance of an earthquake.
That legend has Mexican residents concerned after two oarfish were caught on video attempting to beach themselves near Isla San Francisco in Baja California Sur.
The video of the incident was posted by the Shedd Aquarium of Chicago and show beachgoers pushing the fish back out to sea in an attempt to save their lives. Oarfish are notoriously bad swimmers and usually swim in a vertical manner rather than horizontally like other fish.
While oarfish can grow to over 50 feet long, these two fish were only around 15 feet long.
Some scientists dispute the idea of the fish being able to detect seismic shifts by pointing to other times the fish has been found on a beach without a major earthquake immediately following the beaching oar.
Another day, another massive quake and tsunami warning for Chile and parts of Peru.
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck in almost the same location as Tuesday’s 8.2 magnitude quake. The second quake is considered officially an aftershock of the Tuesday quake but it still provides a significant shock on its own.
The quake was so strong in neighboring Peru that residents of Tacna and Arequipa fled homes out of fear they would collapse.
The tsunami alert and precautionary evacuation of low-lying areas meant the residents spent a second night away from their homes.
Even the president of the country was forced to evacuate because of the tsunami warning. President Michelle Bachelet posted on Twitter: “I was evacuated like all citizens. One can see that the people are prepared.”
Authorities say at least six deaths have been confirmed but that because so many older structures have collapsed from the two quakes and it’s possible there are victims trapped inside those buildings.
Despite no tsunami warnings being issued for California, the West Coast has been experiencing unusual water movements since the 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck Chile’s northern coast.
Tide fluctuations, abnormal wave heights, and current changes have been reported and no tsunami warnings have been issued.
Tsunami waves hit the southern town of La Jolla, California and progressed north according to Bill Knight, an oceanographer with the National Tsunami Warning Center.
It is unlikely the tides will damage boats in the harbor, but boat owners could experience problems if they are returning to dock. California harbors have experienced three-to-four knot fluctuations that can push boaters and their vessels into the dock.
Knight added that the fluctuations could last a full day, but called the situation “pretty typical.”
“I think there’s nothing to worry about here, but we want to do our due diligence,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything yet to make us worry. And we don’t expect to.”
The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Panama near the Costa Rican border.
The earthquake’s center was located in the Chiriqui province on the side of the country facing the Pacific Ocean.
Panama’s civil defense organization evacuated schools and a nearby hospital.
There have been no reports of injury or damage at this time.
