laugh, one of the buildings I work at had huge cracks in the walls.
Was at my desk and seriously thought it was me about to pass out or something (I’ve gotten dizzy spells and palpitations since my heart surgery last year) until I turned around and saw a co-worker with the same look on his face, hah.
Grabbed my phone, walked briskly to the stairwell (I’m on the 9th floor), opened the door and then went back to my desk to grab my PSP :) Hey, was in the middle of a FF Tactics battle.
One thing to worry about for reals though … Lake Anna Nuclear Power Station is about 10-15 miles away from the epicenter, and is currently “Offline for inspection.”
Cue the Germans.
Our apartment building shook here in PG County, MD. About 10 seconds of pure terror while I grabbed my napping toddler out of bed, blanket and all and carried him and the baby outside. I didn’t know what else to do. Once I started talking to my neighbors and someone with a smart phone checked CNN, things quieted down.
Thank God for the internet, because phones are freaking useless around here during any kind of disaster.
Lol, reddit comes through again:
Devastation in downtown Washington DC following the earthquake
Funny. That is exactly how I felt. “Good grief, I need to start getting more sleep. This vertigo is getting ridiculous.”
Co worker: Hey Eric do you feel that?
Me: Feel wha… oh thats wierd.
Co Worker: Wonder whats going on?
Me: yeah that’s wierd, I wonder if…, HOLY SHIT THE ROOM IS SWAYING
Cue me running for the door.
They closed the building and after about 20 minutes decided to send everyone home. Verizon service was down and I couldn’t call the two kids I had at home alone. Scary shit. I don’t know how you west coasters deal with this so often.
Yep, my office was rocking and rolling for a little bit there. Family members of mine have felt it in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland as well.
Dominion Generation, which operates the North Anna nuclear power station in central Virginia a few miles from the epicenter of the earthquake, is trying to reach operational staff at the plant, according to a company spokesman. Landlines to the plant appear to be down.
Even better.
A client and I felt the slightest bit of swaying up here in Ottawa. He thought I was shaking the table and I thought he was.
I’m surprised that we felt anything way up here.
I don’t know where you guys are getting that - the AP story says the plant shutdown automatically and is on backup generators to maintain the necessary safety measures.
5.9 is not anything that should impact a nuclear power plant.
Damn, hope no one was hurt, and I’m glad y’all are okay from the sound of things. Weird to hear of a quake happening in my old neck of the woods rather than out here. I wonder if we’re due for one, but hope we aren’t.
We are. The 1857 magnitude 7.9 Fort Tejon quake took place about 150 years ago on a stretch of the San Andreas that geologists say cuts loose about every 150 years, for example.
My parents live about three miles from Mineral, VA (the epicenter). After about 45 minutes of trying four different numbers for them I finally got through. Mom says they lost a lamp, but it’s OK because it was ugly and she had wanted to get rid of it for some time.
The North Anna Nuclear plant has shut down a couple reactors “as a precaution”, and that is much more worrisome to me.
For myself, I was up on the 6th floor here in Northern Virginia, and that was quite an experience. Never been in an earthquake before.
5.9 is a moderate quake, and is the largest quake to ever hit the area. It isn’t like the West Coast, where buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes.
It’s pretty lucky that it hit in the open farmland between DC metro area and Richmond, though.
Yeah I’ve felt a couple low rumbling earthquakes, but this was the first that ever made the building I was in move like that.
Spoiler!
I felt it in Raleigh. Our house started shaking rather violently and my wife and I were about to grab the baby and run outside when it stopped.
p.s. the only lasting damage is that it made my hyper-neurotic cat even more neurotic.
We’re not talking about “buildings”, though, we’re talking about a nuclear power plant. Those have much different construction/design standards, including being able to withstand much larger quakes then this. That’s true regardless of where they are built.
And shutdowns after a quake are standard procedure just to be double sure.