Looking back on the day the DC region shook, rattled and rolled

FILE – In this Aug. 24, 2011, file photo, damage to the Washington National Cathedral is seen the day after a earthquake shook Washington and much of the East Coast. The unexpected jolt cracked the Washington Monument in spots and toppled delicate masonry high atop the National Cathedral. The shaking was felt far along the densely populated Eastern seaboard from Georgia to New England. While West Coast earthquake veterans scoffed at what they viewed as only a moderate temblor, last years quake has forever changed the way officials along the East Coast view emergency preparedness. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

National Cathedral earthquake damage — One of the spires , left, of the National Cathedral is seen missing following an earthquake in the Washington, Tuesday, Aug., 23, 2011. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia forced evacuations of all the monuments on the National Mall in Washington and rattled nerves from Georgia to Martha’s Vineyard. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Dave Megerle, a member of Wiss, Janney, Elstner, Associates (WJE) “Difficult Access Team,” attaches ropes to the top of the Washington Monument, on the National Mall, in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011, from which four people will rappel down the sides to survey the extent of damage sustained to the monument from the Aug. 23 earthquake . (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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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.

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