Just minutes after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the East Coast, downtown Washington turned chaotic as fire alarms blared and employees streamed out of buildings and onto sidewalks and streets. Cell phone service failed soon afterward as carriers became overwhelmed as seemingly everyone tried calling friends and family to see if they were OK and if they felt the tremors. It was the first time service had failed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks nearly 10 years ago.
Karen White, who works in a downtown law firm, said she was reminded of when she worked near the Pentagon when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It swayed, just like this today,” she said.
White said at first she thought a truck hit her building. Like most Washingtonians, an earthquake was not the first thought that came to her mind.
“I at first thought it must have been an explosion,” said Les Ford, a bike messenger who was outside at the time of the 1:51 p.m. earthquake. “You could see the ground moving up and down.”
But the jam of people that packed McPherson Square and downtown sidewalks quickly turned into a jam in the streets as businesses closed early and by 3:30 p.m. the roads looked like one of D.C.’s snowy, multiple-accident evening rush hours. Tourists also headed home as the National Park Service shut down all museums and monuments on the National Mall, as well as the Old Post Office Tower.
But those with a little more earthquake experience under their belts said the region’s reaction was a bit extreme.
Los Angeles native Jose Valerio was at District Court in Rockville Tuesday afternoon, and the Reston resident called the quake “minute” and “weak” compared with ones he felt growing up.
Still, most East Coast buildings aren’t built to withstand earthquakes. Montgomery County Council President Valerie Ervin said that’s why she left the county office building Tuesday.
“The building was actually swaying,” she said. “This is nothing to sneeze about.”
For Rockville lawyer Esteban Gergely, who had never felt an earthquake before, it was an eye opener.
“It was cool, until it got scary,” he said.
Examiner writers Lisa Gartner, Rachel Baye and Tim Carney contributed to this report.
