# My first earthquake!



## Black Dragon (Aug 23, 2011)

We just got hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake here in the northeast U.S.  Where I live we've never had an earthquake before, and it was an unsettling experience.  At first I thought that my building had been hit by a truck.  

Thankfully no one was hurt (that I'm aware of), and there's no structural damage visible at my home or workplace.


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## Xanados (Aug 23, 2011)

Shocking! I think that The Blue Lotus felt it as well. We don't get any of that mumbo-jumbo here in the United Kindgom.


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## Philip Overby (Aug 23, 2011)

@Black Dragon  Glad you're safe.  We get rocked so much in Japan it's like part of our day here.  A 5.9 is pretty mild by Japan standards (that 9.0 was terrifying, and I've been through some big ones here) but I imagine on the east coast it has to be really unsettling.  Just be careful because there may be aftershocks.  It's strange to have one on the east coast of the US, I know for sure.  In any case, stay safe!


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## Telcontar (Aug 23, 2011)

Didn't feel it up here in Michigan. The only time I remember feeling an earthquake was years ago - I think there was one centered somewhere in Pennsylvania that shook us a tiny bit. 

My sister lives in Virginia... I'll have to ask her what it was like.


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## Donny Bruso (Aug 23, 2011)

We got a bit of it here in Massachusetts as well. I don't know what the magnitude was by the time it reached here, but it certainly wasn't huge by that time. It was fairly unsettling as I was underneath a truck up on a lift when it rolled through. Once we got everyone on board with the earthquake theory, we looked outside and all the trucks were kind of swaying back and forth on their suspensions. Looked kinda cool, actually.


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## myrddin173 (Aug 23, 2011)

It's weird here in SE Connecticut we, or at least I, didn't feel a thing.  My sister who lives in New Jersey says here entire building shook.  When you think of fault lines you think of the West Coast not the East so people always freak out when it happens.  One of the guys I graduated with posted a picture of a not insignificant crack in the pavement in DC.


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## Map the Dragon (Aug 23, 2011)

Southern Colorado got hit as well with its own 5.5...weird for the area.


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## Codey Amprim (Aug 23, 2011)

Black Dragon said:


> We just got hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake here in the northeast U.S.  Where I live we've never had an earthquake before, and it was an unsettling experience.  At first I thought that my building had been hit by a truck.
> 
> Thankfully no one was hurt (that I'm aware of), and there's no structural damage visible at my home or workplace.



Yeah, I didn't think we got those in Pittsburgh. I was wrong, apparently, even though I missed out on something I wanted to experience because my couch where I was sitting at the time had some pretty big cushions - big enough to negate tremors apparently. I'm sad.

Although they said it happened in virginia or somewhere near D.C..... I'm guessing the government was trying to build something crazy underground or some terrorist plot was just covered up. It's all too strange to have one here. But who knows, maybe we were long due for one!


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## Codey Amprim (Aug 23, 2011)

Map the Dragon said:


> Southern Colorado got hit as well with its own 5.5...weird for the area.



My god. I just had the strangest of ideas. Since that's relatively near Area 51 (don't quote me, please.) and the quake near me was by D.C. ... What if we just discovered teleportation and that was the side effect/effect due to our current technology? My god I just came up with a good novel story, lmao.

Strange, indeed.


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## Ravana (Aug 23, 2011)

Xanados said:


> Shocking! I think that The Blue Lotus felt it as well. We don't get any of that mumbo-jumbo here in the United Kindgom.



You just keep telling yourself that… and keep your fingers crossed behind your back when you do.  The UK is closer to a tectonic plate edge than this was. Wait until the next time Iceland gets a good one, and see if you feel it. It may be less likely where you are, but nowhere is immune–I doubt if anyone who's lived his entire life on the East Coast of the US has felt an earthquake before, certainly not one that left any kind of impression.

Those of us in the Midwest generally don't concern ourselves about such things, either–or wouldn't, except for the fact that most of us are familiar with the name "New Madrid".…


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## Shadoe (Aug 23, 2011)

I think it was felt here in NY, but I slept through it. Felt the one we had last year, though.


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## Leuco (Aug 24, 2011)

Ravana said:


> You just keep telling yourself that… and keep your fingers crossed behind your back when you do.  The UK is closer to a tectonic plate edge than this was.



I live in LA, and we're still waiting for the Big One. We haven't had anything bigger than 6.0 in a while. You know we actually do earthquake drills in schools here. Maybe they'll start doing those on the east coast. Do they do those in the schools in Europe?


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## Shadoe (Aug 24, 2011)

There's no real point to do earthquake drills in the east. We don't get get anything more than a little shake. Just enough for everyone to stop and get a puzzled look. "Did the building just shake?"


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## Wolfen (Aug 24, 2011)

*Eathquake*

The scientists think the reason it carried so far was because the ground over here is harder compared to over in California. They also say to expect some aftershocks.


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## Argentum (Aug 25, 2011)

Every time I see this thread "My first earthquake!" It makes me wanna go "Congrats, man! Take any pictures or vids? How'd you celebrate?"

I'm glad you're safe though.


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## The Blue Lotus (Aug 25, 2011)

Yea I am located about 50 miles from the epi center...
I was typing out and spell checking a reply to a post here when it hit. I looked up and the left half of my living room was a good foot higher than the right half and then it switched all at once. 
Needless to say I dropped the lappie and ran!. 

Having lived in LA I knew what it was but I have lived on this coast my whole life save for 2 yrs spent in LA.

I have NEVER felt one here. We have falt lines but this side is older, colder, and denser than in CA. 

Also in CA they don't travel as far as this one did, this one was felt from GA all the way into Canada, mainly because the plate over here is one large piece not a billion little ones like over there. My baby sister felt it in Broklyn, MI, and my Auntie was on vaca in Chicago and felt it there as well.

Cell service was wacky, phones were being weird. 
Happily I my net was working so I was able to connect with my family on FB and Twitter. I was worried about my grandpa because he lives out in the middle of no place alone on his farm 

What if he had been on the tractor and lost his balance, or worse? 
My neighbor was trying to reach her kids who were on the football field, her girl was as piano practice, Poor dear was in tears. So I let her use my voip office line as soon as they said we could enter the apartment. 
So any time I see someone making light of 'oh it was just 5.9 we eat them for breakkie' type coments, it tends to make me want to slap the poster... remember if someone has never felt one before it can be very frightening. That and when you take in to account the fact that we have not had one here in 100+ years... buildings are not designed to handel these shakers over here. Apartments were evaced some were condemed. Really it is sad. 

There should be a standard across the US for building codes. I was stuck outside for over an hour with out shoes on because we were not allowed back in until someone cleared the building...


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## Philip Overby (Aug 25, 2011)

Here in Japan we're hit by constant earthquakes.  It's just unrelenting.  The building codes here are among the best in the world though.  I can't imagine how many people would have died when that 9.0 hit if not for the strict building codes here.  Could have been hundreds of thousands.  It was the tsunami that was the real problem.  I feel ill just watching any footage of the tsunami so I just try not to watch it.

In any case, I know the stress and panic of dealing with earthquakes, so you guys stay safe wherever you are.


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## The Blue Lotus (Aug 25, 2011)

Ouch Phil, you be safe k. We are not hearing a lot of news about what is going on in Japan these days feel free to update us!


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## Shadoe (Aug 25, 2011)

Last year, when we had one in NY, I was at a nuclear plant. That was a tad worrisome, but we were all thrilled to say the emergency systems kicked in just as they were supposed to and we shut down in an orderly fashion.  Oh, and all the nuke plants during this earthquake shut down just as they were supposed to as well.


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## Chilari (Aug 26, 2011)

Xanados said:


> Shocking! I think that The Blue Lotus felt it as well. We don't get any of that mumbo-jumbo here in the United Kindgom.



We get hundreds of earthquakes a year in the UK, it's just that most are under 3.0 magnitude and the only people who feel them are farmers and villagers living within a few miles. One or two a year are big enough to cause minor property damage like knocking slates off rooves. I've experienced 2 of about magnitude 4.2 in my life time, both during the night, which is unsettling when you're still half asleep and don't know what's going on. I think in an earthquake as big as this, 5.9, I'd have been a mess of panic and fear.

Generally developed countries have good structural engineering designed to absorb earthquake shocks, so I can't imagine the US east coast having too much trouble from that sort of stuff, but you never know, particularly with old buildings, buildings never intended to be permanent, and in places containing lots of stuff not fixed down. Good to hear you're safe, Black Dragon.


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## grahamguitarman (Sep 3, 2011)

Chilari said:


> We get hundreds of earthquakes a year in the UK, it's just that most are under 3.0 magnitude and the only people who feel them are farmers and villagers living within a few miles. One or two a year are big enough to cause minor property damage like knocking slates off rooves. I've experienced 2 of about magnitude 4.2 in my life time, both during the night, which is unsettling when you're still half asleep and don't know what's going on. I think in an earthquake as big as this, 5.9, I'd have been a mess of panic and fear.
> 
> Generally developed countries have good structural engineering designed to absorb earthquake shocks, so I can't imagine the US east coast having too much trouble from that sort of stuff, but you never know, particularly with old buildings, buildings never intended to be permanent, and in places containing lots of stuff not fixed down. Good to hear you're safe, Black Dragon.



Yeah we get earthquakes all the time, here in the UK we tend to think of these things as happening elswhere, when in reality its just that we don't get them as strongly.

I remember a couple of years back while sat watching TV in the evening, the settee started to rock from side to side and car alarms started to go off, courtesy of an earthquake, quite an usettling but sort of exiting experience.  

Same with tornadoes really we tend to associate them with the american midwest but we actually get them all the time over here, just not as destructive - though I do remember witnessing a tornado near skegness in lincolnshire that I later learned had picked up a large metal container with workmen inside and sent them flying into a quarry.  And one time a scaffold built by the company I used to work for was blown over by a Tornado narrowly missing a passing car!

Never pays to be too complacent about the enviornment you live in - it may just bite you when you least expect it LOL


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## Justin Miller (Sep 6, 2011)

Black Dragon said:


> We just got hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake here in the northeast U.S.  Where I live we've never had an earthquake before, and it was an unsettling experience.  At first I thought that my building had been hit by a truck.
> 
> Thankfully no one was hurt (that I'm aware of), and there's no structural damage visible at my home or workplace.


You must live close to me! We just went through the same thing together! though I was driving and didn't feel anything... I came to work and everything was off-center from what I am used to. It was very odd for me.


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## Meg the Healer (Sep 15, 2011)

Black Dragon said:


> We just got hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake here in the northeast U.S.  Where I live we've never had an earthquake before, and it was an unsettling experience.  At first I thought that my building had been hit by a truck.
> 
> Thankfully no one was hurt (that I'm aware of), and there's no structural damage visible at my home or workplace.



That is weird. I remember my first earthquake and I thought the same things. It felt like our house had been hit by something and there was a loud explosion-like sound - but when my brother and I went out to investigate - there wasn't anything. I sometimes wonder if we were imagining it....


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