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Quake!
By adamg on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 2:18pm
See if you can pick out when the earthquake hit the Weston Observatory.
Yep! Earthquake centered in Virginia around 1:50 p.m., but tremors reached here.
12 Channel St. was evacuated. Several downtown buildings were either completely or partially evacuated, including 257 Summer St., where Louis Cameron reports:
Crazy, our whole building swayed. Still feel sick.
Globes at the Leventhal Map Center at the BPL main branch in Copley Square turned into bobbleheads. Logan Airport reported diversions from other East Coast airports shut because of the quake.
Sean Roche reports the quake wasn't quite strong enough to dislodge a bag of M&Ms from a Cambridge vending machine.
Riptor exclaimed:
My etch-a-sketch gallery! It's RUINED!
John Strauss wondered:
Any truth to the rumor that the tower at the Prince Restaurant on Rt. 1 is now standing straight up?
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Barely felt it
Computer screen moved slightly for a few seconds. Some people I work with didn't feel it at all. 5.9 and based in VA, they're saying.
Photos of the desistation
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/stunning-photos-of-...
Rhode Island not immune
http://yfrog.com/h2ramszyj
MFA evacuated
New building, at least. Seeing as it's brand new, perhaps a wise precaution?
No word if "The Clock" stopped. LOL!
MFA: Chihuly icicle tower is SAFE!
I've heard from a reliable source that the Chihuly glass icicle tower is SAFE! (P.S. You can still donate to buy the sculpture for the MFA.)
Any actual damage? I didn't
Any actual damage? I didn't even feel anything.
Evacuations?
Probably an unnecessary precaution, but I suppose I understand the instinct. My building kept creaking for a minute after we felt the quake. I first thought it was just a gust of wind. Took a second to realize it wasn't very windy.
More people around me concerned 30 minutes afterward
People in my building who didn't feel the quake are now wondering if they should have evacuated.
With no alarm going off, you didn't feel it, what would have prompted anyone to leave the building before reading about the event long after it's over?
I can understand wondering
I can understand wondering about evacuation even if you didn't feel it.
Much more of an unknown.
The one gal in our corner of the building that didn't feel it was asking about evacuating.
All who felt it weren't, maybe b/c we felt how minor it seemed to be.
Good point....aftershock potential too
People are probably also worried about aftershocks. But then again I work with a bunch of people who don't come to the office when two snowflakes fall within an hour of each other during the winter, so who knows.
I felt it . . .
. . . big time. Thought it was torque coming down the walls from construction above me- but was too strong for that. Hope no damage where that thing was centered.
I'm reading about stuff falling off shelves in DC..
...and not much else. Looks like the region dodged a bullet this time.
Definitely felt it
For a minute, I thought I was hallucinating, until my co-worker asked from the neighboring office if I had "felt that." Definitely weird. Glad no one is hurt, especially down in VA and DC.
Weston Observatory seismogram
http://aki.bc.edu/NESN/nesn-data/heli_gifs/2011/NE...
32nd floor of the Prudential
32nd floor of the Prudential Tower.
Distinct swaying of what felt like several inches back and forth.
Whoa.
I didn't feel it
... others in my office here in Andover did, and I know from my s.o. that they evacuated Boston City Hall as a precaution. She also told me that the upper floors of City Hall have a bit of a shimmy to them.
Felt it
I felt it my south end apartment. I thought for a minute I was going crazy until I saw a plant across the room sway a bit.
city hall
City Hall shook? You'd think it would take a nuclear bomb to sway that behemoth.
Don't come a knockin'
Felt a serious swaying on the third floor of a crappy old masonry building in Dudley Square. At first, like others, I thought it was construction or something, but I really did not want to be in this building if things are shaking. Asked the guys in the room next to me if they felt anything and they looked at me funny and then it started again.
My first earthquake! Too weird.
Quisp!
We are talking about breakfast cereals, right?
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
No, we're talking about
No, we're talking about mid-'90s FPS games. Get with the program, Suldog.
Definitely felt it in Davis Square
I'm on the third floor of a 1929 brick apartment building. I felt a swaying motion in my chair, but didn't see anything move in the room. Reminded me of my days in Los Angeles.
Not in Cambridge for me
I was on foot in Cambridge, doing errands in a few first-floor retail businesses, including a supermarket, and I didn't know of this earthquake til I got back and read the news.
I normally get motion sickness near the top of a modern 10-story office building, just from wind gusts, but didn't feel anything on the ground.
Quisp!
Quisp and A&P will be forever linked in my mind. I had forgotten all about Quake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-sTnm_aPBY
while you're at it, don't forget about..
Quangaroo!
Quangaroo? Well, Alright Then!
Here you go!
Quisp vs. Quangaroo!
(Wally, thanks for the previous!)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
111 Devonshire may have some
111 Devonshire may have some damage.
Edit: Building is safe.
101 Federal
The windows rattled, the building swayed ... that's about it.
I didn't realize that it wasn't just the usual sort of vibroswaying that tall buildings do on a regular basis.
My friend who was in his 21st floor office in Richmond, VA had a much wilder ride. Sounded similar to the thrill ride my brother took on the 16th floor of a high rise during the 7.0 that hit the northwest in 2001.
I'd be more concerned that the epicenter was very close to a nuclear power plant built to withstand a maximum of a 5.9 ...
At 1:55 here in Dedham. I was
At 1:55 here in Dedham. I was rocking back and forth for about 20 seconds. I knew it had to be a quake - the trains make the house vibrate, but nothing like the slow side to side rocking of today.
Are people actually asking if they should have been evacuated when they didn't feel the quake? Good God.
Same here in the Back Bay
It's not unusual to feel vibrations on my desk, but this built quickly and into that distinct sway (NotWhitey describes it very well). Oh, and the light fixture swinging back and forth overhead was a sign, too. Our HR manager did check to see if we should evacuate, but given the young age of this building, I'm sure it's built to withstand a much stiffer rattling.
yup
First "-pocalypse" shirt is up. That was fast.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/absinthetic/t-shir...
Within 10 minutes people were
Within 10 minutes people were checking into the earthquakepocalypse on Foursquare. All the Facebook statuses got so obnoxious.
This was just a test
of the Facebook/Twitter OMG WTF?!?!?! system. We conduct this test to amp up the bandwidth usage with social media jabbering.
Had this been an actuall emergency, your internet would fail with the power supply and twitter would jam all remaining telecommunications channels.
These are better
http://www.cafepress.com/Earthquakesurvivor.566681323
say WHA?
$32.09 plus shipping? Uh, no.
10.99 better?
http://www.cafepress.com/Earthquakesurvivor.566681326
huh?
I was in my basement cleaning out stuff.. there was an earthquake? I must have been to engrossed to even notice.
I'm in Revere..
Revere Earthquake
I was in either Revere Cinema or the Walgreens across the street at the time. Didn't feel a thing. All that marsh fill must have absorbed it?
"walgreens"
"the Walgreens across the street" ...is that a euphemism for the Squire? Might explain why you didn't notice things jiggling around.
plenty of jiggling at the Squire
if that's where he was.
Earthquake in The Squire?
Ha! No, I was not at the Squire. There's a Walgreens next to the Hess that is next to the Squire! Jeeze, guys! :] Although I was close to the epicenter of the jiggling, I would have never known it.
That's what that was!
I'm on the 9th floor of an 18-floor building, and it was swaying for about 30 seconds. I thought it was a sugar crash or some weird neuromuscular thing.
Also too:
DC Earthquake Devastation photo
Does a Mercalli scale II or III sound about right around here?
On the Mercalli scale, it seemed like about a "II" or a "III" to me in Allston — some of us noticed it but other coworkers didn't. I'm assuming it would have gone toward the "V" or maybe even "VI" range closer to central Virginia.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq4/severitygip.html
The following is an abbreviated description of the 12 levels of Modified Mercalli intensity.
I. Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions.
II. Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings. Delicately suspended objects may swing.
III. Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Many people do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibration similar to the passing of a truck. Duration estimated.
IV. Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing motor cars rocked noticeably.
V. Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.
VI. Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.
I'd say II. I didn't feel it
I'd say II. I didn't feel it at all in Allston. I'm on the second floor of my building and from pictures of yours I've seen you seem to be much higher up
I'm not that high up
My company's old office was on the 7th floor, but we've moved up the street and are now on the 2nd floor in the new place. If I jumped out my window I'd come down about 20 feet onto a Volvo — so at least it would be a safe landing.
So how screwed is Boston if
So how screwed is Boston if we get a "direct" (cape cod) 7.0+ hit?
Very screwed
or
Extremely screwed?
Would the entire back bay be destroyed?
Boston will be Totally Schrod
Risk Map: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles...
Globe article: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles...
A lot more than Back Bay
A lot more than Back Bay would be screwed. Both the old brick and the newer concrete and I-beam construction would fail all over the city.
I have faith (probably
I have faith (probably unfounded) in my big-ass timber pre 1900 3 story house.
Timber is flexible
such houses are among the safest construction types for earthquakes. Now fire, on the other hand.
Felt and not felt along the river near Central Square
The shades in the windows rattled and I dismissed it as the wind at first...except our windows don't open. Then I realized my chair was moving with the building and the ceiling tiles were creaking in place and that's when I realized it was an earthquake. It's the first I've ever felt having been an east coast boy my whole life.
We evacuated our building because it seemed like the right idea in case anything started falling apart for any reason and returned back inside about 10-15 minutes after that.
About 2 blocks up river, my roommate and his co-workers didn't feel a thing in their building and didn't know it happened until someone read something online about it.
Much ado about nothing
Back in 2003 or 2004 there was an early A.M. quake that woke me up. Those vibrations were more trembling than today's little rattle.
I was at the waterfront - as in landfill. Some but not all buildings were evacuated. Now if had a big quake with liquifaction....RUN!
Didn't feel it in Roslindale
Did anyone feel it in Roslindale or W. Roxbury? I didn't feel a thing.
I felt the earth move
Under my feet
And the sky come tumbling down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoHuxpa4h48&feature...
Cause of the earthquake determined
They're calling it a "tectonic plate self-correction"...for the huge shift in the right in DC!
Tip the veal, try your waitress.
111 Devonshire was not in danger of collapse
It always looks like that.
http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2011/08/ear...
111 Devonshire was not in danger of collapse
It always looks like that.
http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2011/08/ear...
Update
State House is still crooked.
Comment of the day
.
Earthquakes
. . . and Virginia are two things I generally don't associate together. Pretty rare. This was the only earthquake I ever felt- probably the last.
I'm on a boat!
I'm on a boat! That was my first thought, then I remembered I was on the fifth floor of a building in the Back Bay.
I've experienced dozens of earthquakes in Southern California but this one had more horizontal displacement than any of those. I'm used to California-style hiccups, sharp jolts that seem to move up and down, often with lots of rumbling, not this prolonged rolling and swaying. I'm also surprised that the epicenter was so far away; I've felt a magnitude 6 quake in California with an epicenter less than 100 miles away and it was minor in comparison. I'm used to ones this strong being right underfoot, not 500 miles away.
Interesting science for that
The reason you felt today's so far away is that the east coast is near the center of the tectonic plate of North America. When something rumbles in the plate, the whole plate feels it to some degree.
However, California is the result of the Pacific plate rubbing past the North American plate. It is ocean floor getting tossed up in chunks that don't always exactly align perfectly with each other (thus the extra faults and things). The end result is one piece of land there may quake without affecting any of the others...so what's felt in LA isn't necessarily felt a few hundred miles away, let alone 500+ miles away like Boston feeling today's Virginia quake.
Much like your prom date, I
Much like your prom date, I felt it for 2 minutes in Copley sq.
New slogan for the local business association
Slip It In The Copley Square
How long...
...have you been waiting to use that one?
(No subject)
Major Quakes
Expect a major quake along the New Marid fault line in the next several days. My prediction models all say this
What do you models say about
What do you models say about the price of gold?
I've missed out
On all this earthquake action, being in California at the time ...
Was that really a quake?
I just figured Kaz fell off his scooter.
Scooter's broken right now
But I did slip and fall off your mom yesterday.
Broken from having to support your frame all these years?
And my mom's hardly a chubby chaser, much less a lard lover.
Ad Hominem
... and stir.
Or is that shake?
And that was that
Well, so glad to hear from you this month about how I am overweight.
I've now taken the high ground once & I fed your trolling once to see if either one would elicit a different response...and they didn't. I tire of your juvenile singular message. I doubt you're impressing anyone other than yourself and you're not fostering any useful discussion. So, you can stop now. Thanks.
Got it
You can dish it out with "fail tromobones" and other obnoxious know-it-allisms, but you can't take it.
Thin, stretched out skin must suck.
Completely different
If you can't tell the difference between my posts, that contain information on where, why, and how someone is wrong about what they wrote, and yours where you simply insult my weight and provide nothing to the discussion, then the conclusion is the same...you should stop posting until you can tell the difference.
Also, if you (or anyone else) have a problem with what or how I post, feel free to click my username and use the contact link provided by the website and we can talk about it by e-mail. It's not relevant to the discussion here on yesterday's earthquake. This is the second time I'm asking you to stop.
OK, you've had your fun
But enough with the arguments about people's weight, telling people to STFU, etc.
Argue all you want with whatever they post, but please cut it out with the random personal attacks and four-letter words/acronyms.
Yours in civility ...
Liquefaction - it's real for Boston!
Compelling stuff...
BACK BAY, WATERFRONT, SOUTH END, S. BOSTON AT RISK IN EARTHQUAKES
‘Liquefaction’ puts stress on areas of filled earth, causing major damage from even smaller quakes
BOSTON-- While residents needn’t expect a “Big One” anytime soon, even small quakes can cause major damage. Parts of Boston and surrounding communities are built on land created by filling tideflats and wetlands. During an earthquake, “liquefaction” of the fill can cause buildings to collapse or suffer major damage.
Liquefaction is a process during an earthquake where certain kinds of earth materials absorb the shocks and vibrate in a manner similar to Jell-o. This creates far more stress on any buildings constructed on these materials. Filled earth is most susceptible to liquefaction.
This map (also attached as a PDF) shows the areas of Boston built on filled land, in red: the Back Bay, parts of the waterfront, South Boston and the South End. etc.
MAPC develops Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plans to help municipalities prepare for a variety of natural hazards, from earthquakes to more common occurrences like winter storms and flooding. These plans, produced under federal guidelines with the financial support of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), identify vulnerable facilities and infrastructure, and recommend strategies to minimize damage, injury, and loss of life.
For more information, visit www.mapc.org or call 617-451-2770.