The Washington Monument closed indefinitely

[malaise]

following the quake - word is the cathedral was severely damaged

[HereSince1628]

1. ALL the monuments on the DC Mall were closed as a precaution

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hasZ3FPwkh60QXFi1-9gHtqxuI0g?docId=3e1ff6fb9364424787b03d8ad92dae7c

[elleng]

2. From what I could tell earlier, 'severely' an overstatement.

Will wait 'til tomorrow to 'conclude.'

[malaise]

3. Just repeating what I heard on CNN

:hi:

[elleng]

4. Gotcha, mal!

:hi:

[HereSince1628]

5. Huffpost reports a crack seen in a flying buttress

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110823/east-coast-quake-national-cathedral/

"There are also cracks in the flying buttresses at the cathedral's east end, the oldest part of the structure. A statement issued by the cathedral said the buttresses supporting the main, central tower appeared to be sound, and the tower itself was not leaning as a spokesman had reported previously."

[Renew Deal]

10. One of the networks said that the earthquake was like 9/11

:crazy:

[MrsBrady]

6. wait...washington monument or washington cathedral...???

so did they close both of them?

[dgibby]

7. Both.

They're checking for damage at Wash. Monument, but there is confirmed damage at the Nat. Cathedral and the Pentagon. Also, damage reported in Vienna, Va.

[applegrove]

8. They flew around the WMonument in a helicopter. I did not know that they had found some damage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Now you did, made me turn to Piers Morgan

tsk, tsk, tsk.

The reality is that the quake did cause damage... this is not an area that has the building standards... it is ancient rock... I could go on.

As to the Washington Monument, all FOX nooz jokes aside, they thought it was leaning... so they will need to do some really fancy structural assessment, same goes for the National Cathedral and yes... the Rayburn building and the Capitol. Chances are the last one was just plaster, but just to be safe....

ignoring this may hide damage not seen on the surface... and another jolt will be enough to collapse things.

Oh and for those thinking disaster porn... this is exactly what happened at the Hospital General in Mexico City... a seven pointer, had a crack on a wall, near a supporting structure, none paid too much attention... this is what it looked after a minute and a half at 8.1



This is why you take this seriously.

That was one of the lessons learned... not just for Mexico but everybody else... believe it or not a lot of the protocols were developed after things like this.

Oh and yes, this should produce a few jobs too.