Another Earthquake
I see my last entry was just over a year ago about a diddly earthquake so it seemed like a good time to update with a post about a real one. 5.9 magnitude at 1:51pm which was enough to send the entire area into something of a panic. I was at the PetSmart at Potomac Yard standing at the checkout when the whole place started shaking and felt like it was lifting up and down. It went on for several very long seconds and after the initial WTF!!!! I knew what it was (well, I knew it was either an earthquake or a bomb -- we were not very far from the Pentagon --, but I figured a bomb would have made noise and then there would have been a million sirens), but even though I know you are supposed to get out of a building or at least into a doorframe I just stood there like an idiot waiting for the check-out guy to come back.
I could see out of the front window into the parking lot and from what I was feeling from my legs it seemed like I should see the ground moving and the cars moving, but nothing. I did see the water in the fish tanks along the walls sloshing around so I knew there really was shaking going on. Curiously, none of the animals in the store seemed to be making any noise and I know there were at least some dogs in the grooming place and I think in the doggy day-care as well as birds in the cages in the middle of the store.
When it was over, there was no visible damage, but things had been knocked off the shelves. The check-out guy was pretty blase having been in Central America when a 7.9 hit so he was pretty calm. We had more shopping to do so we just got back in the car, but I could see everyone on the sidewalk had their phone out and some of the store had evacuated. The grocery store was a lot more of a mess with some ceiling tiles and lights down and a number of broken bottles so there was some glass underfoot, but everyone just kept doing their thing like nothing had happened.
Traffic coming back was a nightmare because a most of the federal places shut down early and dumped thousands of people on the road who shouldn't have been on at that time on a normal day.
Anway, an interesting happening and probably the biggest quake to hit the area in more than 100 years.
I could see out of the front window into the parking lot and from what I was feeling from my legs it seemed like I should see the ground moving and the cars moving, but nothing. I did see the water in the fish tanks along the walls sloshing around so I knew there really was shaking going on. Curiously, none of the animals in the store seemed to be making any noise and I know there were at least some dogs in the grooming place and I think in the doggy day-care as well as birds in the cages in the middle of the store.
When it was over, there was no visible damage, but things had been knocked off the shelves. The check-out guy was pretty blase having been in Central America when a 7.9 hit so he was pretty calm. We had more shopping to do so we just got back in the car, but I could see everyone on the sidewalk had their phone out and some of the store had evacuated. The grocery store was a lot more of a mess with some ceiling tiles and lights down and a number of broken bottles so there was some glass underfoot, but everyone just kept doing their thing like nothing had happened.
Traffic coming back was a nightmare because a most of the federal places shut down early and dumped thousands of people on the road who shouldn't have been on at that time on a normal day.
Anway, an interesting happening and probably the biggest quake to hit the area in more than 100 years.