Earthquake in Virginia

[ninecrayons]

I noticed another DISer from up here say she didn't feel it, yet I definitely did.

It's an interesting dynamic as to who felt the earthquake/who didn't. I was at the bus stop and one guy and I were the only ones who felt it. Everyone else was like "Huh, I must have missed it." My mom and my DH both noticed it as well.

 

[OKW Lover]

I felt it at my office in Westwood (about 10 miles south west from Boston) but my wife didn't notice it at our home in Plymouth. Of course she might have been taking her afternoon nap at that time.

Airports are closing all over the east coast

BOS was not affected. The news stories I heard only mentioned a few delays at the NYC airports.

 

[dansyr2514]

I felt it in North Eastern PA. I was sitting in my chair at my desk and it started swaying. I had to look down to make sure I wasn't doing it but then everyone else popped up out of their cubicle to see if anybody else felt it. I've never experienced anything like it. We evacuated for a short time but went back in after about 30 min.

 

[beachgrl001]

We are in South Jersey. My DS7 and I were out riding our bikes and didnt feel a thing! My DS16 was home and felt it big time! It seems like everyone I know who was driving did not feel it....My DH was like are you kidding me????How could you not feel that???? My dad in Philly was in a condo building and he felt nothing but the one lady came out of her condo and said she thought someone was jumping up and down on the roof!

 

[SAtella]

I'm in NJ, Southern part and felt it at 2pm for several seconds. I hope no one was hurt. Very scary!

 

[dizneyjill]

I was sitting at my desk and felt funny..i went to the hospital a few months ago for irregular heart rhythems and I thought my internal defibular was going to fire, i thought it was my heart until I saw my chair move..made me dizzy.I said "Hey is the floor moving" What a relief when they said "YES".I'm in charlotte,NC by the way!

 

[Lavaluma]

I'm in Virginia about 60 miles north of the center. We felt it pretty strong. At first, I couldn't figure out why the house was shaking. I grabbed my 3 year old and ran to a stand under a doorway until it was over. My jewelry box fell off my dresser onto the floor. We had a few other things fall too. Some of our pictures are hanging crooked now. It's kind of weird what things fell and the ones that didn't.
My other son was in school when it happened. They evacuated his school and he had to stay outside until they dismissed school. Our schools are closed tomorrow to inspect for damage.

 

[RooRach0906]

I'm in NJ, Southern part and felt it at 2pm for several seconds. I hope no one was hurt. Very scary!

So far there has only been reports of building and car damages. I only live 30 miles from the center and thats all the news has reported.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Sorry, but I can't help but be a little surprised at all the news of the reactions. That size is considered on the mild side out here. It definately gives you a good shake, but then everyone goes back to what they were doing. When the big Loma Prieta 7.0 quake hit, I was the only one to run out of their apartment after it was over. I stood there for a few seconds, then felt silly, so I went back inside and watched news of the freeway collapse.

That said, I really don't like earthquakes either. The ground isn't supposed to move! The 7.0 gave me nightmares for a month. At least I feel a little better knowing our buildings are all built to the earthquake code. I would be worried about how safe the buildings are back east. Out here we are all waiting for "The Big One" to hit that even our buldings can't withstand.

We get a lot of very small ones where I live and I have learned to look up at something hanging if I think I feel one to see if it is moving. (I always feel dizzy during a small earthquake) Then I go on to the USGS website and let them know what I felt. They have a report an earthquake link. You all can do that too. They map the areas by intensity reported. It is very interesting and it also makes me feel a little better by "doing something".

 

[daraddg]

I live in south Jersey and have never felt one before ,I thought I was having a dizzy spell but then noticed the ceiling lamps swaying it was really weird, I was worried my roof would collpase we arent built for that out here.My sister in VA said her wall is cracked and there were reports of collapsed buildings in Camden NJ.It was freaky

 

[chirurgeon]

We felt it in our office in downtown Pittsburgh. For s moment o thought who is shaking my chair. Then o looked around and everyone was looking around. I've never felt such a strong tremor. And that OS why o don't live on an earthquake zone. I'm a wimp when it comes to natural disasters.Kim

 

[POOHS3]

I live in chesterfield as well... holy cow it scared me! My dh works at short pump target and was on the roof when the building started shaking

I work in downtown Richmond. We did the opposite I guess of what you are suppose to do, we all went outside. Living on the east coast we are pretty inexperienced with these things. One of our Japanese co-workers didn't even flinch and said, "Oh, that was a pretty good one".

mbforbes- we will be at POR at the end of the week also! Have a great vacation.

 

[pixiedaisy]

I am about an hour from the epicenter and our house was shaking really hard. DD was pretty freaked out. What a bizarre and scary feeling! Just heard from friends in Richmond that they are feeling aftershocks.

 

[omghidanielle]

I was on the 5th floor of a building in Philadelphia, near a window, and I was holding onto my desk. My Mother was in the same building, on the 7th floor, in the middle of the room, and felt nothing.

Strange!

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

I work on the third floor at The State Campus in Albany, N.Y.
We felt it pretty strongly. Our blinds were swaying; I felt dizzy.
A few said they felt like vomiting.
Our cubicles were shaking quite a bit. A building alarm sounded
and we were told to evacuate the building. We stayed outside about an hour waiting for them to declare the building safe to go back inside.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

Sorry, but I can't help but be a little surprised at all the news of the reactions. That size is considered on the mild side out here. It definately gives you a good shake, but then everyone goes back to what they were doing.

I totally get your point, but for our area, this is not not usual. While commonplace for Cali, it's been more than 60 years since we've had "a good shake". It was like when Burbank got 2 inches of snow this year. We call that "a dusting". Hardly headline news. But for that area, it was big stuff. Today, 5.9 was big stuff for us

 

[DisneysRedhead]

I live in chesterfield as well... holy cow it scared me! My dh works at short pump target and was on the roof when the building started shaking

Hey I live near you! I work in the Short Pump mall and I was there when it happened too. It was nuts!

 

[NC Belle]

We were at MCO and felt nothing. Our flight was delayed by 20 minutes. Our friends were scheduled to fly to VA. We only heard a brief PA about the quake and its Northeast corridor delays.

 

[Cherinva]

When I got home last night, my DBF said he felt nothing, and I live just 2 blocks from work (where we felt it big time) ..he did say that my Tink Wind Chime was moving and he wondered what made it do that....then I told him.

I've been through 2 other quakes when I lived in San Diego. This one was nothing like I experienced before, but like someone else said...in this area, it is not common and it flipped out a lot of people. One of our grocery stores near the beach had things fall of the shelves and a soda display fell over and soda bottles exploded.