WASHINGTON — Earthquakes are so rare in the Washington, D.C., area that even a geology student wasn’t quite sure what was going on when a minor one hit early today. Was it a truck passing by? A low-flying plane?
Gerasimos Michalitsianos, a senior geology student at the University of Maryland, College Park, said he was sitting on his couch looking at e-mails when the temblor occurred.
“I didn’t actually know that I was in an earthquake,” said Michalitsianos, who is studying postseismic relaxation, how the ground changes following major earthquakes.
Michalitsianos said he only found out he’d been through an earthquake when he looked online.
“It was a rare treat to see an earthquake occur here on the East Coast and to actually feel it,” he said.
D.C.-area residents are used to politicians being the region’s movers and shakers, so it was a surprise when the earth below shook. A 3.6-magnitude earthquake rattled windows and jostled dishes but apparently caused no serious damage. President Barack Obama told reporters he didn’t feel it.
Though West Coasters may scoff, it was the strongest quake to hit within 30 miles of D.C. since officials began keeping records in 1974.
The quake hit at 5:04 a.m. and was centered in the Rockville, Md., area, said Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center. By noon, more than 15,000 people had logged on to the U.S. Geological Survey’s website to report feeling it, some from as far away as Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The website said earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt over an area as much as 10 times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the West Coast.
Police in Washington and nearby Montgomery County, Md., said they received many calls from residents this morning, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Water, gas and electric utilities reported no problems to the District of Columbia Department of Homeland Security, which said streets were clear and the subway wasn’t affected. Crews did go out to inspect bridges, however, to check for damage. None has been found.
Residents, meanwhile, spent the day asking each other “Did you feel it?”
Matthew Castelli, 40, of Fredericksburg, Va., said he didn’t.
“I understand in this area for a lot of people it’s ‘holy cow!’” he said. “I think people tend to forget that we’re near a fault line around here.”
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