East Coast quake shakes Wright State

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The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the earthquake’s epicenter was in Mineral, Va. The Pentagon was evacuated, and the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., is among the buildings reportedly damaged.

Wright State’s Physical Plant workers were surveying all campus facilities, but didn’t expect to find any damage.

David Dominic, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, said the earthquake was a little abnormal because it happened in the middle of a tectonic plate and not where two plates meet, but that’s not too out of the ordinary.

Dominic said even though the earthquake’s epicenter in Virginia was about 450 miles away, it was clearly recorded on the Wright State seismometer at the Lake Campus.

Dominic said he expects the Wright State equipment to record some aftershocks too, but the average person in the Miami Valley will probably not be able to feel them.

Moments after the vibrations, students, faculty and staff took to email and social media to talk about the quake.

Here’s what they had to say:

“I noticed my Pepsi began to dance around my desk, so I asked a co-worker if he noticed the vibration. He said ‘yes’ and we both had an ‘Oh’ moment.”

HuberHeightsCourier