Tuesday had a few scary moments when the earthquake occurred in Virginia. I was at work, about forty miles from the epicenter. Based on the Richter scale, it was a moderate earthquake which is defined in Wikipedia as:
Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings.
But when you’re on the sixth floor of a glass building with research labs several floors down, and the building start shaking the first thought is – did something happen downstairs? But when the shaking doesn’t stop, those of us not from Virginia start asking do earthquakes happen here? And the Virginia natives replied – not like that!
About half of us evacuated the building, the rest watching us from upstairs. I lived in upstate New York when the towers came down, so I kept moving further and further down the driveway. If something was going to happen, I didn’t want to be close to it.
It was scary and creepy, although surprising that it was actually enough to make all the major media within minutes. It truly was a big deal.
Here’s the front of the office building where I work.
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A Daily Life 
August 25, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Feeling fear in a building like that during a earthquake makes sense to me.
I have felt 2 tiny tiny earthquakes in my lifetime. The first was at a musical rehearsal with H.S. students my 1st year out of college — I was so glad I was working with another teacher who had years of experience. The second was a few years later when I was living on my own. I was still in bed & wondered about my sanity until I turned the radio on and heard that the quake was real.
My husband went to grad school & taught for a couple of years in the California Bay area. I has told me tales of racing down the stairs of high rise classroom building when there were tremors. He has a serious respect (fear) of quakes.
September 10, 2011 at 11:23 pm
The earthquakes have usually been at night while we’re asleep. This was a big first for us and I’d be happy to not repeat it. Same with the hurricanes :)
August 26, 2011 at 9:16 am
I’m sure that was scary, particularly since it was unexpected. I have never experienced an earthquake, but having lived in Florida for my entire life, I have seen my share of hurricanes and similar storms. My motto is “don’t mess around with mother nature”. Glad everyone was safe!
September 10, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Thanks Traci! Yeah, between the earthquake and hurricane, plus the earlier tornadoes leveling towns just west of us, it’s been a nasty year for weather.