Shaken, Not Stirred

At just before 2:00p today, the Washington DC area experienced something quite unusual. An EARTHQUAKE! Not just a little temblor, mind you; but a rather strong Magnitude 5.8 earthquake. I won’t use the word panic, but to say that fear ran rampant for a while would not be much of an exaggeration.

I was in a meeting at work when I sensed a slight movement. I didn’t give it much thought at first. Such movements are not unusual in our building, which seems to shudder a bit anytime a big rig goes by. In the next second, the movement seemed to gather a bit more momentum. Then, I heard it. The slow, deep rumbling that grows ever-louder as it travels from the underground in parallel with a quake. That’s when I knew for sure that we were in the midst of being shaken by an earthquake.

One of the worst aspects of being in an earthquake is the confusion. If you’ve not been in one before, you’re not sure what’s happening. It’s difficult to comprehend the movement and sound as being a force of nature. Having grown up in an earthquake-prone area, I had an advantage over others in the office. I knew what was happening. As the shaking grew steadier and stronger, I grabbed my co-worker and pulled her to stand under the door jamb with me. As others came out of neighboring offices — some more calmly than others — I told them to either stand under door jambs or crawl under desks.

[collage compiled from images from the USGS website]

I don’t know how long the quake lasted, but it seemed like an eternity. I’m not embarrassed to admit that by the time it was over, my hands and legs were shaking in a mini-quake of their own. Just because I’ve been in earthquakes before doesn’t mean that I’m used to them. Or that I wait them out calmly. Just ask my mother how I railed at Mother Nature, shouting “Enough already,” when a particularly strong quake we experienced when I was in high school was followed by what seemed like un-ending aftershocks.

Following today’s quake, we were evacuated briefly while the engineers checked to make sure the building was structurally sound. By 2:30p, the all clear was given. I returned to my 5th floor office to finish the last half-hour of my workday before heading home.

As I unlocked the door to the condo, I wasn’t sure what I would find. Would all the breakables be on the floor, shattered to bits? I had not used earthquake putty to secure them to the shelves on which they were displayed. Why would I? We weren’t living in an earthquake-prone area. A few minutes later, I had my answer. The damage was minimal. Yes there were items strewn about. Yes, some things had fallen off shelves and out of cabinets. But only one thing was broken — a pottery cookie jar that was a gift from my mother.

No; I'm not in the habit of leaving drawers and cabinets open!

Left: Good thing the soil was dry; easily cleaned up with the vacuum.
Right: Ouch! That knife could have done some damage.

the skewed and the fallen
one of the oddest sights to greet my eyes was the “evil eye” on the wall; somehow
it managed to flip itself over during the quake without falling to the floor.
(the inset shows the way the evil eye should have been hanging.)
and what about my Elephant candlestick leaning drunkenly on the mantel!

shattered to pieces, the cookie jar was with the other items on top of the cabinets,
some toppled over, while others remained upright.

In a not so pleasant coincidence, 26 years ago today, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit China, killing over 70 people, injuring 162, leaving 150,000 homeless, and destroying 85% of the buildings in the Wuqia-Shufu area.

Considering the destructive power of this force of nature, our earthquake experience today was just a little shake, rattle, and roll. Something for which to be grateful.