It started out just like any other day. But nature had other things in store for D.C. on that fateful August afternoon. At approximately 1:51 p.m. on August 23, 2011 a 5.8-magnitude earthquake rocked D.C., causing millions of dollars of damage and devastation that pretty much looked like this.
Alright, it wasn’t quite that bad. But while the Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011 was mostly harmless, it did cause millions of dollars worth of damage to the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral. Mostly though, it just provided another example of Washington’s knack for panicking and overreaction. Today, we’re celebrating the two-year anniversary of the Great East Coast Earthquake of 2011 by having DCist staff and contributors recount where they were when the quake hit and how their lives were changed forever.
Never forget.
At the time of the great earthquake of 2011, I was employed by the Washington Post. I was sitting at my desk on the fifth floor, having just finished a Very Important Article about Lady Gaga, when the building began to shake. Being the hero that I am, I glanced at my beloved co-workers then bolted for the nearest staircase, leaving them to fend for themselves. It was only after the Post staff gathered outside the building that we learned that an earthquake had hit the East Coast. I returned to my desk, feeling rather dumb, and decided it was time to go home and make sure my dog wasn’t crushed by falling knick knacks. He was asleep when I got home. — Sarah Anne Hughes
I used to work in an office in an old townhouse on Capitol Hill. On the day of the earthquake I was typing on my computer when suddenly the whole building was trembling. I got up and stuck my head out into the hall just in time to see a coworker speed by yelling, “IT’S AN EARTHQUAKE! RUUUUUUUUNNNNN!!” I followed him down the stairs and out the front door with two other coworkers trailing behind me. Other members of the neighborhood came outside too and one said she now had a huge crack running down her wall. Later I, and everyone else in D.C., learned you’re not supposed to run outside during an earthquake. We all spent the rest of the day online and on Twitter reading other people’s reaction. Very little work was done that day.
— Lis Grant
I was in my lab under the biological hood and felt the sliding hood window rattle a bit. My immediate thought was “Oh great, HVAC is out again and I’m going to sweat my ass off.” I finished up what I was doing and looked out the windows behind me to see the rest of the department doing the typical evacuation route you’re forced to do on a yearly basis. Since I’m physically separated in the lab from the rest of the building, not only did I not realize it was an actual earthquake, I also realized if there was an actual emergency, my co-workers will certainly not be looking for me. — John Fleury
I was working at a shop in Clarendon at the time. I also happened to be working under a 2011 BMW M5, which was suspended in the air seven to eight feet above me on an automotive hoist. When the earthquake hit, I at first thought it was a large explosion. I looked to my right and saw the lifting point on the vehicle I was under start moving off of the lift pad/arm. I ran toward the shop door, and about two seconds after I cleared the lift, the car shook and bounced its way off of the hoist, crashing down from above.
Car Owner = Furious that his $80k vehicle was totaled. Technician = Happy to be alive. — Pablo Maurer
I was at work in Dupont Circle. After what felt like slight vibrations under my desk, the tall bookshelf by me began to shake, as if to tremble. When it was done, the intern turned to me and asked, “is there construction being done on this building?” Then we left the office early and I was really craving a burger that day so I got one. — Nicole Dubowitz
I was in the bathroom at my office and thought somebody was messing with the stall. Really. — Pat Padua
I was unemployed at the time, and in fact working on a post for DCist whilst sitting on my couch with my laptop. The building began to shake. My first thoughts were of total befuddlement, “Is this an earthquake? Can’t be. Earthquakes don’t happen here. Do they?” By the time my brain went through this rigmarole the earthquake had ended. A pile of CDs that were on my TV stand had fallen to the ground. That was the extent of the devastation. — Sriram Gopal
At first I thought it was construction until I realized that the floor was moving beneath my feet. I was working at a daycare at the time and it had been nap time, but the quake woke up several of the kids and we ended up having to move very quickly out of our classroom for fear that the building had been structurally compromised. I spent the next five hours or so entertaining small children and trying to pretend like the earthquake was some sort of fun adventure before their parents had picked them up and I was able to step outside and say the “Holy Shit” that I’d been waiting to say all day. After holding in pent up emotion for five hours, I walked all the way to Looking Glass from the daycare’s location at L’Enfant Plaza that day. — Valerie Paschall
I was in grad school, working at a summer internship in McPherson Square when the earthquake hit. I was sharing an office with two other people when the building started to vibrate. Given our location, my office mates and I started discussing whether it was a construction-related explosion or a bomb. Then it was collectively decided that we should check Twitter for more information (I should mention this was a tech company). At no point did it occur to anyone to evacuate until we got a call from our boss who was at an off-site meeting telling us that the building management wanted everyone out. If he hadn’t called, I’m pretty sure we all would have kept on working like nothing happened. — Alicia Mazzara
My life was forever altered that fateful day. Working in an office building in Georgetown, I wondered: Will a tsunami roar down the Potomac and take us all out? Will the District’s Height Act-restricted buildings come crashing down on us, albeit from only 13 stories up? Did something happen to the pandas? DEAR GOD, ARE THE PANDAS OK? Well, maybe none of those thoughts actually crossed my mind. But I did think: If this is how we all reacted to relatively minor shaking, what the heck are we going to do if something marginally more serious happens? That alone was more terrifying than the tremor. — Martin Austermuhle
I’ll never forget that fateful day, but damned if I haven’t tried. I was working for a newspaper with offices on the top floor of a towering six-story building in the West End. When the quake hit, a few co-workers let out a blood-curdling scream and we all evacuated, thinking it was a terrorist attack. When we learned it was just an earthquake, I told my boss the emotional stress from the quake left me with a migraine and that I was going home. I instead went to the bar and the next day woke up with a hangover I’ve been trying to forget for the past two years. — Matt Cohen
Where were you?
