Posted: 9:34 AM Aug 23, 2012
Reporter: Anna Lempereur

As the Smith family remembers the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that started in Louisa County on Aug. 23, 2011, they are still dealing with damages to their home.

Ronald Smith and his family had only lived in the house for three days when the earthquake hit.

He said luckily no one got hurt, but the earthquake left them with $36,000 worth of damages which included several cracks in the cement floors.

Replacing them involves completely taking the cement floor out and repouring it.

One of the main level floors also got wet from the refrigerator leak, and the hardwood floors have to be replaced and completely refinished.

Smith said his family got around $1600 from FEMA and spent $7,000 on repairs so far.

Smith said not much has been fixed in the past year.

He was planning on renovating his basement, which got put on hold from these damage expenses.

As Smith looked at the marks the earthquake left on his home, he could still recall the details from that day.

"I was on a ladder upstairs hanging a curtain on one of the bedroom windows. And, of course, it frightened our daughter, and my wife couldn't figure out what was going on," said Smith.

Smith said it will take years to get his house completely back in shape.

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