华盛顿（美国合众国际社）-国家公园管理处周一称，5.8地震袭击弗吉尼亚中部时，华盛顿纪念碑里的电梯系统遭到了地震的破坏。
　　管理处官员说道，8月23日的地震造成电梯平衡物损坏了电梯，现在电梯只能到达555英尺中的250英尺处，也就是靠近华盛顿特区的国家大草坪西端。
　　管理处官员还称，地震造成至少4块位于纪念碑外部的大石头上出现裂缝，飓风“艾琳”袭击华盛顿4天后，发现雨水流入纪念碑高400英尺处的楼梯井。
　　据华盛顿邮报报道，地震后纪念碑就对游客关闭，来自阿拉斯加的德纳里峰国家公园和保护区的攀登高手Brandon Latham将身吊绳索，逐块对华盛顿纪念碑进行检查。
　　这个由大理石，蓝灰沙岩，花岗石为原料建成的纪念碑，于1884年完工，是世界上最高的石结构以及最高的方尖碑建筑。

Quake damaged Washington Monument elevator
www.upi.com

　　WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Washington Monument's elevator system was damaged in the magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck central Virginia, the National Park Service said Monday.
　　The elevator, believed damaged by its counterweights during the Aug. 23 quake, is operating only to the 250-foot level of the 555-foot obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., park officials said.
　　The quake created cracks in at least four exterior stones, which let rainwater into the monument's stairwells above the 400-foot level when Hurricane Irene overwhelmed the nation's capital four days later, officials said.
　　The monument, closed since the quake, will be closely examined by mountaineering and rope-rigging ranger Brandon Latham from Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, who will rappel down the monument's sides for the inspections, The Washington Post reported.
　　The marble, granite and bluestone gneis monument, completed in 1884, is the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk.