Ten Things You Should Know About the East Coast Quake

http://youtu.be/2AnNlyDcySY (1) First of all, in case you didn't feel it, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Mineral, Virginia at 1:51 pm. (2) It was felt for miles around---as far away as Boston, with more reports pouring into the USGS every minute. (3) The shaking lasted around 30 seconds in Washington, DC, according to the NYT liveblog, where the Capitol and the White House evacuated. No damage or injuries have been reported yet. The video above is the only one so far to show any damage. (4) It's the biggest earthquake to hit the East Coast since the 1890s---there was a 5.9 in 1897 in Virginia---and the third-largest since the USGS started keeping records; a 7.3 in 1886 in Charleston, South Carolina was the strongest. (5) Judging from preliminary USGS data, the quake was unusually shallow---about 6 kilometers below the surface---which may explain why the shaking was so dramatic. (6) Additionally, ...