No Major Damage in Bowie After Quake, Residents Startled

Update 6:00 p.m. - Those in the area should be advised there may be more tremors, in addition to the 2.8 magnitude aftershock the USGS reported at 2:46 p.m.

Mike Blanpied, USGS associate coordinator for the earthquake hazards program, said there could be more aftershocks and they could go up to 5 in magnitude. “Aftershocks could go on for days, weeks, or even months. They’re most likely to be felt under the next three or four days,” Blanpied said, as reported by the Washington Post.

The aftershocks are generally, but not always, of a lesser degree than the original earthquake, according to Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, as reported by sussexcountian.com

Jordan recommended removing any heavy or breakable objects that could fall and injure someone.

“A lot of people are injured by stuff falling, so make sure that big rock you picked up on vacation isn’t sitting on a shelf,” he said. “The chances of getting large shakes are small, but my advice would be to do now what you should be doing all along.”

Original Post: After this afternoon's 5.9 magnitude quake hit the D.C. metro area, the City of Bowie is reporting that no major damage has been reported in the city.

Bowie Patch readers took to our Facebook Fan Page as well as commenting on to talk about their experiences with the quake. Nobody had reported any major damages, but most people seemed to have been at the very least disoriented by the experience.

On a lighter note, the has decided to put on an "earthquake relief" special, offering 10 percent off all of their food, coupled with their normal Tuesday night drink specials.

Gov. Martin O'Malley echoed that most damages caused by the quake were minor saying, "The earthquake this afternoon was an extremely unusual occurrence for us here on the East Coast.  I have been briefed by members of my cabinet and public safety officials on the status of state facilities and operations. 

"Presently, there are no reports of significant damage or incidents and we will continue to monitor the situation closely, particularly over the next 24 to 48 hours.  We will be paying close attention to our utilities for problems with water mains or gas lines that may not be present immediately following an earthquake."

All of the city buildings were evacuated and have been closed for the day, and there are some power outages in the area. Schools were .

According to BGE's outage map, only 5 customers in Prince George's County are without power.

The Prince George's County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is reporting that five high rise apartment buildings in the south part of the county have been evacuated in the 3200 block of Curtis Drive in Hillcrest Heights, with one being condemned. The Prince George's County Fire Department and Department of Environmental Resources are on the scene and the county's emergency management unit is opening a community center for displaced residents.

Elsewhere around the county, 16 schools are reporting minor damage, the county courthouse in Upper Marlboro has a noticable crack on the wall, and the county's regional processing center in Hyattsville has water damage.

The county's fire departments are making extra preparations for calls by keeping their day shift firefighters on through the evening as needed.

This is metropolitan Washington’s second quake in just over a year. A 3.6-magnitude tremor—less than one-tenth the strength of today’s quake—struck five kilometers beneath Gaithersburg last July.

Maryland’s earthquake history dates back to a 30-second quake reported in Annapolis in 1758.

USGS archives list no significant Maryland-based seismic events since an 1885 quake near the Frederick County-Loudon County border. Reports over the last few decades have come from earthquakes in neighboring states, including:

• A 4.3-magnitude earthquake near Elgood, W. Va. in 1969
• A 1972 tremor centered in Wilmington, Del.
• A minor earthquake near the Delaware-New Jersey-Pennsylvania border in 1973
• A 4.5-magnitude quake west of Richmond, Va. in 2003

Several other Patch editors contributed to this report.