Earthquake Fills Rush Hour Chatter at Falls Church Metro Station

There were only a few cabs, about a dozen people waiting for buses and Zach Maggett playing his saxophone at the West Falls Church Metro Station Tuesday at about 4:30 p.m.

As Maggett, from Maryland, serenaded the cool, crisp air, hoards of people stormed from out of the station to awaiting cars and buses.

“This was just crazy,” said Ahmahd Nasir of Arlington. “I have lived in California before and of all places to experience my first earthquake, Washington, D.C.”

The quake registered at 1:51 p.m. by the U.S. Geological Survey with an epicenter in Mineral, Va., a hamlet with a population of 424 about 85 miles southwest of Washington. A 2.8 magnitude aftershock was reported just before 3 p.m., USGS reports. Falls Church City Public Schools Spokesman John Brett, said the school system was without phone service for some time. He said was closed down for work crews to assess the school’s structure before football players and cheerleaders could gain entrance to prepare for practices. The school reopened just before 5 p.m. He said no one was injured during the earthquake. Metro reported that busses will wait longer at train station to accommodate passengers stuck on trains underground.

Maggett, standing near a sign at the metro station played continuously only taking minor breaks to check the mouthpiece of his saxophone. He said he was amazed to find out there was an earthquake. At the time of the earthquake, he was inside a pharmacy in Washington, D.C.

“I came out of a CVS and I saw a lot of people standing outside of an office building,” Maggett said. “I asked this one lady ‘What’s going on,’ and she said ‘it was an earthquake.’”

Tom Horn, head football coach and athletic director at Mason, said he was inside his office at the time of the earthquake. He said he’s used to the sound of tractor-trailers whizzing up and down nearby Interstate-66 and helicopters flying above. But this sound kept going.

“It was a cool feeling,” Horn said on the schools lacrosse practice field. “Just walking around the building and seeing things that were on the edges of shelves, it doesn’t look like there is much damage here.”