Earthquake!!!!

My first one. Naturally, I had just taken off my shirt standing on the 3rd floor of an old office building with the nurse poised to strike with a syringe (allergy shot) when it struck. I do not exaggerate. My first earthquake - and I'm in no hurry to experience a second one. It was pretty freaky!

Heck of a thing since it was felt in MA..wife called and said so..I'm about 35 miles west of Boston and we didn't feel anything here..

Epicenter was about 30-ish miles away from here. Our entire building shook, and we evacuated for about 20 minutes while the safety team did a quick once-over of the building. I know this area is supposed to be seismically active, but I've never felt an earthquake before... kind of odd feeling.

And now I have Carole King singing "I feel the earth move under my feet..." playing over and over in my head.

I feel for you. I lived in CA for a time in the 60's and they were a common event. I remember my first one-I was walking out of the kitchen when it hit and the whole house began to shake. Dishes and cans of food were falling out of the cabinets and people were yelling "stand in a doorway". That's all well and good but it is near impossible to move during the quake so getting to a doorway is a feat in itself. It is such an out-of-control feeling. I don't miss it one bit!!

Glad you are okay Brian!

It was in Mineral, VA - I have an Uncle that lives there - will be interested to see what he has to say about it. Mineral is only about 100ish miles from here.

BonnieAnn said:

I feel for you. I lived in CA for a time in the 60's and they were a common event. I remember my first one-I was walking out of the kitchen when it hit and the whole house began to shake. Dishes and cans of food were falling out of the cabinets and people were yelling "stand in a doorway". That's all well and good but it is near impossible to move during the quake so getting to a doorway is a feat in itself. It is such an out-of-control feeling. I don't miss it one bit!!

Glad you are okay Brian!

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LOL - Thanks Bonnie. The buildings all evacuated. They're closing a bunch of the elementary schools down early so the buildings can be inspected. After all that - I still didn't get my allergy shot!!

Earthquake devastation in DC...

It's horrible...

EvenStranger said:

It's horrible...

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haha - that's on my FB feed too...

BrianLachoreVPI said:

LOL - Thanks Bonnie. The buildings all evacuated. They're closing a bunch of the elementary schools down early so the buildings can be inspected. After all that - I still didn't get my allergy shot!!

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I have kids within about 30 mile radius of you, so will be interesting tonight to get their reactions.

Razormac said:

I have kids within about 30 mile radius of you, so will be interesting tonight to get their reactions.

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Well - I can tell you that for about 10 seconds or so - it was pretty freaky. The building shook pretty significantly, but people that were outside didn't notice it nearly as much. Checking FB - since I have friends and relatives at the epicenter - I'm just reading about walls and ceilings cracking and things falling off of walls but that's about it. There aren't really any buildings to speak of in that area anyway. It's out in the middle of nowhere.

My mom works in downtown Richmond on the 6th floor of a building and said it was a pretty unsettling experience. Evidently it's the largest quake in this area in 100 years.

We live in Ohio and still felt it. I was working on my bike rack, and was balancing my weight on it while working, when I noticed some kind of weird movement caused me to unbalance and fall. I didn't realize it was an earthquake until my mom comes out of the house yelling..."EARTHQUAKKKEEE!!!" lol. She's a drama queen! My sister works in DC and said that it was big enough to cause the water jug dispenser to tip over at her work building(9th floor of the Verizon building on 19th and M/N street if I remember correctly).

I wish it was a bit bigger so I could actually feel it. That was a let down considering how many people went nuts!

BrianLachoreVPI said:

Well - I can tell you that for about 10 seconds or so - it was pretty freaky. The building shook pretty significantly, but people that were outside didn't notice it nearly as much. Checking FB - since I have friends and relatives at the epicenter - I'm just reading about walls and ceilings cracking and things falling off of walls but that's about it. There aren't really any buildings to speak of in that area anyway. It's out in the middle of nowhere.

My mom works in downtown Richmond on the 6th floor of a building and said it was a pretty unsettling experience. Evidently it's the largest quake in this area in 100 years.

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My daughter was on lunch break on a park bench in Dupont Circle when it hit (a real blessing since her office is in the basement of an old buildiing). She said it felt like being in an electric massage chair.

Hope everyone is ok.

Ive been in 1 in Darwin in about 94. We had had a few (as you do in a tropic zone) and as i got up from my recliner, sitting back watching V8 Supercars, i did i fell backwards.
Yes then i was the fool drunk stumbling everywhere, but back then i was 115KG and people saw other things where moving. Quickly we worked out it was a quake, but bc of the size of me then, (i am now nice 90kg 6'2') they ridiculed me saying "It was robbo falling that rocked the place".
So yea as you can see it wasn't a big one, but it was felt.
Stay safe

Cheers

I just got home - some of our picture frames are pretty crooked and it looks like some dishes actually were knocked into the sink. My iMac screen is all the way down - but it slowly does that on its own anyway. No damage fortunately. I'm getting ready to go check the gas line for leaks as soon as I can find some matches - if I don't post back - you know I found one.

After spending four years in Tokyo and many years in and around LA which are earthquake prone areas, you never really get used to them. Each and every time, you think to yourself: "Is this the big one"? For the poor folks in northern Japan early this year, the big one struck with a vengeance.

You're all pansies. I live in SoCal and 5.8 is nothing. Now if it rains here...THAT'S a disaster!

felt it in downtown providence...most of the buildings evacuated for about 20 minutes..but no damage to report

baggss said:

You're all pansies. I live in SoCal and 5.8 is nothing. Now if it rains here...THAT'S a disaster!

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I was waiting for someone from the west coast to chime in.

vansmith said:

I was waiting for someone from the west coast to chime in.

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Yes...if it rains...or God forbid, someone tosses a cigarette out the window.

I basically posted this on FB but if 5.9 is a 'minor' earthquake - I have no desire to experience a major one. You guys in Cali can keep them.

EvenStranger said:

And now I have Carole King singing "I feel the earth move under my feet..." playing over and over in my head.

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And somewhere, someone asked, "Did the earth move for you too?"

BrianLachoreVPI said:

It was in Mineral, VA - I have an Uncle that lives there - will be interested to see what he has to say about it. Mineral is only about 100ish miles from here.

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I have relatives in a small Midwest community that was the epicenter of a quake a couple of years ago - not far from the New Madrid fault. They had things knocked off shelves, some broken glass, but no major damage.

I didn't feel this one, but some folks around here did, a thousand miles away! The geology in the eastern US is such that the zone affected is larger than in the west, as I heard on the news.