For the past week, engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates has been assigned the task of surveying the Washington Monument's exterior, in search of damage in the wake of the August 23rd earthquake.
One of these civil engineers was Emma Cardini, of Melrose, Massachusetts. Hanging approximately 550 feet above ground, she was nothing but smiles. "'I was so excited. I was waiting and waiting the last two and a half days,' she said about being able to start the job," the AP reports.
The National Park Service also provides dizzying, hard-to-watch/must-watch video from the helmet of Cardini's colleague Erik Stohn. Each of the four members of the team are assigned a side of the monument to survey. Rappelling sure ain't for the weak of heart.
For others in the Washington, D.C. area, however, repairs to the area were reportedly less intensive: