By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
The East Coast has had its share of bumps and frights this week. West-coasters snickered a bit at the wide eyes and trembling voices of East Coast newscasters reporting on their surprising 5.8 earthquake and the dreaded possibility of “expected aftershocks.” Most people in that portion of the nation were not only unprepared for such occurrence, they were as startled as deer in the headlights.
And while any seismic activity under 6 on the Richter is barely worth a mention where I’m from, I heard an interesting discussion indicating that the shifting plates that produced this phenomenon are much larger than those associated with quakes on the other side of the Rockies. Evidently the size of the plate amplifies the amount of territory such a rattle affects. Originating in Mineral, VA, this particular tremor shook millions as far away as Ohio, Georgia and Canada.
Unprepared for the most powerful quake on the Eastern seaboard in 67 years, buildings there are particularly vulnerable due to age and construction. The Washington National Cathedral lost three of its four Gothic spires and an angel carved from Indiana limestone that shattered on the pavement far below the celebrated roof line. The cathedral is a national treasure and the site of our most important state funerals, but the Episcopal church is in serious financial decline and may not be able to afford repairs. Even more dramatic, the Washington Monument has been closed because of newly revealed fractures in the marble. Predictably, from his compound in Virginia Beach, Pat Robertson rushed to suggest that God’s wrath had a hand in the fracture of the iconic monument.