It’s been 15 years since a rare and widely felt 5.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the Washington region and beyond on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2011.
The epicenter of the temblor was near Mineral, Virginia, about 90 miles southwest of the District.
The quake not only rumbled the D.C. region, but it was also felt throughout a large part of the eastern United States and into parts of Canada as well.
WTOP listeners lit up the phone lines, and our anchors and reporters from around the region described what they saw and felt right after the fact, and the process of realizing something had gone wrong.
‘Something was very wrong’
“I was at a red light, waiting for the light to change,” said Michelle Basch, now a former WTOP reporter and anchor.
She was driving her work SUV in Southwest D.C.
“Suddenly the vehicle starts to shake. It feels like it’s jumping up and down. The only thing I can think of to describe it is it felt like someone was on the back of my bumper, pushing the bumper down, like they were playing a trick on me,” Basch said during breaking news coverage shortly after the quake.
No one was behind her vehicle. She turned a corner near L’Enfant Plaza and reported seeing “a bunch of people running out of buildings and some of them were screaming. And then I knew something was very wrong.”
The quake prompted evacuations at numerous government buildings from the U.S. Capitol to the Pentagon and U.S. State Department.
Thankfully, no one died in the quake, but there was significant damage to multiple area landmarks, including the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral.
Repair and restoration work at the Cathedral has been ongoing.
According to an Earthquake Restoration page on the church’s website, the project is anticipated to be finished by 2029. But, as stated in an update video on the site, maintenance on such a building never really ceases.
The Washington Monument spent nearly three years undergoing earthquake repairs, and remained closed during that restoration process. The structure reopened in May of 2014.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
