My First Earthquake
FOR MAPS & POSTS ABOUT HURRICANE IRENE, PLEASE SEE MY FACEBOOK PAGE!
Unless you live under a rock -- wait a minute, especially if you live under a rock, you know that a strong earthquake hit Virginia (maybe the largest ever there) this afternoon. We felt it here at AccuWeather HQ, and it was FREAKY.
The 5.9 quake was felt from at least South Carolina to Massachusetts, as shown by this "Did you feel it?" public report map (if you felt it, please file your report there). I was sitting at my desk at AccuWeather HQ, covering Hurricane Irene, at 1:52 PM. My desk began to gently sway. I should explain first that I live on a weak part of the floor structure here, and sometimes when people walk by my desk, it shakes.
"But why," I thought, "is it happening so slowly?" Perhaps some coworker was pulling a prank on me. When I poked my head up out of the cubicle farm, other people were furrowing their brows and looking around - then I realized the lights hung from the ceiling above the green screen had started to sway. So may things went through my mind - some kind of construction? A crash? "Earthquake" didn't immediately cross my mind, because I've never experienced one.
It was a very odd, uncomfortable feeling. I have always said that earthquakes make me uncomfortable because you can't "run" from them, like you can (potentially) with other disasters. Penn State offers this seismograph recording of the event:
Was this your first earthquake?
Report a Typo
