It has to do with a few key factors. For one, today's earthquake wasn't that deep. Generally, the deeper the earthquake, the more concentrated the area that feels the quake is. If you have a more shallow quake, people will feel some "shaking" further away.
The second main factor here is that the East coast of the United States has far fewer fault lines then say, in California. So basically, if one area on the East coast shakes, the whole East coast shakes to some degree. The tremor ripples to the North and South of the quake's center uninterrupted by other fault lines, easily allowing millions of people to feel the ground beneath them move.
Today's quake was only about a few miles deep, but was felt as far North as Canada and as far South as Georgia. Amazing, if you think about it, but explainable.
Over the next few days, there will continue to be aftershocks with magnitudes less than 5.8, but this shouldn't be anything we have to worry about reoccurring often here along the East coast. That being said, scientists are researching the possibility of an East coast fault line being reactivated. Unlikely. More so just a freak incident in my opinion similar to one which happened nearly a century ago.
If you felt today's shock, sound off either here or on Facebook or Twitter! I'd love to hear your account of the quake.
And of course, my thoughts and prayers are with those near the epicenter of the earthquake who now, in some cases, must clean up and repair/rebuild.
Below is a short video of some earthquake damage in Virginia - take a look!
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