Earthquake on the East Coast

[MacAttack]

Cali cant bite my a$$ their building codes are made to withstand a earthquake. VA still has homes built in the 1700s. The quake was enough to trigger
the auto shutdown of 2 nuke power plants. You should be thankful that VA isn't in the same boat as Japan right now.

Also I am amazed by the number of people that didn't notice the earthquake. I have to wonder is this a statement of the self centered nature of the world now.
Were these people so tied up with cellphones and playstations that they really did not notice the earth move or the dizzy almost drunk feel that came with it?
Think of how this would effect a bug out? My mom-in-law didn't notice a thing, busy watching her soaps, until the breaking news started.

I'm so sorry we have disappointed you.


I wonder if any preppers have locked themselves in their BOL until the smoke and radiation from those Nuke plants clears? Don't believe the government, they are leaking. Just walk by close with a Geiger counter.

Power is out, cell towers are not working, people are robbing stores, OH MY GOD SOCIETY IS COLLAPSING!!!!!
This looked like the most orderly apocalypse in history.

[NoAm]

I was helping a friend at work today. Those of us in the office, felt the quake. The servicemen that were driving however, did not. They all thought we were totally crazy, until I pulling it up on the internet.

[NYKh]

Power is out, cell towers are not working, people are robbing stores, OH MY GOD SOCIETY IS COLLAPSING!!!!!
This looked like the most orderly apocalypse in history.

And it was televised.......

[Persistent Nomad]

I was in the office (one-story business/industrial park building in PG County) and thought someone was walking on our roof. Heck of a loud noise. I stood up and walked towards one of the offices to look out the window to see if there was a strong wind and, noticing none, suddenly realized it was an earthquake. My first reaction was to get underneath a desk where I waited until the shaking subsided.

Mrs. Nomad got a call through before the phone lines became congested. The only thing that fell down in the house was a jar from the top of the refrigerator

Having everything shaking around, above and beneath you is quite the experience.

[Finch]

Were these people so tied up with cellphones and playstations that they really did not notice the earth move or the dizzy almost drunk feel that came with it?
Think of how this would effect a bug out? My mom-in-law didn't notice a thing, busy watching her soaps, until the breaking news started.

1. Some of us were working
2. Popped up on foxnew within 5 mins

[blackbilly]

Didn't feel a damn thing. I was sitting in my shop when I heard about it over the radio. They were running a rock crusher outside, so maybe that's why. Damn I missed it.

[Hannibal]

Were these people so tied up with cellphones and playstations that they really did not notice the earth move or the dizzy almost drunk feel that came with it?
Think of how this would effect a bug out? My mom-in-law didn't notice a thing, busy watching her soaps, until the breaking news started.

1. Some of us were working
2. Popped up on foxnew within 5 mins

No kidding, I was 45 feet in the air working on splicing in a fiber node and didn't even realize it was happening- those poles sway even on the most calm days. Of course I was outside if Philadelphia, in an area of almost complete solid rock. Don't know if that dampened it, but even in my precarious position, it wasn't that noticeable.

I did get a chance to test out my alternative comms tho! Cell service was jammed up so I switched to my bug out comms just to test, and behold my bug out buddies were jumping on and monitoring it! Yay planning!

[redcrow]

See that proves my point you guys were so tied up with working that you didn't notice anything.
The Cali commit I made was about the number of people with the attitude of "Stop being a pansy, little 5.8 quake is nothing."
Instead teasing us East Coasters maybe we should be using this as a teaching tool to get more people to prep. Laughing does nothing
but piss people off and turn them away from what we are trying to do. Hell look how pissed you guys got after I said bite my a$$.
Maybe I went about it the wrong way, but you guys didn't like that as much as I didn't like the attitude. The fact is that Cali buildings
are build to withstand quakes, VA buildings are not.

I can understand if someone was asleep, but working is no excuse things like this are how muggings happen. If you didn't notice
the Earth moving, chruch bells ringing, chandaleers and ceiling fans swinging about, and water in glasses or fish tanks splashing
around...well how exactly are you going to notice the mugger walking up? Hopefully this makes you think instead of getting mad and
just disregarding what I'm trying to say.

[Blacksmith]

They say the monument is leaning. Here is a live camera view:

http://www.wwashingtondcviews.com/

I can't tell if it is leaning or not. Maybe.

Note that you have to reload for updates.

At first glance, it does look to be tilting. But when you look at the flag poles around the base, it doesn't seem to be.

I reloaded after about 5 minutes and the clouds hadn't moved. I wonder if it's a still shot.

Nah, it is dark there now. I reloaded a couple of times and the clouds moved.

[Confucius]

See that proves my point you guys were so tied up with working that you didn't notice anything.
The Cali commit I made was about the number of people with the attitude of "Stop being a pansy, little 5.8 quake is nothing."
Instead teasing us East Coasters maybe we should be using this as a teaching tool to get more people to prep. Laughing does nothing
but piss people off and turn them away from what we are trying to do. Hell look how pissed you guys got after I said bite my a$$.
Maybe I went about it the wrong way, but you guys didn't like that as much as I didn't like the attitude. The fact is that Cali buildings
are build to withstand quakes, VA buildings are not.

I can understand if someone was asleep, but working is no excuse things like this are how muggings happen. If you didn't notice
the Earth moving, chruch bells ringing, chandaleers and ceiling fans swinging about, and water in glasses or fish tanks splashing
around...well how exactly are you going to notice the mugger walking up? Hopefully this makes you think instead of getting mad and
just disregarding what I'm trying to say.

For what it's worth, not all the buildings in California are earthquake proof. In 2003 when we had a 6.5, we lost quite a few buildings and a few people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_San_Simeon_earthquake

Lost a lot of wine too...

[Oneswunk]

[rhi]

OK, so fortunately this turned out to be a relatively minor event. Let's talk a little bit about lessons learned.

Here's mine:
1. Keeping the cell numbers of your local ZSers in your phone is a good idea. I was able to reach out to text some local members and establish communications. Things to do better: put those names in some type of group so I'm not fat fingering the phone trying to type in individual names. Do the same with family members.
2. As mentioned before here and elsewhere, text seems to have a better shot at getting through than voice or data comms.
3. Have some cash on hand and in the GHB. I was surprised how quickly the ATMs at work went tango uniform. I walked by one not 3 minutes after the shake and it was already offline. I'm guessing that when comms are interrupted, they go into some type of "safe mode". This only lasted about an hour, but the take-away is that they'll go down very quickly.
4. The response to the event is often worse than the event. We had several folks literally running through the halls screaming. Really. It looks like the traffic in the DC/MD/NoVA area is terrible. Need to plan for the reaction at least as much as the event itself.

That's what I've got...

[Blacksmith]

[basm]

Did not feel a thing here in the Bean. I live in a 150 year old house and felt nothing. I had my windows open all day and pretty much laid in bed reading. It was a beautiful day.

Boston Globe says a few buildings were evac'ed but no damage or fires were reported. Come to think of it, the fire house a block from me did kinda go bananas about 2 o'clock, which kind of got my attention, but they went off in another direction so I went back to reading.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/ ... index.html

[redcrow]

Things I learned from this...

Well My cellphone didn't work for about 2 hrs and then it was only TXT messages but only to people that had cell service though
another company. 1 of the other cell companies had no service at all.

Next just like in a hurricane people went out to look for/at damage.

Also even with 2 of the 3 nuke power plants in the state shut down no one lost power.

College prepared me pretty good for walking around with the dizzy drunk-like feeling that started shortly before the rumble hit.
Also some people in my city reported the same drunk feeling hours later. Is this feeling "normal" for a quake?

Oh and Crime went up...lots of robberies cause the criminals felt that the police would be tied up with the quake, which they were.

[Impus]

Was in Northwest New Jersey for the event, and didn't notice a thing. The fact that I was 30' off the ground, in a tree, fucking shit up with a chainsaw might have had something to do with that...

[Caffiend]

Was just out of the shower on the 4th floor in Queens, NY. Felt something odd, at first I thought it was construction upstairs. Then I thought maybe a truck had hit the building. Heard a few noises in the kitchen, so then I thought someone had broken in... but I never considered the possibility it could be an earthquake.

By the time I had checked what had caused the noises in the kitchen and bedroom (a few odds and ends falling off shelves) and grabbed some clothes it was over. All in all I don't think it could have lasted more than 30-45 seconds but I came away with the following thoughts:

-Apparently my apartment building is made of some weak-ass materials; I felt it shaking considerably and people in nearby buildings felt nothing.
-I wasted a lot of reaction time trying to figure out what it was, because again, I never thought it could be an earthquake. If this had been a more severe quake the time I spent dismissing it as construction, and checking the apartment for intruders instead of grabbing the BOB and tucking some clothes under my arm could make a substantial difference in how things turn out for me.

[airballrad]

I was standing in my boss's office talking about hurricane preps (heh), and thought they were blowing stuff up on the range. Then it didn't stop. Then I saw the power lines outside the window swaying. He decided it was a good idea to telecommute for the last few hours of the day, and I followed his lead. Our office building was a warehouse built during the spin up of WWI, and is a bit worrying on a good day.

[RickOShea]

[AgentBlack]

I was driving at the time and felt nothing...
But it was enough for a temp evac of the jacksonville VA clinic.

[Oneswunk]

Some of the local responses to this miner event really worries me about there ever being a major event.

Good reason to spread the word about ZS.

[Bakeel]

Was working in a basement, felt and got to see the house move from the inside. It was interesting. Looked at my brother and said, "earthquake, I guess?" A minute later we could hear all the people in the neighborhood outside talking. We decided to step out and chat for a few.

rhi: look into the (Group me) app it lets you set up groups via text. You can receive the messages via push email, or text. It is handy, it is how me and some of my buddies set up our monthly geek night.

[Rev]

Roommate said his bed shook. I was asleep.

[zygotesix]

Felt it clearly in central NJ. I was working in my home office, and it felt like my office chair was rolling back and forth slightly. I thought I was about to pass out and it was all in my head. Then my computer monitor and tv started wobbling back and forth, and the venetian blinds started bouncing around for a few minutes. It was mild but it was almost perfectly rythmic, kinda odd. Then it passed and I decided to find out what I had just sat through.

My girlfriend was napping in the bedroom and slept through it. I swear she'll sleep through the end of the world and then get mad at me when I wake her up to let her know she missed it.