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DC quake causes panic, WH, Pentagon evacuated

WASHINGTON: One of the strongest earthquakes to strike the US east coast in decades rattled offices Tuesday in downtown Washington and caused anxious evacuations from skyscrapers as far away as New York.

The Pentagon, the US Capitol and monuments in the nation’s capital were all evacuated after the 5.9-magnitude quake, which was shallow with its epicenter only 0.1 miles (kilometers) underground.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the temblor also hit as emergency officials warned of a possible strike on the east coast of Hurricane Irene, which was roaring through the Atlantic.

The North Anna nuclear power plant near the epicenter of the earthquake at Lake Anna, Virginia automatically shut down without incident and no damage was apparent, a spokesman for Dominion Power said.

“We did lose on-site power, but all the diesel generators are up and running,” Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said 30 minutes after the quake. “Everything appears to be operating just fine.”

Seismologists from the US Geological Survey said the epicenter was 27 miles (47 kilometers) from Charlottesville, Virginia, and 87 miles (139 kilometers) from Washington, where Reagan National Airport also ordered some evacuations.

In Washington, a national park helicopter was seen circling the Washington Monument, inspecting the towering landmark for cracks.

Only minor damage was reported in Washington as the quake shook plaster from walls and, according to a CNN report, knocked damaged pinnacles from the National Cathedral.

The cathedral said on its website that it was closed pending an investigation of damage.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was the largest in the state of Virginia since May 1897, when a 5.9 quake struck in Giles County, near the western edge of the state.

“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the east coast in quite a while, in many decades at least,” USGS spokeswoman Lucy Jones told CNN. “It’s not unprecedented. But it’s one of the largest we’ve had there.”

The quake was felt as far away as Martha’s Vineyard, around 500 miles (800 kilometers) away, off the coast of Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama was playing golf during his vacation. And some reported feeling the impact in locations as distant as Toronto to the north, and Atlanta to the south.

In New York, thousands of people poured onto the streets as evacuation procedures put into place after September 11 attacks were activated.

Police in New York herded people toward local parks away from tall buildings as precautionary checks were started.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had just started speaking at a press conference about the sensational Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case when the building started shaking.

Fatima Richardson, 28, who was sitting on the steps of courthouse on her lunch break said: “You could see the building moving. I was just freaking out.”

The Pentagon, the world’s biggest office building located across the Potomac from the capital, ordered a brief evacuation, which was carried out calmly. Several hundred people streamed out of the building and officials said there was no damage other than a ruptured water line.

Career Guide: A day in the life of a web designer

A day in the life of …

Welcome to the world of Furqan, a web designer.

11.30 AM: Carpool partner makes me wait for 20 minutes now. We are going to be late for the project meeting. Both of us were up till 4.00am playing Angry Birds but still we need to be on time.

After an exchange of colourful words, I ask my carpool partner why is he so dressed up. He’s wearing the same tie and shirt that he wore at a colleague’s valima last Saturday. I’m wearing the same jeans I’ve been wearing the whole week and a Bon Jovi T-shirt.

12.00 PM: Breakfast and then deciding music list for the day since I’m the official DJ of the design firm. Carpool partner is deeply embarrassed. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he thought the client meeting was today. Now everyone’s asking, “So how was the interview?”

12.30 PM: Meeting begins on the best project of my life, I’ve even been dreaming about it. It’s the website of the all-time popular music show that is on air these days. For this project everyone sits late because no one wants to miss even a second of the discussions going on.

2.00 PM: I scribble on my notepad that I need to add on my CV that I am the team leader of this project which means I am responsible for designing, planning user experience, coding and content management.

2.40 PM: Right now I’m trying to remove the bugs that were on the web pages of the first episode. After I am done with that I have to start working on uploading the new content. I get to see the episodes before anyone does so it is like a 007 job! I have been sworn to secrecy, but of course I make sure to brag about it to my non-designer friends.

3.35 PM: Chatter boxes all around me, but I try to focus on my work — a problem I need to resolve ASAP. The files sizes are heavy which means it takes a lot of time to download them, and that means there will be a lot of load on the server.

If I compress the files too much it will compromise the sound quality and that would be unfair to the customers and the client, especially since the client is giving out the content free-of-cost to the public.

3.51 PM: Carpool partner informs me that there is a client on the phone. It’s the fire-breathing dragon-ladies; I’d rather talk to those credit-card recovery guys than this annoying pair. “Yeh sahi nahi lag raha hai” (It isn’t according to their standards).

4.10: While talking to one of the dragon ladies I accidentally knock over the Pepsi bottle on to my T-shirt. Now Bon Jovi and I are a sticky mess. I try washing it off but now there’s a round wet patch on my stomach area.

I feel like even more of an idiot when the pretty girl who recently joined comes over to ask me about a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) syntax. In between dabbing my T-shirt with tissues and trying to recall the syntax I scare her off. “Great going”, snickers carpool partner. I hate him!

Key skills required to be a Front-end, User Interface Web Designer:

1)   Adept at XHTML, HTML, CSS3, DOTNET, PHP, JAVA.

2)   Well-versed in Photoshop and Dream-weaver.

3)   Above-average creative abilities.

4)   Degree in Computer science or IT.

The writer is a personal branding consultant