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EARTHQUAKE

Mr UD was at the computer, following developments in Libya.

UD was putting on sneakers, getting ready to take a short, post-operative stroll through her azaleas.

Suddenly their house loudly began to shake. LOUDLY. As if it were about to collapse on them.

Les UDs raced out of the house; they heard shouts up and down the street.

I checked my roof for a massive tree that might have fallen on it, but I knew I wouldn’t see that. No tree could make our house do what it just did, vibrate violently in every corner for over a minute.

Earthquake. 6.0 magnitude, epicenter Mineral Virginia.

Very scary. I’ve never been in an earthquake before.

Out on the street, on a beautiful late summer day, I stopped some kids who’d been in the park nearby.

“Yeah! Everything started to move! We saw a window in a house across the street and it was moving!”

***************************************

La Kid was alone in an elevator at the Congressional Quarterly offices in downtown Washington.

“It shook from side to side. I thought It must be broken in some way. Then I got to my floor and the door opened and the earthquake was over and I was greeted by a scene of all my co-workers freaking out totally… They evacuated the building and told us we could take the rest of the day off.”

*******************************

Photos from the DC quake.

Margaret Soltan, August 23, 2011 12:59PM
Posted in: snapshots from home

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5 Responses to “EARTHQUAKE”

  1. Michael Tinkler Says:

    We felt it here in scenic Upstate NY – I’ve posted video of swaying crystal prisms.

    Glad you’re o.k.!

  2. cloudminder Says:

    welcome to the club,
    now take it like a Californian!

  3. Mr Punch Says:

    Earthquakes can be very noisy – something I didn’t realize until I was in one. This one was pretty small and quiet in Boston, although the church steeples swayed.

    “My God, I thought it was a flashback from the weekend!” – department secretary

  4. jim Says:

    We had four bookcases fall over. The floor was a sea of books.

  5. Erin O'Connor Says:

    I was in Berkeley in 1989 when the 7.0 Loma Prieta quake hit. I was outside on campus at the time — wind blew and trees bent double and I had no idea what was happening. When I got home, the stove had bounced across the kitchen and the water had splashed out of the toilet, and my cat was embedded claw-deep half way up the upright murphy bed, afraid of the floor. Worst part was the freeway collapse the the people who died or were trapped. Quakes are scary indeed.

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Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
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