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COURTESY of U.S. Geological Survey
Text-tonic shift: Sharing jokes about ‘our’ earthquake
EDITORIAL: That rumble you felt were people stampeding to CLIFFVIEW PILOT for ground-breaking news about today’s earthquake. You don’t need a seismologist to know that CVP has already sent shock waves through the industry with its exclusive stories, threatening to open cracks in the infrastructure of legacy media. READ MORE….
Tremors were felt throughout New Jersey and New York, and as far north as Boston — 762 miles away — and as far west as Columbus, Ohio., according the United States Geological Survey.
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit at 1:51 p.m., EST, the USGS said. The epicenter was northwest of Richmond, Va., about halfway to Charlottesville.
“I looked around the room and saw the perfume bottles all looked like mini ocean waves in them,” Laura Basile of Lyndhurst told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Since no big trucks were going by, I thought maybe the boiler was about to go in the basement.”
Despite a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on, the USGS says there have been no reports of damage in the past hour. However, calls have poured into the agency from Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, as well as from New Jersey and New York.
“We have a new crack in our building,” Jan Sweet, a former Bergen County resident who lives in Waynesboro, Va., told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “It was a crazy couple of seconds.“
Sweet’s office is about 80-90 miles northwest of the epicenter, which is on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “It seems the people who were sitting at the time felt it, while those standing didn’t,” she said.
“It’s funny: I’ve been in 4 earthquakes, and only one of them in California,” Sweet said. “The other two, believe it or not, were in New Jersey.”
Several people have complained of interruptions in cell phone connections, but that apparently was because so many people began calling others when the tremors hit, according to the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. Oddly enough, texting seemed to go smoothly.
“There are very few reports of damage to any infrastructure in the state,” Jones said. “Roadways, bridges and tunnels all seem to be intact.
“Fire alarms at a number of buildings throughout the state were triggered at the time of the quake,” he added. “Evacuations followed those alarms, but buildings were re-populated as soon as they were deemed to be safe.“
The areas of greatest concern were in South Jersey.
“Deptford Township in Gloucester County has reports of a gas leak on one street (Craig Drive) and there have been several residential evacuations at that location,” Jones said. “Also, Gloucester County College reported a gas leak in one building that has since been evacuated. There were no reports of any injuries.”
Although the seismic activity triggered an “unusual event” at the Hope Creek and Salem nuclear plants, “that is a normal response to such an event,” Jones said. “There have been no reports of any damage at either facility.”
Other locations evacuated around the state include the Childrens’ Place center in Secaucus and a construction site in Atlantic City. New York City Hall and the federal courthouse there were evacuated. Unconfirmed reports are that some people rushed from Manhattan skyscrapers into the street.
“I was sitting at my desk and it started to shake,” said Lon Belvin, a North Bergen native who works in the Fords section of Woodbridge.
“I thought I was imagining it, then it got worse went for about 5-7 seconds,” Belvin told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “My employees felt it in the back office, so it was the whole building.”
In South Brunswick, police Sgt. James Ryan said the shaking brought staff out of their offices and immediately jammed the township’s emergency lines.
“The 911 line is flooding with calls right now,” Ryan said, moments after the tremors hit. “People want to know what happened. They want to know if there was an explosion.”
This comes after yesterday’s 5.3 magnitude earthquake in Colorado, the worst there in decades.
It also came within moments of a news release issued by State Police that New Jerseyans brace for Hurricane Irene. Jersey Shore evacuations are expected, and there could be trouble in low-lying areas, such as Westwood, Hillsdale, Wayne and other areas downstream from lakes and rivers that ordinarily overflow.
“I really hope it will be nothing more than scattered showers in the area. We all do,” said Karolina Marin of Westwood, on behalf of the citizens action group Flood NO More, which has demanded that United Water take measures to mitigate flooding in the area.
She cautioned, however that “trajectory projections can and are usually off by more than 200 miles, specially over a [3-day] forecast.”
The catch is that it’s due to hit this weekend, when operations at the reservoirs tend to be “not as efficient” as they can during the week, Marin said.
The state Office of Emergency Management urges people to act now.
“Waiting until one day before the storm to buy your supplies could leave you staring at empty store shelves,” NJSP Acting Lt. Stephen Jones said.
Jones urged people to:
- Get a kit of emergency supplies;
- Make a plan for yourself, your family and your business;
- Stay informed of possible threats.
MORE INFO: www.ready.nj.gov
New Jersey had its own earthquake in June, registering 1.6. It was centered in Middlesex County, with tremors felt in Trenton and New York City. Virginia had one in March tthat registered 2.5.
Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. Most of the region’s bedrock was formed as several generations of mountains rose and were eroded down again over the last billion or so years, according to the USGS.
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