5.9 Earthquake Strikes DC Area

If you're on the Eastern seaboard of the US and in southern Canada, you weren't hallucinating about feeling the earth move.

A shallow 5.9 magnitude earthquake,. the largest ever in the region, struck 88 miles (141 km) SW of Washington, DC at 1:51 PM EDT.  The Pentagon and the White House were evacuated and the quake was felt as far away as Toronto,CA     

No reports of damage, but any bets on how soon our right wing idiots and right wing hate ministers will start blaming the POTUS for it?

Canadian Earthquake

When you turn on the news, you expect to hear news about earthquakes in familiar fault zones such as California, Turkey, China, Iran, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, Chile and other places along the Pacific Rim.

But central Canada?

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake centered eight kilometres east of Val-des-Bois in southwestern Quebec, about 60 kilometres northeast of Ottawa struck the area at approximately 1:45 PM EDT.

It shook not only the Canadian capital, but was felt in Toronto, Montreal, Windsor, southern Ontario and as far south and west as Cleveland, Chicago and upstate New York.

It was the largest quake to hit the area in 20 years, and I need to check in with my homegirl in Niagara Falls to get her take on it.

Haiti Rocked By Worst Quake In 200 Years

The long suffering but proud nation of Haiti has taken another blow as it was hit by the worst earthquake in 200 years.

The magnitude 7.0 quake was centered only 10 miles west of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince and was only 5 miles deep according to the Unites States Geological Survey. The USGS also stated it was the worst quake in what is now Haiti since 1770.

Port-au-Prince is home to 2 million residents, and the quake severely damaged or crushed thousands of buildings ranging from homes, schools and humble shacks to the Presidential Palace and the building serving as the headquarters for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

The quake was felt in the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and in eastern Cuba as well. Neither of those areas reported any major damage.

The quake made communications difficult inside the country and has the 4 million Haitians who live abroad justifiably concerned about friends and family back home.

Musician Wyclef Jean is already headed to Haiti on a relief mission according to the Tom Joyner Morning Show, while award winning author Edwidge Danticat gathered friends and family at her Miami home and turned it into a defacto command center.

"Some people are online, some are watching CNN, some are listening to Haitian radio," she said late Tuesday night. "There's a huge sense of helplessness about it. You want to go there, but you just have to wait. I think the hardest part is the lack of information."

Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean, who was born in Port-au-Prince, issued this statement:

I am following, with great attention and concern, the emerging reports regarding the earthquake that struck Haiti with force, and which was felt elsewhere in the region.

This natural disaster has hit a country with an extremely fragile infrastructure, where many buildings are already unstable, and where living conditions are often very difficult. I fear for its people.

I would like all Haitians to know that they are not alone and that the people of Canada will respond to this emergency.

President Obama in a statement issued moments ago said the United States will help in any way possible. "I have directed my administration to respond with a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives."

"The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief — the food, water and medicine — that Haitians will need in the coming days," he said.

The people of Haiti will not only need our help in whatever way possible to recover from this tragedy, they need our prayers as well.