posted August 23, 2011 07:45 PM            

"Police evacuated court buildings in the downtown New York City complex and kept people gathered in a nearby park. Eighteen-year-old Valerie Grif, wearing a gold-appliqued wedding gown, was waiting on the sidewalk outside the clerk's office for her groom when she felt the tremor. "I wasn't sure what that was," she said, patting her heart."

posted August 23, 2011 07:50 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shalimar:
P.S. I thought my washing machine was off balance again, lol! Was perplexed when I realized that my machine wasn't even running, then heard about the quake later.

---

posted August 23, 2011 08:08 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lonake:
It's only a 5.8.
Can't be that bad.

"Police evacuated court buildings in the downtown New York City complex and kept people gathered in a nearby park. Eighteen-year-old Valerie Grif, wearing a gold-appliqued wedding gown, was waiting on the sidewalk outside the clerk's office for her groom when she felt the tremor. "I wasn't sure what that was," she said, patting her heart."

^ If you did this in California during a 5.8 people would laugh at you.

---

posted August 24, 2011 10:08 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lonake:
^ My cousin from Texas stayed with me when we had a large earthquake and the gal just about had a heart attack. I slept through most of it and woke up hazy eyed at just the last bit.

Oh and the plates move continuously. Better get used to it.

---

posted August 24, 2011 11:06 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by amowls**:
Well for one thing, buildings on the east coast aren't really built to withstand an earthquake. And most of us haven't felt one before. In fact, most of the people I talked to (that weren't in tall buildings) thought it was just a train passing through at first. Big woop to Cali, no1curr. I'm annoyed at all the west coast people weighing in. Come talk to me when you get some snow or a hurricane.

---

posted August 25, 2011 01:10 AM            

But, I was only paying attention to carrying the casket. I did remember the funeral directer say out of the blue "Keep it level", I'm not to sure if that was when it hit.

People in high rises and condos in downtown Toronto felt it and were evacuated from there buildings.

I'm pretty sure that I was at the farthest point that you can still feel it. I was in the Toronto area.

Thats the third earthquake in a year for me thankfully, none of them were devestating.

posted August 25, 2011 08:41 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by meow:
I felt it... in Ontario Canada

---

meowwww. Oops. Sorry Miss Kitty......

posted August 26, 2011 09:54 PM            

"I thought it was a train going by" or
"I got a little dizzy" or
"I thought it was some strong wind" or
"I dunno but my cat was acting kinda weird"

..and then forget all that and over-dramatize it and get all defensive because "OMG but it was an earthquake!! It was terrifying! It's the end of the world because it happened on the East Coast! How dare Californians, the ones that deal with this sort of thing every few months, say a thing and try to make us feel better or talk some sense into the situation!? Californians are so insufferable!"

Seriously... AMUSED.

And I lived in tornado belts in Texas and Wisconsin and lived in NYC for 13 years before moving to SoCal. I've experienced just about every kind of natural disaster. I admit, the first earthquake I felt in 1999 terrified me. It was the Hector Mine earthquake and was a 7.1. I felt several of the aftershocks, too. It was scary as a new mother but I appreciated hearing from people that had been through it before and it put me more at ease instead of making me angry at them.

I was probably more scared when I was woken in the middle of the night while camping and ended up hiding in onyx caves in the middle of the night in Wisconsin as a tornado went over us. Again, I was happy to be with a few people that had been through it before and had jokes, wisdom and their bravery to offer.

Most people in California have seen snow, btw. We have lots of it a two hour drive up to Big Bear.

The current hurricane, on the other hand, is something to actually worry about... though I think that's probably blown out of proportion because all hurricanes in the past 70+ years end up moving East before hitting the NorthEast in a bad way. It's good people are being more safe than sorry, though.

I'm watching the news now and I find it kind of odd because when it comes to these things it seems like a lot of these anchors / reporters are just HOPING it's a worst case scenario. It makes a better story, doesn't it? This is just a general observation.

"The storm has slowed...." sounding somewhat disappointed but then with hope, "BUT it could pick up speed again and destroy New York!"

It makes it a little more difficult after seeing news like this for years to really know when something is dangerous or not because so many things are blown up to enormous proportions.