holy crap..... earthquake!!!!!

[bird]

OK, I'm sure some of you are used to earthquakes...... however, I am NOT one of those persons!!!!!!!!!  Thank goodness it didn't occur to me that it could be some bomb  (I can only imagine what those poor folks were thinking in DC and New York city)!   I'm only 20 miles or so away from Mineral, VA.... where I guess this started.
     Thank goodness my friend, Bear, was here! It was INCREDIBLY loud and lasted about 80 seconds, which felt like forever. I'm guessing there will be aftershocks. It scared me to death! I'm sure that sounds funny to most of you, but I've never been in an earthquake before. We don't generally get them on the East coast. In fact, I think the last time there was a significant one around here was in the mid 1800s.
      Another unfortunate thing is that lake Anna (where a nuclear power plant is) was only 15 miles or so from the quake ("epi center?") . Japan has not left me with an easy feeling about that. None of the phones are working here..... which means my poor parents must be worried to death about me..... I'm not sure why... but, that's what parents do.
     The power of Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me..... the whole earth shaking.... really?  That's completely incomprehensible to me. Anyhow, this is a random post, I know. I hope everyone is doing well,
cheers, bird

[keykeeper]

We felt it over here on the western side of WV, bird. Freaked us all out a little, to say the least.

[ray]

My wife and I were at the hospital,that is located in central lower Michigan, for my monthly treatments. When she ask " Did the building just shake" , I didn't feel it as I was setting in a recliner, That is some 600 +miles away, The power to do that is awesome !

Ray

[bonneyman]

We just heard about it on the news. Everybody from Tool Talk in the affected areas OK?

[Lewill2]

I'm in Fort Wayne IN for work but my wife said she felt it in Bucks Co PA North of Philly. My son in Baltimore MD felt it and all are ok.

[Papaw]

Didn't feel it in Texas, but I was sleeping.

[J.A.F.E.]

I'm glad you're ok and hope everyone else is as well. Unfortunately we get them here and I can say it is very unsettling to me.

[bird]

glad everyone is OK.  I've had to pick a few pictures up, and find a new frame for a few of them....
cheers,
bird

[Branson]

What was the Richter scale number? 
I'm used to quakes, living in California.  Been through more than I think to count.  The first one took down something like 40% of my home town.  Took down the entire town of Tehachipi. 

Yeah, a bigger one does feel like a bomb.  Back around '72 I was shaken awake on morning, and thought there was a big quake.  Wondered if San Francisco had been demolished.  Turned out, though, that a train load of bombs bound for Viet-Nam had exploded about 15 miles away.  Wayne will probably remember that one.

A safety note:  If you get in a quake, do not do as you are generally told.  Do not get under tables or desks and such.  Get next to them.  They can get crushed, and you too, if you are underneath.  But there is a "triangle of safety" next to them -- a space created by their bulk when they are crushed.

[Wrenchmensch]

We were out on Chesapeake Bay sailing away when the quake hit.  There was no perceptible shock wave, no tsunami, just a brilliant day with a southerly wind all day long.  For those of you who are metrically inclined, I experienced a 9.2 great earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska on March 27, 1964. It lasted 5 1/2 minutes. It put the fear of God into everyone who experienced it, and survived it.  It was easily the peak natural experience of my life. I lived with hundreds of strong aftershocks, and the terror of fellow troopers who experienced them along with me, in the months following this earthquake.