Washington Monument to remain closed indefinitely

The Washington Monument will remain closed indefinitely after yesterday's earthquake rocked much of the east coast including the nation's Capitol. The 5.8 magnitude earthquake damaged the monument by creating a four foot long crack as wide as one inch in some places at the very top of the monument.

National Park service Spokesman Bill Line said that a structural engineering firm was brought in today to begin assessing the damage to the 550-foot structure. The firm will evaluate the crack and submit a report to the National Park Service outlining the problems to the structure along with recommendations for repairs. The Park Service will then have to decide which recommendation is best.

Only then will repairs actually begin.

Spokesman Bill Line says that "it's impossible to know how long this any of these steps will take," but he that the "National Park Service has a responsibility to make sure the monument is safe before reopening it to the public."

It is unclear at this point how much the assessments and repairs will cost.

The rest of Washington was largely unharmed. A spokesperson for the Architect of the Capitol said today that there was no structural damage at the U.S. Capitol, but CBS News found some damage to hearing rooms in the Rayburn House Office Building. The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials were unscathed by the earthquake.