Tuesday, August 23, 2011

EARTHQUAKE!

At  1:54 Eastern time I posted on Facebook:

Was that an earthquake?

Indeed it was an earthquake!  I know people from California are probably laughing at those of us who only felt the earthquake, but I never expected my first ever earthquake to happen while at home on my computer.  Isn't that something that is suppossed to happen when you are visiting California?

I was sitting at my computer, which is near the corner of the house.  I felt something, but my mind dismissed it as a gust of wind like sometimes happens in the winter.  Then I realized it was neither winter NOR blizzard conditions.

I turned around in my chair and just felt.  The floor was shaking.  I realized then it was an earthquake.  I started to get up to walk to a doorway.  No matter how slight an earthquake we have, I was going to use my earthquake preparation  learned 20 years ago when I was a college student in Tennessee and everyone was saying that there was going to be an earthquake in Missourri. 

I got sidetracked, though.  My closet door was open slightly, and my clothes were swaying.  I stopped and watched.  (So much for earthquake preparedness)



I stopped for a moment because it was just so strange to see the shaking, and then I walked to the doorway of my bedroom.  I called out to Mom, "Get in a doorway".  (Hey, who knew if it would continue to increase in magnitude?) 

She yelled, "What is going on?" and I felt like Chicken Little yelling "Earthquake".

Since when does West Virginia have an earthquake?  I guess since August 23, 2011!

I learned something important today -- Facebook is a much better than CNN, http://www.usgs.gov/ , or any other website in the first moments after something happens.  Report on my news feed started flowing in from Virginia, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Massachussettes.  Even our local once a week paper reported that was an earthquake before CNN or the United States Geological Survey.


A little shaking, but otherwise we're fine.  I saw someone on twitter say something to the effect that Californians are probably laughing at us, but let's send them two feet of snow and laugh at them.  (Two feet?  Why be easy on them? How about the snow we had Feb of 2010!)  :) 

1 comment:

  1. helpful tip (you're welcome! - haha) : if you stuff your closets so jammed packed full with your own clothes and clothes you intend to someday resell like I do, then you won't see any clothes swaying.

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