Well, that was scary

[conuly]

I do believe we just had an earthquake.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

A small one, I hope.

[conuly]

Of the three earthquakes I've experienced in my life, this was absolutely the biggest. But yes, I bet people who deal with earthquakes all the time would laugh.

[redbird]

I think the USGS is now saying magnitude 4.7.

The only earthquake I remember experiencing is the magnitude 5.5 quake in 2011, centered in Virginia, that damaged the top of the Washington Monument. I was still living in New York City then, and spent a little while assuring my co-workers that we didn't need to leave the building and stand around on Madison Avenue.

[conuly]

Perhaps your coworkers simply wanted to leave the building and stand around on Madison Avenue.

[bearshorty]

We just did! I'm on the 18th floor so it felt very precarious.

[conuly]

That sounds scary!

[movingfinger]

All that unreinforced brick and masonry makes this much scarier.

[conuly]

Technically we *do* now have laws requiring earthquake-proof construction but a. nobody gets permits for anything if they can help it b. lots of contractors are unlicensed and c. most of our building stock predates those laws anyway.

[dine]

I heard about that on my commute - quite the surprise, isn't it? glad it was a smallish one, and hopefully there were no serious damage or physical repercussions anywhere

I've only experienced one earthquake - back in 1993 (I think) the 5.6 Spring Break Quake was a shocker. it was early in the morning, and I was asleep, but woken by shaking as if a freight train was going through my bedroom.

[conuly]

It really was something!

A called me to ask if I was jumping. WTF. "Well, I thought maybe you got excited about something..." And just jumped up and down for several minutes? I would've stopped long before that last rumble died away!

You most certainly did.

[disgruntledgirl]

The news is all over it.

Re: You most certainly did.

[conuly]

It was really something!

I had to go out a little after, and saw some woman picking up her kids from school early, and one of her kids was explaining that she had thought it was a tornado! (A tornado would've been much worse, I think.)

Ooooof speaking as one from Texas

[disgruntledgirl]

That's comparing bumper cars (earthquake) to a roller coaster (tornado).
While hurricanes are far worse than tornadoes - they don't sneak up on you like tornados do.

Earthquakes are even more surprising. I hope your home didn't suffer any damage. The best thing to do right now is anything that fell - don't put it back until a week has passed. Aftershocks can be the same magnitude.