By now you’ve all heard of the 5.8 (or 5.9?) earthquake that hit central Virginia yesterday, sending shock waves up the east coast. I know you Californians are mocking us, but it was my first earthquake experience and I found it quite disconcerting!
I was working at my desk when it hit. At first we all thought the vibration was due to heavy equipment from nearby construction, but as the building kept shaking we headed for the stairwell. It stopped by the time we got there, so we stopped and asked each other what was going on. (No thanks to my colleagues from California who said it didn’t feel like an earthquake!) We went back to our offices only to be evacuated a few minutes later.
Once I got outside, I was able to reach my son and my mom via text message and confirmed that they were fine. A few minutes later my husband emailed me that he and my Dad’s wife were fine. Phew!
I had a follow-up podiatrist appointment, so as soon as we were allowed back in the building I walked down into the parking garage, got in my car, and fought the early rush hour traffic to get home.
My son made it home first, and said that cabinet doors were open and some things had fallen over. Here’s what my bathroom looked like:
My husband inspected the house as best as he could, and didn’t detect any damage. We did lose a few picture frames that crashed off the wall, but nothing that can’t be fixed, except for this little car.
(That’s its rear windshield up near the top right corner)
I’m sad to hear that the Washington National Cathedral didn’t fare so well (there was damage to three of the four pinnacles), especially after my recent vacation–visiting so many much older churches in Germany has renewed my appreciation for historic architectural landmarks.
Have you ever experienced an earthquake?
If you felt yesterday’s quake, how far away were you from the epicenter?
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so scary…and more in its randomness than anything huh?
my parents all the way in the Burgh felt it as well.
so so glad most everyone was ok.
Thanks, Miz. It looks like the Washington Monument had some damage – cracks near the top – but that should be fixable.
That's what my bathroom looks like every day. Glad everyone was okay! And good thing it was a toy car and not your real car!
Scary! Once, years ago, I was in Boston at a restaurant on a visit back to see family. It felt like maybe the subway was rumbling under our feet. Later we found out it was an earthquake.
I'm so sad to see the monuments damaged and the National Cathedral. I hope things can be repaired. Yea, I've felt a few earthquakes 🙂 well, probably more than a few. We're pretty prepared around here, or at least as prepared as we can be. Glad you're all ok.
So scary! I live in earthquake-land and have been through many. When I saw the news last night I couldn't believe how it was felt in such a large area. I guess the geology is different there and it was rather shallow (I hated geology in school, so that's all I "got").
We feel them often – mostly small. Sometimes its a quick jolt. Sometimes it's a slow wave. It's the slow waves that are scary because you never know if it's going to get bigger.
The last big one was close to home – like right here. I was standing in the big double doorway of my bosses office chatting, and it started. It got stronger, and stronger… I braced myself in the doorway and Dana and I just looked at eachother, both thinking, "This is a BIG one." We were in a new, strong, 1 story building, so we were safe. But the crashing of glass, full file cabinets toppling over, and NOISE of the rumble of the quake and breaking stuff was so scary.
I was worried about my 1920's california bungalow, but everything important was fine. My cool, strong, little old house. I guess if it can survive my spawn, it can survive a little tremble.
But many structures didn't survive – complete collapse (there were a few tragic deaths), roads that were unusable for months, huge destruction of water/power infrastructure. It really changed the face of our little town.
Glad you and your family are all safe for sure – and yes – my bathroom looks like that every day 🙂
We had an earthquake here in IN a couple of years ago-woke me up out of a sounds sleep at 3:30 am. I thought someone had hit our house with their vehicle, but it stopped so I went back to sleep. I only found out later that is what happened. So freaky but there was no damage, thankfully.
Welp, I was an earthquake virgin until yesterday. And all this time I thought the shaking was the echoes from your lunchtime burp.
Hey, you're the one gnawing on all that broccoli!
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It was definitely quite freaky. When the shaking didn't stop after a few seconds, it got pretty real.
It was funny how long those few seconds felt! The 4.7 aftershock last night knocked a few more things over ….
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