Some in DC felt it, but I didn’t feel it out here. Kind of the trade off for a small one i felt in like 2009. I lived almost right on the Potomac and there was a 3.6 at 4a or 5a one morning just on the other side of the river. It shook for like 3 seconds, woke me up and I was like “oh and earthquake, that’s cool”, and went right back to sleep.
If a 4.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in California it would have been a non-event. Because earthquakes are so rare on the East coast it was a major news story.
Slight disagreement. A 4.8 with relatively shallow epicenter in a population center would cause damage and be reported. At least I think that is the case from reading and listening to Dr. Lucy Jones. She makes a big deal about telling you not to focus only on magnitude, but on depth and the natural features at the epicenter, and how close you are to the epicenter. Here's one example Here's another where she emphasizes how deep it is I find her feed very informative. I will also freak out if she ever seems alarmed, because she downplays everything. And I laugh when some ignorant dude tries to correct her. I mean her bio is right there. But they still try to correct her.
There was a 5.8 in northern Va/ Dc in 2011 that was pretty legit. I was working on the 12 floor of the Chevy Chase metro building at the time and all the shit fell off my desk and walls.
Dr. Lucy weighs in on differences between east coast “old rock” quakes and west coast “fractured rock” quakes
