Fast response to East Coast earthquake advances seismic science

Abstract

At a briefing on 23 August, exactly 1 year after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook a large portion of the East Coast of the United States, scientists and public safety officials called it a significant seismic event that could help with better understanding the potential for future seismic events in the region. Officials also are moving forward with a number of measures to improve public response efforts to East Coast earthquakes. During the briefing, held in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, D. C., Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), said the event—with its epicenter near the town of Mineral, Va., in Louisa County—was “the most significant” earthquake ever to strike the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. She said that more people experienced the quake than any other in U.S. history. About 148,000 people reported ground shaking on the USGS “Did You Feel It?” Web site, and those reports helped to determine within minutes that the energy had radiated out of the earthquake in an asymmetric manner to the northeast and southwest. “In a sense, this earthquake took aim, and Washington, D. C., was in its path,” she said.