3.6-magnitude earthquake wakes Md. residents
Temblor centered in Gaithersburg felt by as many as 3 million people in Mid-Atlantic region
A 3.6-magnitude earthquake with a center near Gaithersburg was reported around 5 a.m. Friday, and felt by as many as 3 million people in the Mid-Atlantic region, according to the United States Geological Survey.
It may have been the strongest measured tremor on record for the state. The Maryland Geological Survey's web site lists the strongest confirmed tremor centered in Maryland prior to this one was a 3.1 shaking recorded in Hancock in 1978.
The Friday morning earthquake was reported across the Baltimore area as well as in D.C. Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware. People in Columbia, Owings Mills, Carroll County and Odenton reported feeling the quake this morning, describing the movement as enough to rattle household items.
Odenton resident Paul Muirhead said the temblor woke him up around 5:05 a.m. "I was startled from my sleep as if being shaken," he wrote in an e-mail. "Though there was hardly any light by which to see, I could hear items of mine — large and small — rattling on glass shelves."
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