A powerful 7.3 earthquake struck 260 miles from the western coast of Indonesia on Wednesday morning, yet caused no injuries or significant damage on land. A tsunami warning was briefly issued, but has since been withdrawn.

The Associated Press reports residents in the Aceh province jammed roads as they fled to higher ground upon hearing the tsunami warning. This is a region of the world still gravely traumatized by the Boxing Day 2004 earthquake and tsunami.

The U.S. Geological Survey stated the quake was centered some 18 miles (30 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor.

One resident, named only as Fera, told the AP: “I’m afraid,” before escaping on a motorbike with her two children and her mother. In the town of Simelue, hospitals and schools were evacuated.

Mercifully, the only casualty of the quake was people’s nerves. Close to two hours after the earthquake had first rumbled, authorities lifted the tsunami warning, and relative calm was restored.

Indonesia is especially vulnerable to huge seismic upheaval, as it lies directly on the so-called ‘Ring of Fire,’ an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. Laid out in a 40,000 km horseshoe shape, it consists of a continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts. Tectonic plate movements are common.

Indonesia took the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, a series of tsunamis triggered by the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. Half of the 230,000 who lost their lives were from the Aceh province.

7.3 Quake Hits Indonesia, No Injuries Reported is a post from: The Inquisitr

Washington National Cathedral reopened its doors over the weekend, with Sunday seeing its first public service since an earthquake on August 23rd.

The 5.8 quake did an estimated $15 million of damage to the church, with the cathedral’s central tower pinnacles feeling the brunt.

On Sunday, however, spirits were high, as roughly 2,000 people attended a service that saw 51-year-old Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde installed as the ninth bishop of the Washington Episcopal Diocese. Budde is the first woman to be given the job. A week of concerts and an interfaith day of prayer lie ahead as a celebration of the cathedral’s recovery.

At Sunday’s service, the cathedral’s vicar Rev. Canon Jan Cope said:

“Thank you for your patience and support. This has been quite an extraordinary pilgrimage. There are lessons all around about opportunity.”

New bishop Budde said wider lessons should be taken from the damage done to the cathedral, stating:

“Not just for the building itself, but for what our church is for, what the cathedral is for: a spiritual base where we can renew our inspiration and our strength.”

The bells are ringing again at the cathedral, but signs of ongoing repairs remain highly visible. According to The Washington Post, swathes of netting still lie below the cathedral’s vaulted ceilings to catch debris, while exterior scaffolding is also in abundance.

The 104-year-old Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest in the world, and previously served as the site of the state funeral of President Ronald Reagan. It has also been used for inaugural prayers services for new presidents since 1985.

Washington National Cathedral Reopens After Earthquake is a post from: The Inquisitr

This has been popping up on both Twitter and Facebook, a photo illustrating the damage wrought on the Eastern seaboard by the August 2011 earthquake.

(You can see some more earthquake damage pics over on Buzzfeed.)

Shocking Photos of East Coast Earthquake Devastation is a post from: The Inquisitr

Many East Coast residents experienced their first notable earthquake today, and the Capitol and Pentagon were evacuated in the minutes following the tremor.

Information is filtering in from news sources and social networks, with many users reporting the quake from points south of Virginia to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where President Barack Obama is vacationing. Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange reported feeling the quake, and buildings in major cities across the Eastern seaboard saw building evacuations due to fears of less strict building codes than on the more quake-prone West Coast.

Major news networks are reporting a magnitude of 5.9 for the quake in DC, close to the tremor’s epicenter in Mineral, Virginia. JFK International Airport in Queens has been shut down in the earthquake’s wake. The WSJ is reporting that the quake was several orders of magnitude stronger than the last of its type- which, at the time, was the strongest quake in the area’s history:

Tuesday’s earthquake was 100 times stronger than an earthquake last July, also near Washington, D.C., which at the time was the largest earthquake in D.C. history.

No major damage has been reported yet in relation to the tremor, nor have any deaths or injuries been associated with the incident.

Did you feel the East Coast Earthquake?

Earthquake Hits East Coast of US, 5.9 in DC, Capitol and Pentagon Evacuated is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just after 4AM local time this morning, a minor quake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale hit “a large swath” of Southern California.

The quake was centered about ten miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Little damage was reported, but recent, high-profile seismic activity and larger quakes in Haiti and Chile had some residents feeling a little unnerved by the incident.

Commenters on ABC’s Los Angeles affiliate KABC reported feeling the earthquake in several of the surrounding towns.

“The earthquake knocked me out of bed,” one Arcadia poster wrote. “It was pretty scary!!! I ran out from house and it was so cold outside and I stayed in car like 10 min, after I got back home I couldn’t sleep.”

Geophysicist Jessica Sigala of the United States Geological Survey said the minor quake was no cause for alarm:

“With a 4.4 here, we probably wouldn’t see substantial damage, just a lot of shaking,” Sigala said, adding that the quake was hard enough probably just to knock books off shelves and maybe break windows.

The area may see some aftershocks, she said, but they will likely be smaller than the initial earthquake.

No damage, injuries or threats to local infrastructure have been reported in the wake of this morning’s earthquake.

Los Angeles wakes up to 4.4 magnitude quake is a post from: The Inquisitr

ZeniMax Media has acquired id Software, creators of games including Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D. ZeniMax Media is the parent company of Bethesda Game Studios, creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Under the deal, id Software will continue to operate as a separate studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games and all the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts.

id Software is a legendary company in the games business, creating some of the best known games of the last 20 years. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software is a post from: The Inquisitr

recently submitted a free port of Quake to Apple’s AppStore. It is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch of all versions/firmwares 2.0+. Here is a video of it in action!

At first accelerometer support was included, but it is very hard to play the game while maintaining the positions needed for Quake. So it has been disabled in this revision.

It usually takes between 2 to 5 days to get an app approved (or rejected) for AppStore. Once/if approved for AppStore, it will be updated to include network play, mods / downloadable content, and more!

As you can see and hear, this version has sound support and uses a landscape orientation.

Please support my efforts on bringing this awesome title to AppStore, and leave a comment…

While this game and Quake 3 have been available as jailbreak apps for the iPhone this is the first release of Quake from the App Store.

Okay iPhone users – time to get your Quake on is a post from: The Inquisitr