I Feel the Earth Move

Us East Coast folks had quite a scare today, most especially in Virginia. I live about 100 miles from the epicenter of today's earthquake, a 5.9 magnitude quake. It was the biggest in Virginia since 1879. I thought I'd share my funny little story about my experience with it.

I was interviewing two people, standing on a sidewalk. I began to feel like I was swaying, and immediately thought I hadn't eaten enough at lunch. I felt a little dizzy (probably from the shaking!) and thought, "Okay, Amber, just get through this interview and then worry."

I looked down at the sidewalk and sort of stared at the bricks, looking to see if maybe something was wrong with the ones I was standing on. Nope, but I did see a shaking shadow and looked up to see that the lamppost was swaying. Not even thinking, I stepped out of its shadow and didn't say a word to the folks I was standing with!

It passed and the girl went to answer another question, and the man went to answer his phone. He wandered back and said, "This might be embarrassing, but did you feel like you were shaking just now?" I said, "YES! You, too?!" He said he did, but he thought he might not have had enough to eat that day. The girl wandered over and asked if we had felt it. She said her first thought was, "I only had two glasses of wine last night!"

I thought it was a pretty crazy reaction, sociologically. Three people enduring an earthquake, all believing they were about to pass out, and not saying a word about it.

How about you? If you live on the East Coast, did you feel it? If not, do you have any funny earthquake stories?