Around 2 p.m. today, this writer’s desk and chair began to shake and windows rattled. It was an experience I had only once before, in San Francisco in 1983, on the occasion of the Coalinga earthquake, which registered a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale.
The culprit this time, it turns out, was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered on the town of Mineral, Virginia, that sent tremors as far away as New York City, where this column is being penned.
The tremor also rattled the White House and other buildings in nearby DC.
An explanation for why the quake was felt over such a large area was provided by Anthony Guarino, a seismic analyst with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, who explained:
There are more areas on the East Coast with dense rock, which increases the speed of the seismic waves. That means there is shaking over a much wider area than certain other areas of the country.
The main thing about [Tuesday's] earthquake is that more people felt it more intensely on the East Coast than they would on the West Coast.
Other New York media that initially reported the tremors include local television station NY1, located in Chelsea Market on the West Side. Reporter Roma Torre notes that the station’s office shook with sufficient violence for her to speculate whether the staff should leave the building or seek lower ground. Several downtown office buildings were indeed evacuated.
Other objects in my office that moved included a mirror, which shook briefly, then stopped. Others I have spoken to in the metropolitan area report having experienced the tremor in two waves, as was described in Virgina.
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