Carol Bradley Johnson is a spokesperson for the National Park Service, the NPS. The agency operates the monument and other memorials on the Mall. She was at the NPS headquarters when the earth started to shake. She remembers that NPS staff members went into action quickly.
“We were concerned about all our memorials. And immediately we went out and checked to see what had happened. And obviously, particularly the Washington monument because we knew there was quite a bit of debris falling at the very top. We knew pretty quickly that that was going to be a problem.”
The weather did not cooperate with efforts to find all the damage to the monument. Just days after the earthquake, on August 29, Washington suffered the effects of the storm that had been Hurricane Irene. The inside of the monument had to be protected from rainwater.
When the winds died, inspections showed that the worst damage took place above 122 meters. Since those early post-earthquake days, about 50 patches – small pieces of material – have been fixed onto broken places to reinforce them. Several months ago, workers placed thousands of pieces of scaffolding on the high structure. The scaffolding is made of aluminum and steel, and was used inside as well as outside to protect the stone.
Now almost two years of inspections and preparations have made possible a push toward complete restoration. The Washington Monument is expected to open to the public again next spring.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25