Va. quake causes confusion at Boston building

BOSTON -- An earthquake centered in Virginia has caused confusion for one building in downtown Boston. Some believed the earthquake had damaged it.

From the street it looks like the two buildings are touching. Shortly after those afternoon tremors that swayed Boston buildings back and forth, someone looked up at 111 Devonshire, and it looked as though the building had shifted and was leaning on the building next door.

Several calls were made to police with concern that it could collapse, and the street was quickly closed off.

The buildings though were not evacuated.

“There’s always a consideration that the public safety is paramount in our minds. We are always most concerned with peoples safety,” said EMS Dep. Supt. Susan Schiller. “Once the fire department goes in and determines that the building is safe, then we don’t need to evacuate. That’s something that we decide pretty quickly.”

It turns out the buildings have always been like that. The building manager says that they are not touching, but they are amazingly close.

“We show contractors when they come and they are like, ‘How did they do that?’ …There is a small gap in between them,” said Garry Morris, property manager.

Still, building inspectors looked inside and up on the roof. Within 30 minutes they gave the all-clear.

“There’s no indication of any kind of collapse, any movement…no structural integrity has been compromised,” said Dep. Chief Richard Dibemedetto of the Boston Fire Department.

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