Latest reports have people reporting the earthquake from Mass and CT and NY all the way down to the Carolina's.
The North Anna nuclear plants near the epicenter are reported shutdown. Probably automatically. 5.5 is really pretty minor to industrial facilities, but structural and residential framing and masonry, painting, trim, plaster over lathe, and drywall cracking will likely be very large.
What gets me is that they evacuaated ... the PENTAGON ... after all that retrofitting over the last few years. God help us if the pentagon can't take a little 5.8.
People are making a big deal about this 5.8 earthquake, but it doesn't sound like it caused any real structural damage. I practice in Louisiana where the largest we've ever had is 4.2, and yet seismic can still actually govern over wind in hurricane country.
hokie66,
Wow...they actually gave credit to "structural engineers" instead of using the term architect.
Not sure how a crack at the very tip top would be seismically induced but you never know. I'd expect cracks closer to the base, or maybe at mid-height.
The media is making a big deal about it because it's a rare occurrence. The 1985 EQ in NYS, was only a 4 (the epicenter was near a nuclear reactor)but it led to the requirement for seismic design in NY.
For years the seismic gurus were saying that most of the east coast would never experience anything higher than the mid-5's. Today the sky-is-falling crowd in NY is predicting a 7.0 is going to hit NYC.
Last night when I was leaving work, some people (not engineers) on the elevator were saying "we have to do something to stop these earthquakes."
I heard a "news" report this morning where they found some professor and got him to say that New York City will crumble when the big one hits since the buildings were not designed to sway like California buildings are.
I guess they couldn't find an engineer who would say what they wanted to report- so they went to academia.
For the area impacted- 5.8 is obviously big (in California- they don't put down their coffee until a minimum 6.0), but I would bet that for 95% of the buildings, the seismic load didn't approach the wind load the buildings were designed for. The primary buildings where I would expect to see structural damage to would consist of un-reinforced brick walls that were not designed to current codes or buildings that were not constructed properly.
