Tuesday, August 23, 2011

37.975°N, 77.969°W, MAGNITUDE 5.9: Everyone ok?

57 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:21 PM

    Everyone except sanity, because Virginia? 

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  2. isaac_spaceman2:21 PM

    me

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  3. Didn't feel a thing on the 31st floor here on the East Side of Manhattan, though we did get repeated PA announcements telling us not to panic, which did more to create panic than to dispel any panic.

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  4. Jenn.2:29 PM

    My whole building here in DC shook, which was pretty impressive, given how solid it is.  They evaculated us, and just let us start coming back in.

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  5. Neato Torpedo2:30 PM

    Georgetown DC - mild swaying.  Hit a little strong at the start, at first thought it was a truck zipping by and hitting a pothole on the Whitehurst Freeway (30 feet away), then it continued and swaying intensified to mild.  No damage.  Hit near Charlottesville (UVA) and was shallow, so everyone's waiting to hear if there was any damage at UVA (which is mostly brick).  That said - buildings evacuated because ... we don't know what else to do.

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  6. Jordan2:31 PM

    Well, my dog didn't even wake up.  Slept through an earthquake.  Some guard dog she is.

    When I lived in Alaska, I lived all of 100 feet (if that) off of the Cook Inlet, so I was more likely than not to feel an earthquake.  A couple weeks in, late at night I was sitting on my bed when it began to shake.  The windows rattled.  I thought, this is it, it's a small one, but this is an earthquake!  It was a frieght train.  But things shook then more than they did here.

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  7. I'm also in midtown east Manhattan and felt it on the 17th floor. Having no earthquake experience, I first thought I was having some sort of medical episode, and went into the hallway to make sure it was the building shaking and not me.  The other side of my floor didn't feel a thing, and no one discussed the situation at all until the messages on Facebook started flooding in.

    Hope everyone is all right!

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  8. Tracy2:36 PM

    On vacation in beautiful White Plains, NY (ha!) and I definitely felt it!

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  9. Jordan2:38 PM

    I should note for context that I'm right outside Philly.

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  10. Andrea2:39 PM

    Enjoying the last of summer in my back yard in Central NJ when chair began to sway.  Very surreal.

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  11. Watts2:43 PM

    Thank heavens for Twitter - otherwise I would have had no idea that small waves could be felt here in Athens, GA.

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  12. Professor Jeff2:51 PM

    Definitely felt 15 seconds of mild shaking in suburban Philly. Spent most of that time ruling out other possibile causes (nearby freight train, defective new garage doors, etc.) before realizing that it might, in fact, be a freakin' earthquake.

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  13. littleredyarn2:53 PM

    I was driving on 295 South outside of Cherry Hill, NJ (a 'burb of Philly) when the tremor struck. I didn't feel anything and didn't hear about it until about a half an hour ago.

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  14. Andrew2:58 PM

    I didn't feel it on the second floor in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, but one of my colleagues did ask if I just felt the building jump. So you can sleep through an earthquake while awake. 

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  15. Anonymous3:02 PM

    Felt it in Columbia, SC.  It was my first earthquake and I just thought that I was bonkers.  I'm home sick today, so I thought maybe there was construction going on outside my apartment but I didn't think so b/c I didn't hear anything.  Then I thought I was just imagining things.  Of course I was watching a DVD and actually not on facebook for about an hour, so when I turned on the TV and FB, I found out that it was an earthquake.  That wasn't the most enjoyable of experiences -- definitely glad this isn't a common occurrence for me.

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  16. Here in Northern VA, close to Quantico - there are days they set off ordinances there that shake the house, so at first that's what I thought it was.  Then it just kept on getting stronger, I'd say it was at least 30 seconds.  Doesn't seem to be any damage, though.  Being from TX, and having been very close to the F5 that hit about 15 years ago, I'd much rather be in a tornado than an earthquake! 

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  17. Renee3:05 PM

    It was my first too!  I thought I was having a weird bout of nausea or something.

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  18. Renee3:06 PM

    That was me.  Don't know why I was logged out.

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  19. Definitely felt it here in Union County, NJ. I was on my way to get something off the printer and the guy in my office who runs everywhere ran by so I just assumed it was him. Got back to my desk a minute later and everyone asked if I felt the earthquake. Whoops.

    Still trying to get in touch w/my brother in D.C./NoVA but from news reports it sounds like everyone is fine down there.

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  20. Megan3:12 PM

    Working in my classroom near Harrisburg, PA and felt movement and the lights swayed, but only for about 10 seconds. 

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  21. Eric J.3:25 PM

    Shaking and bouncing on the 4th floor of an office building in Alexandria, VA. Lasted 30-40 seconds, no damage. Some CDs fell off a shelf at home, and my daughter's prized stack of dixie cups toppled.

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  22. I am only about 20 minutes east of you Megan. How funny!

    Two year old sat straight up in his crib about a minute before I felt anything. As I was looking at the video monitor trying to figure out why (as he is the world's best napper), I felt definite rumblings. I have heard of animals having a sense for these things, but apparently he does too!

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  23. Mandee3:39 PM

    My boss's son is a sophomore at UVA.  Boss was in a meeting so I texted him to get all clear before I interuppted her.  No details yet, but he did say, "all good."

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  24. Philomena3:51 PM

    Felt it in Harlem, but honestly didn't think it was much of anything.

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  25. Maret3:54 PM

    Just got out of a meeting and heard. Glad everyone is ok. *waves from California* 

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  26. Philomena3:55 PM

    woops.  that's phil, on the wife's laptop. 

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  27. Phil, we need your VSFL draft-for-draft pick already. :)

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  28. Carmichael Harold3:59 PM

    Our building in Silver Spring rumbled for a bit with one (relatively) big jolt and brief loss of power.  It didn't last long, but was a bit tough to contextualize at first (my first earthquake). 

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  29. Becca4:02 PM

    That's how I felt, too, the first time I felt an earthquake in an office building. I put my head down on my desk, waiting for it to pass, when I noticed the lights were swinging, too. There was no way I was evacuating, though, as I'd finally gotten the city building inspector on the phone, and was trying to report my apartment building for a sewage flood inside my apartment that they wouldn't fix. His assistant and I discussed the earthquake for a while, but eventually got back on topic.

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  30. Katie4:30 PM

    As mentioned in an earlier thread, it's freshmen move in day here at JMU in Harrisonburg, VA.  I was sitting at my desk when I asked my coworkers "why is the building shaking?"  Luckily, other than that shakey-shake, things are OK here.  I thrilled my coworkers with all of my knowledge from my 3rd grade report on earthquakes. 

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  31. Meghan4:31 PM

    Felt it in Charlotte.  I thought there was a kid hiding under my chair.

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  32. The Pathetic Earthling4:43 PM

    I'm all for East Coasters enjoying the novelty of the thing - I shant trample on that - but all these people *evacuating the building*?  Really?  REALLY?  Just about the single dumbest thing you can do immediately after an earthquake is *evacuate the building*. 

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  33. lisased4:44 PM

    Worked from home today (Northern VA), and the kids were puzzled as to why a big truck was coming down our street. They didn't panic until I ordered them to stand in an interior doorway.

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  34. The Pathetic Earthling4:45 PM

    See above.  Not your fault your bosses are idiots.  For future reference, tell them to bugger off in such a situation.

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  35. Craig4:51 PM

    We weren't even sure it was happening at first. Some minor shaking of objects, but I could probably bounce up and down and cause that to happen. Most people evacuated the building and endangered themselves on the stairs, apparently. Really, we just didn't know what the right thing to do actually was.

    The maintenance guy who was on the ground at the time didn't feel anything. A friend in DC says they had a good shake, but everything seemed fine other than the traffic snarl created by everyone leaving at an odd time. Had friends as far away as MA say they felt it. Some reports of broken windows in NJ, but no structural damage anywhere that I've heard about from friends.

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  36. Roger4:55 PM

    I was on a DC metro train and felt nothing. My office closed for the day though. I've never felt an earthquake and I'm feeling vaguely annoyed I missed my first one.

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  37. Devin McCullen4:59 PM

    Nothing on the 8th Floor in Midtown Manhattan. 

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  38. I will just say this in my defense: 15 floors above the ground, with south-facing windows looking out onto lower manhattan and where the towers used to be, when the building shakes, you don't think "earthquake".

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  39. Serving jury duty on the 4th floor of a building in Greenbelt, MD. The first lawyer was one sentence into her opening statement when the room started swaying for a good 30 seconds. After some consultation, the fire alarms went off and we evacuated. Could tell what people mean when they say it felt like waves.

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  40. We shook pretty hard on the 6th floor of the federal judiciary building in DC (although I have nothing to compare it to).  They announced over the loudspeakers that it was not confirmed that it was an earthquake, so we were not evacuating.  A few minutes later they announced that it was a confirmed earthquake, and we should leave the building.  Seems like everyone evacuated; the streets were thronged with people and traffic looked horrible everywhere as I walked from Capitol Hill to Dupont Circle.

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  41. lisased7:34 PM

    Same reaction from friends in the Pentagon.

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  42. Adam C.8:00 PM

    We did not feel a thing, on vacation in Western Maryland. We were either on a boat (I'm on a boat!) or at a nature center when it happened; some folks in the state park told us they did feel it, though.

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  43. Maddy8:17 PM

    My mom was on the metro, so not super fun, but everything was fine.  My 16-year-old brother was thoroughly unimpressed.

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  44. Maggie9:29 PM

    I would have thought I'd have a better chance of experiencing an earthquake during my trip to LA.  A little bummed I missed the fun in DC, though.  Hoping not to return home to pictures on my floor.

    On an interesting side note that others here might appreciate.  The contestants from the Sing-Off are staying at my hotel in LA. I heard one group be told that they are behind everyone else in preparation and that the other groups have already "locked in choreography."  I heard someone else talking about delays getting music cleared...looking forward to watching the new season.

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  45. Emily9:30 PM

    Same experience. I was in the basement of a building and the asked everyone in the building to make their way to the basement, so I just stayed put and tried to ignore the announcements.

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  46. The house shook out here in Pittsburgh.  When it first hit I had a strong memory of when I lived in California, but thought "nah..."

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  47. jen, I'd have had the same reaction if I still worked in NY. And I absolutely would have left the building.

    Good to know though, that evacuating the building after an earthquake isn't the best idea.

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  48. Anonymous10:27 PM

    My entire hall was out the door and down the stairs within 30 seconds of the shaking. And then outside, half went to the river (no buildings, no glass) and the other half got frozen yogurt from the food truck. Priorities are what they are.

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  49. Gah, that guest was me Jen. And I think it's still not recognizing the login. Boo.

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  50. Felt it briefly on the 20th floor, downtown Columbus, OH.  Enough for people to come out of their offices to ask if others knew what was going on.

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  51. Genevieve9:40 AM

    Shook quite hard at home in NoVa.  Pot rack came half out of the kitchen ceiling, things fell, bookcases shook (I'm glad they were bracketed to the wall back in our toddlerproofing days).  My back is actually sore from it -- admittedly I'm the proverbial eggshell plaintiff, but there was definitely a whiplash effect.

    Woke up in the middle of the night apparently from an aftershock, though I didn't wake up enough to realize that's what it was until after.

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  52. Strangely, I think I've now been in more earthquakes than my friends who live in California.  (I'm in NYC. Didn't feel this one, though.)  I felt one in Queens about ten years ago.  And on my honeymoon in Hawaii in October 2006, they had a somewhat serious one - enough that I realized it was making news at home and I had to call and let people know we were okay.

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  53. This is my second Brooklyn earthquake.  Last one was about six months ago.

    yesterday, I was off and was sitting in a park near my house.  I was at a picnic bench and there was a guy on the other end.  I thought he was doing something weird under the table.  Hey, it's NY.  These things happen.

    So, didn't realize it was an earthquake until someone emailed me!

    Later, found out that the guy thought I was a weirdo shaking the table, too.

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  54. Working in a government building, my first thought was not "earthquake." 

    Also, at the time that the quake hit, I was finishing something up before heading outside to grab lunch, so I combined the evacuation with a lunch break.

    Colleague:  How can you eat at a time like this?

    Me:  Well, I'm hungry.

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  55. Ack.  Didn't see TPE's comment here, so replied above. 

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  56. Emily2:10 PM

    I remember the one in Queens ten years ago. The guy I was living with at the time came running into the bedroom panicked. I was half asleep, looked up at him, and said, "Either someone just drove a truck into the building, or we had an earthquake;" then I went back to sleep.

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  57. katiya6:19 AM

    no offence but I've been through too many earthquakes (growing up in CA) to be relieved I didn't feel that one. Shoot I was living in Seattle back in 2001 for the big one there. 5.8 in my book is relatively minor since in CA and Seattle we were in 6.3-7.0 territory. Yes I realise 5.8 is pretty serious though, hope the only shattering was neves for a little bit~

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