By Co-leaders: James Beavers, and William Anderson. Other team members: Matthew Eatherton, Ramon Gilsanz, Frederick Krimgold, Ying-Cheng Lin, Claudia Marin, Justin Marshall, Jelena Pantelic, and James Ricles.
Members of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association team: Russell Green, James Martin, Sissy Nikolaou, and Sam Lasley. Other contributors: Jeff Munsey. Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware team: Yvonne Rademacher, Alex Greer, Laura Keeley, James Kendra, Benigno Aguirre, and Lucia Velotti.
December, 2011. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER), and Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware.
The Mw 5.8 earthquake that struck central Virginia at 1:51 p.m. local time on August 23, 2011, caused no deaths and few injuries, but did damage buildings and other structures within a 100-mile radius of the epicenter. Perhaps its biggest effects were the business and social disruptions up and down the East Coast that lasted from several hours to some months. The quake caused widespread interruptions to communications and transportation systems, numerous school closings in the epicentral area of Louisa County, other closures in the greater Washington, D.C., area, and an automatic shutdown of the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant. The earthquake is a noteworthy reminder that communities on the East Coast are not prepared to cope with a major earthquake, and that steps could be taken to improve their readiness and increase loss reduction efforts.
Read the Report: Learning from Earthquakes - The Mw 5.8 Virginia Earthquake of August 23, 2011 EERI, GEER, and DRCD (5.75 MB PDF)