It ain’t Armageddon, folks! But share your earthquake stories

I posted a story on La Mesa Patch with the headline: “East Coast Wimps? 5.9 Quake Leads to Evacuations and Vast Media Focus.” Left Coasters yawn at this, with one person posting a great shot of DC Earthquake Devastation. But I realize this is new for our Atlantic, Southern and Midwestern masters friends. So take a deep breath, count slowly to 10, and realize this isn’t the end of the world. Share your stories here.

Huffington Post homepage reflects the East Coast overreaction to quake.

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August 23, 2011

19 Responses

  1. peter taylor - August 23, 2011

    Yes, Ken, I did feel “The Big One.” Took me about 3-4 seconds to conclude it was an earthquake (had no experience with such events).

    I live in Fairfax, Virginia, about 75 miles northeast of the epicenter. So far I have seen no damage (will report later if there is some). I was a bit shaken but unhurt.

  2. Ken Stone - August 23, 2011

    Good you are fine, Pete. I’ve felt quakes as big as 7.3 a dozen times since I was a teenager. An Easter quake a couple years ago even made my sidewalk shake while I was standing on it. Very rare to feel outdoors.

  3. David E. Ortman (M58), Seattle, WA - August 23, 2011

    Hey, what about today’s 5.7 earthquake in Colorado?

    “Early Tuesday morning, Colorado was hit by a similarly sized earthquake – a 5.7 magnitude. The Colorado earthquake was the strongest to hit the state since 1973.”
    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/202697/20110823/colorado-earthquake.htm

    We’re still waiting for the next 9.0+ earthquake to hit Seattle. You all will have to come help to pick up the pieces.

  4. Tommy L - August 23, 2011

    Seriously, east coast? A 5.9? That’s what we in Southern California call a free massage or white noise.

  5. christel donley - August 23, 2011

    did not feel a thing….luckily here in CO,others did. Can do without it! Had enough experiences in
    LA, and was more than glad to escape to a safer region, so I think/thought.

    Yet I remember holding off a china cabinet, that rolled towards me and then stopped. You learn not to put heavy things on top of cabinets and shelves,and keep shoes on in the house. Broken glass does not feel good under your bare feet.

    Other than that, I am wrapped up in a fancy sling,
    with enough pain meds and lots of time to heal,
    like the whole fall/winter….yuk ; but the surgeon
    and I avoided another replacement, maybe I don’t have to sell my javelins and shot after all.

    what this has to do with an earthquake? not much,
    just looking for sympathy and typing with 2 fingers, left.

    Greetings to my friends

  6. Rob D'Avellar - August 23, 2011

    Some folks here in NYC felt it, but I’m an ex-Californian and didn’t feel a thing.

    I think native Californians are wired to take a 7.0 before our internal seismographs register anything.

  7. Cornell - August 23, 2011

    The eastcosters are no more wimps than westcoasters would be during a hurricane. I have to represent for my buddies in the DMV (D.C., MD, VA). They won’t be as shakened by the next one.

  8. Oscar Peyton - August 23, 2011

    At first, I thought it was the aftershock of a bomb and not an earthquake (we don’t get those on this side of the country?). I heard a rumbling noise and felt my whole house shaking. Things on the walls were falling. I decided to get out of the house in case it collapsed. I looked outside and my SUV was rocking as if a bad storm was present. Suddenly, it stopped within a minute. I admit: I was startled. Accokeek, (8 miles outside of DC).

  9. al cestero - August 23, 2011

    my daughter sarah (27 ) called me at my shop 2 miles from our home worried sick. we live in an old 1863 era wooden house..it shook. my autobody shop, a concrete block building , shook, and guitar bodies that were hanging ( i paint them ) continued to sway for a minute or so. my eldest daughter shea, who is getting married this saturday on the beach in asbury park is worried about another natural happening…hurricane irene… shea having lived in san diego for a while, said she knew right away what was happening…me..? i figured shore ac teamate neni lewis was at practice throwing the heavy weight…!

  10. al cestero - August 23, 2011

    p.s. i live in freehold nj

  11. Mary Harada - August 24, 2011

    love the comments – esp Al’s thoughts that it was Neni throwing the heavy weight. Nothing way up here close to the tax-free NH border – nada, but that is ok with me. My son, d-i-l, and grandchild had more than their share of earthquake fright as they live in Tokyo. On top of that they get to live with the uncertainty of whatever is or is not blowing in the wind from the Nuke plant disaster and the government’s inability or unwillingness to be honest about food contamination. That earthquake was no joke and Japan will be dealing with the aftermath for decades.

  12. Neni - August 24, 2011

    Al, how did you guess I was throwing around some of my heavy equipment? Actually I was bouncing up & down in my chair at work & wondering if a bomb went off in Penn Station below us. I am on the 38th floor in an office building above Penn Station. People were running down the stairs & out of the building. Typically on a very windy day, the building sways back & forth & creates a creeky noise that can be unsettling. Many get motion sickness, but we knew it was not because of the wind since we were going up & down instead of side to side.

  13. Sue Deppe, MD - August 24, 2011

    Felt it through my desk chair–very subtle; barely discernable movement on second floor of wood frame building. And the leaves of the large potted plant in my office were moving ever so slightly! I am in Colchester, VT, (NW VT) and people in Burlington felt it. Not nearly as strong as one we felt in 1983 from the Adirondacks of NY, when I watched the IV bottles swinging back and forth in the ICU I worked in! Went on the USGS website and figured out which one it was. NPR reported that it was also felt in Montreal.

    May all of you in the Ring of Fire have only wimpy ones in the future!!!!

    Sue

  14. Duncan Greenshields - August 24, 2011

    We even felt it here in Toronto. As my chair moved a bit, I thought someone must be moving into our office building, and not very carefully because the floor was shaking a little.

  15. kevin f forde - August 24, 2011

    Was sitting outside the hospital on my lunch hour when I felt the ground shake,at first I thought it was the subway line that runs below Broad St but that runs north to south and I was sitting east facing west

  16. Cindy Lea Arbelbide - August 24, 2011

    Hi survivors. I am a native Californian. Which translates to having earthquake drills since kindegarten. Have been through a 6.8 and 7.2. Also been in quakes in Japan. [Was also the Director of Training at the National Organization for Victim Assistance and have done a number of crisis response teams to affected areas over the years.]

    Was three counties away from the epicenter in Louise County, VA. In a public library at the time. People looked like deer caught in headlights. No one knew what to do. Spent alot of time just assisting those that were upset – by listening. Was at the local post office when another Californian found herself in the same situation and just listened to the people who were caught up in experiencing mother nature. No matter the size of the quake – that first time scares the well you know out of you.

    I heard from Gary and Sharon Rahms (Sharon a great javelin thrower)who live in Fort Collins. Having someone reach out when it is going on in their part of the country to was terrific.

    I know it might be easy to make jokes out of the reactions experienced by those who have never felt one before – of if the size of the event is not a record-breaker but I was most please when NBC news anchor Brian Williams commented on the evening news at the number of Californian’s that called their friends back east to see how they were.

    California is labeled as the earthquake state – we used to think only Kansas had tornadoes, etc. Mothernature is the ultimate force. No matter where we live now, we just have to welcome the newbies to our world.

    But too it did run through my mind – was this all due to Neni practicing?

    Good on all of you!

  17. Who's your daddy ?? - August 24, 2011

    Kevin;

    The noise was from the Phillies kicking some NY Met butt !!

  18. Mary Harada - August 24, 2011

    fyi – earthquakes shake up and down as well as the probably more usual side to side. My son who lives in Tokyo tells me that the ones that go up and down usually commence with a loud bang and he finds those more frightening than the side to side motion. Since the 3/11 earthquake in Japan there have been numerous aftershocks – mostly side to side swaying but also the up and down banging ones. The aftershocks can lasts for many months.

  19. Andrew Hecker - August 24, 2011

    Just to bring this earthquake discussion back to masters;
    here in California, every time anything goes bump, all the TV stations go running to Cal Tech to get a statement from the Earthquake lady, Kate Hutton, to tell us what just happened and what it means.
    In her free time, Hutton is part of the local radio club, an on the ground volunteer providing communications for the California Senior Olympics, also in Pasadena.

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