ASHLAND — The Tri-State, along with most of the rest of the Eastern Seaboard, was shaken by this afternoon’s 5.9 earthquake centered near Mineral, Va. Reports poured in from all over the region from residents who felt the tremors.
Many mistakenly attributed them to passing trucks. Kim McGuire Hall of Summit said she was sitting in a recliner at her mother’s house off U.S. 23 near the Boyd-Lawrence County line when the shaking began.
“I thought a coal truck had gone by on the highway,” she said, adding she didn’t realize what she’d felt until she saw a report on TV a few minutes later.
Britton Adams of Worthington said she was sitting on her couch when the tremors hit. She said a lamp in her house was swaying back and forth and she had to jump up and grab a bookshelf to keep it from falling over.
There were no reports of quake-related damage or injuries locally.
However, the 13-story Skytower at 12th Street and Bath Avenue, Ashland’s tallest building, was evacuated briefly so the Ashland Fire Department could inspect it.
“We checked the building all the way up and down the stairwells, looking for cracks,” said AFD Engineer Evan Allison, noting that there were so signs the building’s structural integrity had been compromised.
Most of the workers in the Skytower evacuated on their own, and firefighters finished clearing the building when they arrived, Allison said.
Firefighters gave the all-clear signal and employes reentered the building about 2:15 p.m.
Workers said the experience was unnerving, especially coming less than a month after a car bomb detonated in the Skytower parking garage, across the street from the main building.
Terri Terry, an employee of Pathways Inc., located on the seventh floor of the Skytower, said she was seated at her desk when began shaking and her chair started to move.
She said she didn’t wait around for the order to evacuate.
“When the building starts to move, it’s time to leave,” she said.
Ginny Sode, an employee of Curtis Legal Services, which is on the sixth floor of the Skytower, said she was standing up when the tremors began and didn’t feel anything. But then, she said, her co-worker, Terri Duvall, told her to come sit in her chair. She did, and “could feel the building sway,” she said.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
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