A Rare Afternoon in August

Fifteen years after a rare magnitude 5.8 earthquake rattled the Washington region and beyond, the event remains a defining memory for millions of residents. The afternoon of Aug. 23, 2011, started like any other, but the ground-shaking that followed was anything but ordinary.

The Epicenter and Its Reach

The earthquake's epicenter was located near Louisa, Virginia, in Louisa County, northwest of Richmond and south of Washington, D.C., according to one report. Another account places the epicenter near Mineral, Virginia, about 90 miles southwest of the District. Occurring about half a mile underground, the temblor was the largest to hit the East Coast since 1944.

Felt Far and Wide

The shaking was felt at the White House and across the East Coast, from as far south as Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to New York and Rhode Island, as reported by the U.S. Geological Survey. Reports of the quake's reach extended into parts of Canada, making it a truly regional event. The quake prompted evacuations at the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and the U.S. State Department.

Material and Personal Toll

In Baltimore, the quake damaged the Basilica of the Assumption, collapsed a church steeple in Fells Point, and affected infrastructure. Cell phone service was disrupted as concerned residents tried to contact loved ones, and many people in downtown Baltimore stayed outside on the sidewalks rather than returning to their high-rise buildings. Officials estimated the total damage across the region at $200 million.

Two Baltimore residents recalled the chaos of the moment. “Everything was shaking. We didn't know what was going on and things were falling,” one resident told CBS News Baltimore. Another added, “It was crazy. The building was shaking. And we all just kind of stopped and said, 'Did you feel that?'”

Landmark Damages and Restoration

In Washington, D.C., the quake caused extensive damage to the National Cathedral and the Washington Monument, which was closed for two years. The entire monument had to be covered in scaffolding for the $15 million in repairs and reinforcement. The Washington Monument, which spent nearly three years undergoing earthquake repairs, remained closed during that time.

Repair and restoration work at the National Cathedral has been ongoing. According to an Earthquake Restoration page on the church’s website, the project is anticipated to be finished by 2029. But, as stated in an update video on the site, maintenance on such a building never really ceases.

Personal Recollections

WTOP listeners lit up the phone lines, and the outlet's anchors and reporters described what they had seen and felt. Former WTOP reporter Michelle Basch was driving her work SUV in Southwest D.C. when the quake hit. “Suddenly the vehicle starts to shake. It feels like it’s jumping up and down. The only thing I can think of to describe it is it felt like someone was on the back of my bumper, pushing the bumper down, like they were playing a trick on me,” Basch said during breaking news coverage shortly after the quake. Turning a corner near L’Enfant Plaza, she saw “a bunch of people running out of buildings and some of them were screaming. And then I knew something was very wrong.”