We just had an earthquake!

[maureenreynolds]

Scared me to death...I thought dh had fallen off the toilet when dishes started shaking...then a big shudder and we ran the hell out of the house. Heart aflutter!

[earlofoxford]

In Maryland?? I saw that there had been an earthquake in Colorado -- SE part of the state. Glad you're fine, Maureen!

[maureenreynolds]

Apparently it's been felt as far as Toronto, Chicago and down into the Carolinas. I've only been in two little shudders before but not like that. USCG says 5.8. Dick ran down two flights of stairs faster than I can imagine him going.

The lady across the street said her cat got weird about 15sec before. We wonder if our late Sebastian would even have awakened.

[amcmillian]

Maureen I felt it too. Was at my desk eating a late lunch. We evacuated the building...just got back in..heard on the radio that in VA they think it was 5.6. Glad you're ok and too funny about being in the restroom.

[maureenreynolds]

Our upstairs bathroom is right above where I was sitting on the kitchen couch and I had a moment or so of panic, thinking something had happened to him. I can only imagine how my ds at the Pentagon felt. He wasn't there on 9/11 but it still must have been deja vu.

[amcmillian]

Finally got through to my son (phone circuits were busy). He was sleeping said he awaken and thought maybe my daugher or myself had come home early maybe fallen down the stairs but he never heard a scream. When the house was still shaking he he thought is the house really shaking,, that can't be ..so he got up and was looking around, never put together that it was an earthquake. He decided he might as well get up since he was awake, didn't know it was an earthquake until he signed into facebook. Don't know what the poor boy would have done it it had been larger.

[katie pertiet]

was at the grocery store when it hit... the walls were shaking... hearing there was one in colorado last night... scary stuff...

[Lynn Grieveson]

Scary indeed! I did have to laugh about you first thought about your DH though Maureen :-)

[tdavenport]

I felt it here in Toledo. Nothing to the magnitude of you all on the East Coast of course. Just a little bit of wobble.

[digigrandma]

Yikes! Just got home from a trip, checked in here at DD first thing and saw Maureen's post so I learned of the earthquake at DD. Now, it is all over the news, of course. Thought of Katie and Randy and many others I know of in the area who must have felt it, too. I'm so glad it appears everyone and everything is OK. Nerve wracking to be sure!!!

[earlofoxford]

My daughter-in-law's parents live just outside Rochester, NY, and her mom felt a slight tremor. Pretty far reaching. Are the Appalachian Mountains a fault or something?

[HeatherPrins]

Holy crow! I am glad you are ok!!

[GoingtotheSun]

Felt it here in NJ outside of NYC too. . . so bizarre. The walls were going one direction and the table another, it seemed like. That was a first for me.

[MIDA78466]

glad you are ok. My sister who lives in Virginia called me right after the earthquake. WOW--I lived in Virginia for many years and we never had an earthquake.

[jdudleynet4]

I'm in Richmond, VA, at work. A few years ago we had a magnitude 3.0 quake here. It was nothing - just felt like a large truck had driven past in front of you - a little ground vibration. Today we felt the floor rumble a little, then the walls started to shake and it was LOUD, people! I ran out of the building with my other co-workers. Back in now. Everyone is okay. My brother is travelling in Toronto, and he felt it there!

Just way too exciting. Hope my house is okay. Glad everyone else is okay here!

[maureenreynolds]

Well, it looks as if everyone in the whole area is safe or so the reports seem to indicate.

I had seen the whole pool water shift once in Bangkok though I felt nothing, and once in Malawi at lunch the whole table shook - tho xh didn't notice. We WERE in the Rift Valley then but that never clicked with me til that day. I certainly never ever thought I'd feel an earthquake here in MD. Hurricane yes, tornado possibly but earthquake?

Before I ran outside, I did keep calling up the stairs to Dick...wondering what happened/how he was etc etc til I felt the whole house shaking with the 2nd wave. By then he was hollering to me to go outside. I did have my hand on the wall at one point and realized it was moving. I think the best way to describe how our old house felt was shuddering like you do when you are just shaking with cold. Now I'm glad we had to spend the $$$s for steel beams when we renovated.

Angela, glad you got home and your son reminds me of when mine were at home! I hope to talk to Pentagon son tonight.

[iUma]

The earth's crust is a living shifting thing we skate on, Eh?
Glad all is well.

[beehive50]

Very strange for you folks on the East Coast... here, no biggie. ha. I seriously hate them, honestly... just glad it wasn't a big one!

[janedee]

Glad to hear you are all ok. It's a pretty disconcerting feeling even when they're not very large.

[Scrapbird]

Glad you are all okay.
Here on the west coast, we have earthquake drills all the time at school, so everyone knows what to do, but I'll bet you guys don't.
If you feel more shaking, don't run outside. Get under something sturdy, and run outside AFTER the shaking stops.

[ExoGonia]

Glad you are safe Maureen. I live in a country that earthquakes are usual. I had the experience of many earthquakes, 2 of them very strong. I remember the shaking walls, my panic when running down the stairs, they moved back-forth. But this, which horrified me more was the roaring of the earth. It was the sound of gigantic angry animal, which into his anger was trying to crush the walls of the house. Oh, every time I recall this into my mind I shiver. The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.0 of the Richter scale.

[jdudleynet4]

Scrapbird, you're right. When the shaking ramped up, the fight-or-flight kicked in and I just got out of there, very very fast! I guess it's the instinct to be not buried alive. :-( Exogonia, agree, the sound was bad. I'm trying not to think about it too much. They say this was a 5.8.

[mymalloryboys]

I am so thankful that you all are safe. I am sure it seemed scary!!!

[Dizzieblonde]

boyfriend is in North Carolina right now...his comments were oh yea...we "felt" it at work. Okay...I was a junior in high school in New Mexico when the earthquake in San Francisco interrupted the world series...and okay...as horrible as it sounds....the San Andreas is due to do some rumbling....faults have been shaking all around us....Northern CA is way overdue. Glad to hear everyone back east is okay...hopefully Hurricane Irene stays away from the whole eastern US..interesting week so far eh?

[carollee]

Oh my gosh, I hadn't heard about this at all before reading your post. Heck, that would have been scary not. Knowing how far mother nature was intending to go.

[anke]

I was stuck at Children's in Pittsburgh pretty much all day yesterday (just a routine check-up for DD) and it was felt there too. I didn't feel a thing but there were places that evacuated. Yes, it is a rarity around here... actually it was my other DD who texted me from home about it, I thought she was joking at first... I am just glad that nothing really bad happened as the result of it. Now we are waiting for the hurricane to hit down south... I so hope it will find a different path!

[whatnext]

i missed the whole thing! i was in my car. but apparently it was felt around where i live. they're busy checking all the bridges today to make sure they're not going to fall down during rush hour.

[kathie02]

Yikes!! So glad everyone is okay!

[maureenreynolds]

Dick had breakfast with 'his guys' this am, and low and behold two of them felt another shake last night. They live about 25 miles apart here. Now, I know, I'd sleep through an earthquake unless the ceiling fell on me. eta: I did last night.

[Jen D]

Pure craziness!