D.C. Quake Doesn’t Devastate Parks and Recreation
Agnieszka Spieszny 08.26.11
Tuesday afternoon, as Michael Padovano was at work on the 11th floor of an office building in McPherson Square, Washington D.C., he felt a rumble beneath him.
“My first thought when I feel shaking in a 12-story building is ‘oh god, did a bomb just go off?’” said Padovano.
Being as earthquakes are uncommon on the east coast of the United States, Padovano said that was sadly the first thought that came to a lot of people’s minds. He walked into his coworkers’ office and asked if anyone else felt the rumble. At that moment, the building shook a second time.
People were slow to evacuate, but 10 minutes later the whole building was downstairs and everyone was relieved to find out the shaking wasn’t caused by a bomb.
“If people were scared they were hiding it well,” Padovano said. “Most conversations I heard from people outside right after it happened involved people planning to go get drinks while they were waiting.”
After an hour his building was deemed safe to reenter and Padovano went about his business as usual. Even a magnitude 5.8 earthquake didn’t disrupt the work day for more than a few hours.
For the Parks and Recreation Service in Washington D.C., the quake did shut down some facilities for a greater length of time for inspection, but as with the majority of buildings in Washington D.C., they were reopened for use just a mere two days later.
The director of D.C. Parks and Recreation, Jesus Aguirre, said no parks were damaged; the primary concern of Parks and Recreation workers was to make sure that parks facilities were safe.
Workers checked building infrastructure and standing structures like lamp-posts for damage. Besides some fallen trees and a few cracks in the tiles of some buildings, there was no alarming damage, unlike the National Cathedral where downed spirals will cost large sums to repair. Two aquatic centers remained closed although one was under construction and had been closed prior to the earthquake.
“At this time everything is open,” said Aguirre. “We’re monitoring geological stuff but we’re not anticipating anything. We’re poised to do something if something were to hit again, but at this point we’re confident our sites are safe.”
On the other hand, both Padovano and Aguirre mentioned that the impending hurricane is of more concern than the mild earthquake. Padovano says he isn’t too worried because his location is far enough inland to only experience heavy rains and no more. Aguirre similarly thinks the hurricane won’t cause much damage, but he and his team are preparing parks facilities for closure and inspection post-hurricane.
Photo: TrailVoice
