Anyone Else Feel The Earthquake?

[TooSensitive]

Wow! It's all anyone here can talk about right now. Regular programming has been interrupted for the past hour and a half for news coverage of the event. I was sitting down when I first felt it. My first thought was that our huge dog was walking across the floor. Once I ruled that out, my next thought was that the floor was about to give way under my feet, due to the termites we didn't know we had, who had finished eating through enough of the wood that the floor couldn't hold itself up any longer.

When I saw and heard my breakables shake and clatter, and the movement under my feet didn't cease, then I knew for certain what was going on. I jumped up from my chair, ran over to hold my mother's antique lamp in place, nervously watched my china cabinet sway, and yelled up to my son, "OMG, OMG, this is an earthquake, come downstairs quick!". It was really scary and unsettling, and it really rattled me (no pun intended!).

Gives you a totally different perspective and empathy for the victims of far worse quakes, like in Japan, California, and Haiti, to name but a few. The feeling was so surreal and unlike anything I've felt before. I can remember 2 very minor quakes in the past in this area (around 2.0), and I knew this was far stronger. The thing is, while it's happening, you have no idea how long it's going to last, and you have no idea what the outcome will be, and your fear begins to build quite rapidly, b/c you know it is not something you can even remotely control.

A 5.9 magnitude at the epicenter in Virginia makes you wonder if what we felt up here, 200 miles away, for a good 30 seconds, wasn't as strong as what they felt in the epicenter, how much stronger must it have felt down there where it happened? I was shaking once it stopped. It all happened so fast. There have been no reports of any injuries or casualties, though they have evacuated some of the hi-rises in the area due to their age, they evacuated the Pentagon as a precaution, and a few abandoned houses in Camden have collapsed, but fortunately, damage has been very minor (cracked windows and mirrors, cracked foundations). Train service and flights have been suspended, but things are starting to get back to normal. But my goodness, what excitement since it happened, coupled with a little bit of fear and nervousness! Just hearing that the Washington monument is tilting a little bit and that it has sustained some damage, hopefully minor.

My neighbors and I all ran out of our houses and into the street at the same time. We were all fairly shaken up in the aftermath, and we all kept exclaming, "OMG, OMG!", b/c we were all a bit shaken up by what happened. We are not used to earthquakes in this area. I can't imagine living in a zone that is more prone to earthquakes.

So I am glad it is over, I am glad that things are starting to get back to normal, I am glad there has been no major damage, and I am glad everyone seems to be okay, esp. those I know and love.

What was so endearing was that at the same time as I was trying to call my h right after it happened, he was calling me at the same exact moment. The first words out of his mouth were, "Are you okay?". It felt so loving that he called me with such concern, even though the quake was not a major one. It just unsettles you and unnerves you in a way that is hard to describe, if you have never experienced it before. You hear about it enough on the news, but you don't really have any appreciation for what the experience involves, until it happens to you personally. I remember just this morning reading about the 5.5 quake that just happened in Colorado and not thinking that much about it. I did think alot about the victims in Japan, b/c the devastion was obvious to us all. But with a smaller scale event, you just don't usually think about what people go through.

I can tell you it's pretty frightening, or at least it was for me, as well as for many of the people who've been on the news talking about it. I know we're all just very grateful it wasn't worse than it was.

[Crisodian]

I felt it in northern Illinois. My engineer and I looked at each other at the very same moment and complained of vertigo. The minute we both said it out loud, we knew something was going on.

We did not however, feel it like you TS. I'm really glad to hear everyone is ok.

Peace,
~C~

[TooSensitive]

Cris, I cannot get over how you and your co-worker felt it all the way out there, yet my son 20 miles away, and my sister-in-law about 30 miles away, did not feel a thing. Amazing!

That's funny, b/c my h initially thought that's what he was experiencing - vertigo - when he first felt it. That would be a pretty bad case of vertigo!!

[Phil413]

I was about ten miles east of the epicenter, and believe me, we felt it! At first I thought it was a truck rumbling by, but the rumbling got stronger and stronger. Then I thought that an airliner must be crashing nearby, but the shaking and loud rumbling just got stronger. I could feel the house sway. It felt as if the house and even the ground it sits on had turned to Jello. Then I realized what it was.

We were lucky: no damage, no injuries; just a few things fallen onto the floor; nothing broken. In fact, in hindsight, it was a pretty awesome experience. Ironically, my son, who's autistic, is the only one who knew what to do, because he'd read about it. He was on the computer at the time, and he immediately dove under his desk and waited for it to stop. He's always wanted to experience an earthquake, so he's thrilled.

You know, they say animals can sometimes sense these things coming, and I believe it. All morning our cat was acting agitated, darting around the house, and not taking her usual nap. I was afraid she might be getting sick, or that she'd injured herself somehow, and I was thinking I might have to take her to the vet. She calmed down considerably after the earthquake.

Phil

[IN NEED OF HELP]

If you ever really want to feel what a earth quake is, come move here to California, and you will get and ideal what one is.

But I know that if you never lived where they happen all the time, feeling one for the first time, can scare the crap out of you. I am just glad to hear, that all of you that felt it, are ok.
Welcome to the world of a Californian. at no warning at all, they can knock you to the ground. And believe me, we are well overdue for one to hit us here.

[Crisodian]

At the end of the day, I am just glad that everyone is ok, TS. It's crazy that almost 1,000 miles away we felt the rumble.

Phil,
How intense it must have been to be that close and what a blessing there was no damage. As a mom of a child with developmental delay, it's always a blessing when something that our children want actually happens. Of course, I'm not sure mine would want to experience an earthquake. But, good for your son for knowing what to do and enjoying the ride all the same.


INOH - You west-coasters can keep your ground shaking. We east coaster's will keep our hurricanes which we can actually "see" coming. LOL I am originally from (and return as often as possible to) New England. This earth-moving-under-your-feet vertigo, is not my idea of a good time. Ever. My uncle was in CA during '89. He tells me horror stories to this day.

Find peace all,
~C~

[IN NEED OF HELP]

My uncle was in CA during '89. He tells me horror stories to this day.
Find peace all,~C~

That was a very bad one. we are about 400 miles away form where that one hit, and we felt it, as if it was right here close by. What makes theses even worse, is when they hit, when you are sound asleep. They are not fun to be in at all

[TooSensitive]

Just glad to read that all are okay, no loss of life, no injuries, and only mild damage, if any.

Phil, I know how intense it felt up here, and I was trying to imagine how much more intense it would have felt down there in the epicenter. Yes, in hindsight, it was an awesome experience, but in the moment, it truly was frightening! Glad your son enjoyed it for its novelty, that mostly all it was in the end was a novelty, and that he knew exactly what to do! Most people think you’re supposed to get out of the building, but in reality, you are supposed to stay inside and get under a piece of strong furniture, such as what your smart son did. Part of what made it so scary was that like you, what I experienced started out as a rumble, then there was a pause, and this repeated itself several times, before the shaking really began and continued without stopping for a good 30 seconds that felt more like minutes. It was so scary b/c it started out small and then built to a crescendo, except you never knew if it was going to intensify even more, or if that was the worst it was going to get.

I told my h it literally felt as if the floor was about to give way underneath my feet, and that once I knew what was going on, I started to freak, yelling for my son and screaming, “OMG, OMG, this is an earthquake, come downstairs quick!”. The scariest part for me was that I didn’t know how long it would last, if it was going to get even stronger, or what the outcome would be – these are the thoughts that were racing through my mind. I was surprised that my china cabinet did not fall forward, b/c it was swaying back and forth. It’s not one of those big heavy ones that sits on the floor – it’s on 4 short legs and frail by comparison. But not one thing broke, or even fell. That’s the most amazing part for me. If things started falling, one of us could have been injured, or worse.

Glad your cat settled down in the wake of the quake! Never saw our cat, so she must have been holed up somewhere taking a nap. The only thing our dog did was lie in the middle of the floor between the LR and DR, with his head up facing the door, which he usually does when he’s on alert. Well, he also knew the right thing to do, b/c they also say one of the safest places is in a doorway underneath a supporting beam, which was exactly where he was!

INOH, the experience gave me a newfound empathy for you Californians and others who live in more prone zones. I can only imagine the feeling of something far more intense, and I know if I lived through worse, I’d be traumatized by it. Hope that overdue big one you mention never hits, but unfortunately, the question isn’t “if”, but “when”.

They did say on the news that here on the East Coast, quakes are felt further out from the epicenter and more intensely than the same distance further out elsewhere, b/c of the bedrock we sit on, it’s old, hard, cold ground, and we are on one huge plate, vs. smaller plates elsewhere. That also may be why we don’t get them as strongly – b/c it’s one huge plate over a larger area, so there’s not as many plates sliding against each other, and one huge plate doesn’t have the ability to move as much. We don’t have as many fault lines. I am unclear whether a 5.8 here, feels more intense than a 5.8 out there, as far as the actual epicenter. They just said it feels stronger further away, than it would in the same radius out there, and that the radius is much larger than out there.

It was fascinating to hear Michio Kaku, the nuclear physicist, talk about it all on the news. I think he’s so cool. I know he can be a bit of an alarmist, but at the same time, he’s telling us to be prepared in the event of the worst possible scenario. I think he’s more of a realist, though I’m sure some think he’s more of an alarmist. After the quake and tsunami, he did predict what would happen at the nuclear reactors in Japan in advance. He said that the nuclear plant in Virginia closest to the epicenter had just dodged a bullet, b/c both of its reactors shut down, and one of the back-up generators also shut down. When all of them shut down, that’s when the core is exposed, and a meltdown occurs, which is what happened in Japan. I may not have explained it exactly right, but you get the drift, I hope!

I’m just glad none of the worst-case scenarios happened, but it sure makes you think, when you realize what those could have been, you know? Fortunately, today is back to business as usual for most of us, but yesterday sure was a mix of fear, nervousness, curiosity, fascination, wonder, fun, and excitement! FB was lit up with chatter, b/c everyone was checking on one another, and each person had a story to tell. The phone lines were clogged to the point you could not get service. People with real emergencies could not get through to 911, due to the volume of 911 non-emergency calls about the quake.

So now onward and forward, in facing Mother Nature’s next big event, Hurricane Irene…what a memorable week this will end up being! Hopefully, she will end up being nothing more than a novelty as well…yesterday already gave us nearly enough excitement for a lifetime.