I survived the East Coast Quake of '11.

[Wyrdwad]

are earthquake frequent in virginia ?

No, that's why this made such big news. A 5.9 earthquake anywhere in the world that earthquakes are common would be noticeable, and possibly scary, but not a big deal at all... but on the east coast of the U.S., earthquakes just don't happen. On the rare occasions when they do, they're super-duper tiny -- 4.0 or smaller.

Buildings on the east coast weren't really designed with earthquakes in mind, so I can totally see why some people would be freaked out by all of this.

-Tom

[suashi]

My mom lives in NC and she pranked me with a panicky voicemail about how her house was shaking so hard. When I called her back she said she actually hadn't even felt it. > MOTHER.

This is kind of funny, though.

[Sgt Phantomizer]

Noooooooooo, the earthquake killed a Starbucks coffee!!!

[reyvard]

and cut the arm of the doll !

[Dust]

Still that's pretty crazy, I mean you expect earthquakes here in Cali, but on the east coast?

[Chestnut Bowl]

I thought it was a train or helicopter passing by for the first few seconds. Once the shaking got worse, I thought it was my little brother being rambunctious downstairs. It really wasn't until I went outside and confirm with the neighbors that it was an earthquake. My mother works in an office building in Philly, and she said her building (and buildings adjacent to hers) were swaying from side to side.

It was an interesting experience, but I'm glad it wasn't any worse. Earthquakes just don't happen in the east coast on that scale; our infrastructure would crumble as we just aren't prepared for one.