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| A damaged stone angel is pictured on the roof of the main tower of Washington’s National Cathedral after a 5.8 magnitude quake rattled the US East Coast on Tuesday |
The giant stone obelisk, Washington’s tallest edifice at 555ft (169m), each day draws hundreds of tourists who ascend the structure for breathtaking views of the city and its surroundings.
But Tuesday’s quake opened a 4-in (10cm)-long fissure in the building, raising fears of more serious structural damage not visible to the naked eye.
“The Washington Monument, because of its structural complexities, will remain closed until further notice,” read a statement from US National Park Service, the agency that administers many popular attractions around Washington’s National Mall area.
“The NPS will continue to inspect the interior of the monument before any decisions are made about reopening it to the public,” the statement said.
The shuttered monument was but one of many disappointments met by visitors to Washington, who learned that damage from Tuesday’s 5.8 magnitude temblor also forced temporary closure of the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the city’s Old Post Office Tower and other tourist sights.
Schools around the region, which had only just re-opened this week after a two-month-long summer break, were also closed, as officials assessed when it might be safe for students to return.
The quake lasted less than half a minute, setting buildings swaying and sending tens of thousands of people scurrying into the streets, but causing no reported deaths or serious injuries.
Evidence of the temblor was literally strewn across the city.
Washington’s National Cathedral lost part of its towering neo-Gothic spires and suffered cracks in its flying buttresses.
Chunks of masonry and tile also fell from the domed roof of the US Capitol building where Congress convenes, officials said.
Quake shakes Peru
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck a remote Amazon region of Peru yesterday, shaking office buildings far away in the capital although there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The quake’s epicentre was near the town of Pucallpa, which lies some 600km from Lima in a sparsely populated central-eastern region close to the Brazilian border, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Telephone lines were down in the area, but local media said no serious damage or injuries had yet come to light.
“There haven’t been reports of collapsed homes, there have been problems with telephone communication,” Guillermo Alvizuri, director of operations at the National Institute of Civilian Defense told local radio.