Media makes a mountain of mild mannered Maryland earthquake

A low magnitude earthquake in Maryland that would make California residents laugh scared the daylights out of Washington D.C.. The trains ran on time despite the D.C. earthquake, and there was no property damage or traffic delays. But after the ground rumbled and buildings vibrated for about 10 seconds, thousands of confused individuals dialed 911. There was no word of fighter jets scrambling or members of the executive branch being hustled to an undisclosed location.

Media hype fixates on D.C. earthquake

The magnitude of the earthquake in Maryland was considered mild but because it affected Washington D.C., the earthquakes effects were magnified a hundredfold by the media. MSNBC reports the D.C. earthquake, as outlined by the U.S. Geological Survey, hit at 5:05 a.m. with a3.6 Richter scale magnitude. The epicenter was near Rockville, Md. According to the USGS, rumbling was reported in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia Pennsylvania and also the D.C. area.

D.C. not worried about earthquake risk—until now

A geophysicist with the USGS who was not shocked by the D.C. earthquake told the Washington post the temblor wasn’t “something out of the ordinary”. But she added that it was rare for a quake measuring above 3 to hit the area. Since a database was created in 1974 to track seismic activity, the quake was the largest measures. As to Washington D.C. earthquake risk, the largest magnitude earthquake before Friday morning’s was a tremor of 2.7 on the Richter scale in 1993, Vaughan said. As outlined by USGS earthquake data, a 2.6 tremor in registered 1990 and 2.5 shivers showed up in 1997, 1993 and 1974.

The earthquake was mistaken as a jet crash

Within two hours following the 10 second earthquake in Maryland, more than 6,700 people weighed in on the USGS website. One witness told CNN that the quake woke him up sounding like a jet crashing outside his bedroom window. CNN also interviewed a woman named Judy Rudolf who said the quake sounded like an explosion. The USGS said it was possible that smaller aftershocks might hit the area however they will die out in a couple of days.

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