Earthquake in VA?

Yesterday at 1:51pm, we experienced an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8. That's right - an earthquake was felt in Northern Virginia! Apparently, the epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia, a little town 91 miles away from Washington, DC.

I'm happy to report that we're okay. There was no damage to our home and no injuries have been reported. The only casualties in our house were our rice cooker and two glass jars filled with tea bags. I found a mess of rice, glass, and tea on the kitchen floor when I arrived home from work.

Post-earthquake kitchen floor

Here's a little recap of how we experienced the earthquake:

Brian - was working at the swimming pool and in the guardstand (the high chair at the side of the pool) at the time of the earthquake. He reported that the shaking almost caused him to fall out of his chair. He closed the pool for 30 minutes after the quake to make sure that there was no structural damage.

Babu - was driving to Luray, Virginia. He had just stopped at a (cheap) $3.39/gal Sheetz gas station (about 15 miles from Mineral, VA!).  He started pumping gas and felt the concrete pad under his feet start shaking. He thought it was being caused by a big construction truck that was nearby that he couldn't see. Then the pump started shaking and making noise for a few seconds.  Immediately he thought "I hope I'm being charged the right amount." After the shaking stopped and he was done pumping gas he moved on and didn't think much of it. Twenty minutes later, he learned on the radio that it had been an earthquake. 

Me - I was at work. My office is on the 4th (top) floor of an office building.  I was working on the computer when I felt the floor start shaking. Then, the walls started to shake and sway, and the furniture was moving.  It lasted for about 45 seconds.  My boss came out of his office and we just looked at each other. When the shaking was over, we both went back to work. (My boss is from the midwest. He admitted that when most people seek shelter when a tornado approaches, his family runs outside and towards it). A few minutes later I noticed that most of the people on my floor ran out of the building.  Twenty minutes later someone walked by my office and told me to evacuate.  At 3:00pm we were all told to go home.

Tahoe and Ashley - the *stars* of this blog - were in the house cowering under the bed together. (Okay, I took a little creative license here because I'm not really sure what they were up to. I suspect that they were probably just sleeping and when the ground started to shake, Tahoe and Ashley opened their eyes and then promptly went back to sleep.)