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Wow...We just had an earthquake!

PlantAKiss

Moderator Schmoderator Fluorescent fluorite, Engl
We just had an earthquake!! Only about 15 minutes ago. Pretty wild. We don't really get earthquakes here so this is quite an event. Freaked everybody out! Our whole office building started bouncing and shaking. VERY strange feeling. It lasted a pretty long time.

I know earthquakes are terrible and cause great death and damage so thankfully this one was small and I doubt caused any trouble. Too soon to have any information on it yet but I'm sure it will the lead news story.

I'm hoping for some aftershocks.
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I like it when Mother Nature flexes her muscles...as long as no one gets hurt.

Suzanne
 
Hehehe  Earthquakes are very common here. Personally I like them. I get a kick out of watching all the out of town people freak out. Heheh  a little jiggling and everyone thinks its the end of the world. I was here in 89 for the big one that rocked the bay area, aside from all the damage and unfortunate loss of life
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, the actual quake was quite an experience. I was outside in the yard shooting cans off the fence with my pellet rifle when all the sudden the cans all fell off on their own. Thats when I realized we were having a quake and I went out into the street, away from anything that might fall on my head, and watched as the street litterally rolled along like waves on the ocean. It was really quite impressive. We got through without any real major damage (although I lost my entire model collection when my entertainment center in my bedroom fell over and smashed the display case the models were in). Had a few broken dishes, and no power for a day or so, but that was all. My only worry now if we get another quake like that is I have a 55 gallon glass aquarium that I fear may topple or break on the stand if it gets twisted the wrong way. All things considered, I would rather risk the occasional earthquake than to deal with tornados, hurricanes, snow or any of the other things people who dont live in a "quake" area have to deal with.

Steve
 
Really? I didn't notice a thing... I was just eating lunch in the commons w/ a friend following a grueling math exam, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Though I'm sure I'll hear about it on the news tonight. (Of course something cool happens and I get to miss out on it
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).
 
Wow, we never have earthquakes down here in Florida. I guess that's a good thing though...

SF
 
lol  Geez Mike...HOW could you NOT feel THAT?  
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 I've heard it was 4.5 on the Richter scale.  Not sure...preliminary reports are sketchy.  It covered a pretty wide area including Roanoke and Northern Virginia.  I'm waiting to hear where the epicenter was...someone said Goochland County...another said Powhatan County...so not sure yet.

Steve...yeah, you are in an area where they aren't that uncommon.  But here...its very rare and never more than a slight tremor.  A tremor this was NOT!  Major natural events like this are fascinating.  But always a tragedy when lives are lost or there is a devastating damage.  The hurricane here in September was also very unusual and fascinating to experience in itself, but it left tremendous damage and lives were lost so that was VERY bad.

Stilllllll hoping for aftershocks...  
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You are crazy PAK! You want aftershocks...? O'well glad everyone is ok.

Travis
 
I heard the epicenter was 30 miles north of richmond. And I probably did feel it and wrote it off to construction... They've been banging around all the buildings, and they've had a wrecking ball next ot my dorm for the past few days. The jackhammers were also going pretty loudly this morning. I've probably gotten too used to it.

Wouldn't it be funny if VCU turned out to be the epicenter?
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Wow...30 miles north of Richmond?  Meadowview must have been a-rockin'!  lol  
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I was just watching the news, thinking about how when I check the forum, somebody will have already posted about the earthquake. I wish I'd felt it. I've only been through one small (5.1) earthquake and I was inside at the time. The cool thing was, right before the quake, my cousin's dog got all nervous and jumpy (
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WEIRD
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).


Mike
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  • #10
Monkeyman

I heard a coworker of ours was home at the time and just before the quake started, her dog, who was laying beside her, jumped up and started barking and going crazy at the front door. Isn't that wierd? They can sense things like that before it happens. Human's sensory abilities are pretty poor compared to many other animals.
 
  • #11
Hey,
Wow, thats wild. Here in western Washington we'll get one every once in a while. The huge one Seattle had oh, 2 or 3 years ago was like 8.0. But I happened to be in San Fran. when it happened...lol!
Kevin
 
  • #12
Great! I have images of you being swallowed whole down some flaming crack in the earth and you are egging the Gods on. Well, what can I expect from a girl that loves tornado's!!!
Here in Upstate NY the earth behaves itself. All you folk living in quake zones are a brave lot, I think the event would be pretty scary.
 
  • #13
Between this and Isabel I'm starting to think we somehow pissed someone off... (And the indicators for winter don't look good... depending on your perspective
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  • #14
Yay, Suzanne experienced her first earthquake, pretty freaky huh? Its scary when it first starts, you don't know how long it will last and if the shock will get bigger or just remain the same.
 
  • #15
I live just miles from the New Madrid Fault line. This is the area in 1812 there was three 8.0+ scale earthquakes. The ground around here is still pretty active, but alas I haven't been able to feel one, always asleep when they hit. The largest on I think recently was a 4-6 on the richter scale, and it damaged some buildings in some cities to the south of us. They keep saying we are due for another 'big one', but they keep changing the likely hood from less then 100 years to 200 years.
 
  • #16
Supposedly it was felt from northern NC up to NY. I didn't notice a thing here in VA Beach.
 
  • #17
I actually think they're pretty fun. Assuming nobody gets hurt of course. When one of my roommates asked me what an earthquake felt like, I had fun shaking her chair around. I think I would be really scared if I saw a tornado/blizzard/monsoon. It depends on what you're used to. The Northridge one 10 years ago (threw me out of bed) was great for one reason. Here's the story on that one:

You know how you always pray that you don't have to take a final exam? Well, the Northridge one came the day before my high school Chemistry exam. So anyway we were back in class two days later. I was a borderline C-/D+ in this class, as math is not "my thing." We had a large aftershock and had to leave class. When we got back we complained that it wasn't fair we had lost so much time and were interrupted. So, the teacher said that he would only grade us on the questions we answered. So I erased everything on my scantron except for the two answers I knew were positively correct. Voila! 100% on the exam, and a C grade in the class. Heh heh, all those years of praying paid off!
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  • #18
Yep.  The data is coming out now.  The quake measured 4.5 which is just marginally below the point where masonry will fall; the epicenter was 30 miles west (not north) of Richmond in Powhatan county.  It was actually felt in 12 states (I assume that means "felt" in terms of seismographic activity, not necessarily rattling around).  That included NY, Tamlin  
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...as well as Georgia, Tenn. and Kentucky.  It was felt strongly from Raleigh NC to D.C.  It originated 3 miles below the surface of the earth.  The two distinct "shakes" were typical...the first being called the "p-wave"...like a preliminary...the second larger and longer shake was the "shear."  Only 3 hours before our quake, a slightly larger quake occured in southern Sumatra, Indonesia. So I guess some neps got shaken around yesterday too.  
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There were some houses that suffered cracking, but other than that no serious damage thankfully.

So far...no aftershocks.  
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lol That's a hoot Michelle. I wish it had gotten us out of work.
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