Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Waiting for Aftershock

Most of us know that a 5.9 earthquake occurred today around 1:53 EST with an epicenter in Virginia that was felt all over the East Coast. I'm blogging from my office in center city Philadelphia. Mark is home with the kids. Everyone is fine, but holy cow, what a ride.

My organization has the corner office on the 6th floor and I am working alone. When the shaking got really bad I ran out of there afraid that the windows would break or that the office would fall off of the building. Yes, it was that startling. Very near to this building, office windows did shatter, but no reports of other damages have been made. I joined the others in the organization on my building's same floor and we evacuated down the stairwell and tried (often in vain) to get through to loved ones on the phone.

There is something particularly shocking to the system when things like this occur, at least for me. It hit with no warning (as they do) but no one knew for sure if it was an earthquake or terrorist attack. At first I was startled, then scared, then really wishing I wasn't so far from home.

Our phones have been very spotty but texting and on-line services like fb are working.

Mark checked out our house for damage and reports some cracks in the paint around the windows. I don't know if they were already there or are new. He also reports that Alexander's old timey alarm clock that was broken is now working again, but that's it. I just remembered that my nephew Austin predicted the earthquake in Illinois in 2008 and I just got a text from my little sister that she recently had just had a nightmare about an earthquake and Sophie was in it. Come to think of it, I didn't sleep well last night due to nightmares. Weirdness. I guess we're all a little wacky.

As there may be aftershocks I will attempt to get home soon. It's an early rush hour as many buildings have been evacuated. Should be an interesting ride home on the train today.

On Sunday hurricane Irene is expected to march up our way.

I think I'll stop by my favorite wine store on the way home.

Be safe out there friends!

local story HERE

5 comments:

Lil sis Kate said...

So scary. I was actually dreaming about it as it was happening...I woke up to your text message that it had actually happened and now I am feeling a bit weird about it all. I am glad everyone is safe and I hope you have been through the worst of it. I love you all and please keep us posted.

RK said...

Bizarre... glad you are all safe!!

Becca said...

Craziness!! Of course we're on vaca. in S. Georgia, and didn't feel a thing! My mom was in her 8th floor condo in Arlington, VA when it hit, said it was quite a ride. And her 2nd home, where they spend most of their time these days, is right at the epicenter. I'm a little nervous for what they might find there when they go down on Friday... :-(

Sister Kate for sister Liz said...

Lizzy says that she has been thinking of you all day. She found out about the quake before work and didn't have time to get ahold of you. She broke down to Jason that she feared you wouldn't be able to get home to the kids because she didn't know if the trains were running. She is so glad that you were able to make it home safely. She sends her love.

JRS said...

planes were grounded for a while but the trains (though delayed) were fine once they started up again after a brief pause.
---JRS