Earthquake - wow!

That was a big one! 5.9 from what I hear and the first one of a large magnitude in the NY metro area since I've been here (21 yrs). We've had small tremors before, but this was like a CA earthquake. Our building actually swayed. It was pretty scary!

We felt it here too. My kitchen chairs skittled across the floor. It was freaky!!

There's a bunch of news trucks parked up the street -- they love Dr. Kate Hutton, the "Earthquake Lady". A 5.8 is only dangerous where construction standards are fairly poor, and would warrant only modest drama locally, but I gather they evacuated most of DC! I hear there is no serious damage. It's a novelty on the East Coast for sure, though! You're actually long overdue for a HUGE quake, but they only happen every thousand years or so if I recall correctly. Smaller quakes can be considered good because they relieve stress on faults. Sure has caused a ton of excitement!

I was at the vet's office last week and thought quite a sizeable earthquake had happened -- turned out to be construction, they were digging up asphalt next door! Apparently wreaked havoc with use of the microscope...

I felt it! I was so excited!

KayLayUh wrote:

I felt it! I was so excited!

I used to really enjoy earthquakes! Then I had to deal with some significant damage from the Northridge one, and it took a while to find them fun again.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

KayLayUh wrote:

I felt it! I was so excited!

I used to really enjoy earthquakes! Then I had to deal with some significant damage from the Northridge one, and it took a while to find them fun again.

I was at work when it happened and none of us had ever felt one before. Since our stereo system was up so loud and it was on the floor, I thought it was just the bass from the song that just turned on! It wasn't until we saw the lights moving that we realized it was an earthquake.

I've always wanted to feel one. But now it's like the apocolypse for the northeast... earthquake and now Hurricane Irene.

I didnt even notice it. But maybe thats cus I spent my whole childhood in California where we have them a lot! But my neighbors felt it!

It was so funny, one of my friends here in Ca posted a status about it and I just looked at it sideways for a second. Thinking,"5.9? Eh...that's not all that big really..." then I saw that it wasn't down in earthquake country LA. Not sure the building standards in the area. Wonder if they're going to retro fit now. LOL

Welcome to the fam guys! lol

Husband and I were down visiting and he HATES earthquakes, he will tell you that it's an irrational fear. Littl 3.something and he sits straight up and goes, "earthquake." I just told him to go back to sleep. LOL

MandaDPanda wrote:

It was so funny, one of my friends here in Ca posted a status about it and I just looked at it sideways for a second. Thinking,"5.9? Eh...that's not all that big really..." then I saw that it wasn't down in earthquake country LA. Not sure the building standards in the area. Wonder if they're going to retro fit now. LOL

Welcome to the fam guys! lol

Husband and I were down visiting and he HATES earthquakes, he will tell you that it's an irrational fear. Littl 3.something and he sits straight up and goes, "earthquake." I just told him to go back to sleep. LOL

Aside from the fact that our building codes are much different on the east coast than they are on the west, a 5.9 here is more dangerous because of the crust composition in this area versus the west coast. From what I remember reading, the composition here magnifies the waves and makes the earthquake seem much stronger than the would otherwise. Also, they're much more likely to be shallow earthquakes, whereas the west coast gets much deeper ones because the plates slide under one another rather than crash into eachother.



Buildings here are made with wood structures and brick.. a lot. Apparently, this isn't very good for earthquake readiness. I've noticed a crack in my plaster, too. But nothing too major has been found.



Honestly, I realized it was an earthquake probably 5 minutes after it happened. I thought it was the song on the radio causing the floor to shake a bit because our stereo system was so loud and I was sitting right next to it. Then I saw the lights moving and thought it could've been our delivery truck running into the back of our building. It wasn't until my coworkers and I looked outside and saw nothing that we realized it was an earthquake and not something else.



I still don't understand why everyone was running outside, though. Maybe if I were at home, I would've stood up and looked out my windows to see what was going on, but I wouldn't have evacuated the building. I was more confused as to what I was feeling than anything because I've never felt one before and it didn't really last long enough to register that it was an earthquake and not the music or our truck, lol!

KayLayUh wrote:

MandaDPanda wrote:

It was so funny, one of my friends here in Ca posted a status about it and I just looked at it sideways for a second. Thinking,"5.9? Eh...that's not all that big really..." then I saw that it wasn't down in earthquake country LA. Not sure the building standards in the area. Wonder if they're going to retro fit now. LOL

Welcome to the fam guys! lol

Husband and I were down visiting and he HATES earthquakes, he will tell you that it's an irrational fear. Littl 3.something and he sits straight up and goes, "earthquake." I just told him to go back to sleep. LOL

Aside from the fact that our building codes are much different on the east coast than they are on the west, a 5.9 here is more dangerous because of the crust composition in this area versus the west coast. From what I remember reading, the composition here magnifies the waves and makes the earthquake seem much stronger than the would otherwise. Also, they're much more likely to be shallow earthquakes, whereas the west coast gets much deeper ones because the plates slide under one another rather than crash into eachother.



Buildings here are made with wood structures and brick.. a lot. Apparently, this isn't very good for earthquake readiness. I've noticed a crack in my plaster, too. But nothing too major has been found.



Honestly, I realized it was an earthquake probably 5 minutes after it happened. I thought it was the song on the radio causing the floor to shake a bit because our stereo system was so loud and I was sitting right next to it. Then I saw the lights moving and thought it could've been our delivery truck running into the back of our building. It wasn't until my coworkers and I looked outside and saw nothing that we realized it was an earthquake and not something else.



I still don't understand why everyone was running outside, though. Maybe if I were at home, I would've stood up and looked out my windows to see what was going on, but I wouldn't have evacuated the building. I was more confused as to what I was feeling than anything because I've never felt one before and it didn't really last long enough to register that it was an earthquake and not the music or our truck, lol!

That's why I was confused why there was so much hubbub about it until I realized it wasn't here. Things are a lot different on that side of the continent and earthquakes are just part of life really. The land isn't made for it as much and the buildings and things people make aren't made for it at all. There are buildings here that are on rollers...seriously!

Earthquakes normally don't last long enough to really mean much...it's really just a jump up and out of bed kind of reaction when you're from SoCal. We've had a few that seemed to last forever. The running outside can be a safe thing, in that area, I'm not so sure. With the way the land can open up...you can never be too careful. Generally, if it's a big one out here, you run to the outter most part of the building or jump under a table. If the structure does come down, you don't want to be inside, even in a doorway in the middle of the house. My mom used to push us to the sliding glass door at my grandparents house when there were rollers and shakers when I was little. Most of the time the lights would sway and you'd feel a roll, sometimes that roll was followed by a bigger one.

Must be interesting for people that have never felt them before...

MandaDPanda wrote:

Must be interesting for people that have never felt them before...

It took my coworkers calling around to see if anyone else felt it to realize it was an earthquake. If no one else had, I think we would've thought a gas line exploded nearby.



I was surprised how gentle the rolling was.

KayLayUh wrote:

I was surprised how gentle the rolling was.

I can now fairly accurately predict magnitude and distance from epicenter by the nature of the motion. The closer to the epicenter, the more likely you are to feel a sharp jerk or jolting motion. Liquefaction aside, a fairly large quake with an epicenter a long way away (say 20 miles) feels like a prolonged rolling and the longer it goes on, the bigger the event was. The actual distance the ground moves at the fault, for the most common quake types, tops out at 5.something I believe. Beyond that the main contributor to magnitude (which is a measure of the energy dissipated) is the duration of the shaking.

I was once up late in a coffeeshop cramming for an exam when there was a 6.something about 50 miles away or so. My truck was parked basically right outside the window of the booth in which I was sitting, more or less at eye level since the building was somewhat sunken. It litereally looked the way a boat does when it's moored, sort of gently rocking and bobbing. Very surreal. But kinda cool.