Living in Northern Virginia as well, this was extremely scary to me. I remember watching the YouTube videos of the earthquake in Japan -- especially of the one where the son and the mother are seen running out of their house and hitting the ground. That was me today -- I was sitting in my living room watching my birds (I have four cages) and suddenly the cages started to lightly shake. At first I thought maybe something heavy had fallen on the street (construction?) and then things really started shaking. I heard glass breaking and things falling from shelves and you could literally feel the ground below you shaking. I was in total panic mode, grabbed my cellphone and purse, and ran out the door (without shoes!). I didn't even think it was a earthquake at first -- as said by Petluvr, Northern Virginia does not really get earthquakes. The last one was in 2003, I believe, and it was like a 4.4 scale and was not felt. I was concerned it was a terrorist attack!!!!! I've been on the edge with Osama Bin Laden dead and since America is meddling in Libya's affairs (which the Middle East/Arab countries usually do not like).
Anyways, I was relieved that it wasn't a terrorist attack but you could clearly see the horror in peoples' faces. Everyone ran out of their homes and were trying to figure out what happened. People were either terrified, shocked, and emotional or had blank expressions of disbelief. What was really frightening was the fact that we had NO CELLPHONE SERVICE for 30+ minutes!!!! It was honestly, like a scene from the movies. Complete disarray and no communication services to boot. I wasn't able to check/send text messages or make/receive calls. It made me wonder what would be the case if something bigger happened and how something of a larger magnitude could easily shut down one of the richest counties in the United States (Northern Virginia is home to several of the top 10 richest counties in America). Anyways, I'm still in recovery mode from this ordeal and hope everyone has come out of this with minimal damage. I wonder what measures we can take (other than holding onto our tanks) to make them earthquake proof? That is, in the case of a extreme circumstance. *Fingers Crossed* that the aftershocks are not that bad. There was about two hours after the original one but it was small and not felt in my neck of the woods.
Just for clarification - it was a 5.9 earthquake - almost 6!
Anyways, I was relieved that it wasn't a terrorist attack but you could clearly see the horror in peoples' faces. Everyone ran out of their homes and were trying to figure out what happened. People were either terrified, shocked, and emotional or had blank expressions of disbelief. What was really frightening was the fact that we had NO CELLPHONE SERVICE for 30+ minutes!!!! It was honestly, like a scene from the movies. Complete disarray and no communication services to boot. I wasn't able to check/send text messages or make/receive calls. It made me wonder what would be the case if something bigger happened and how something of a larger magnitude could easily shut down one of the richest counties in the United States (Northern Virginia is home to several of the top 10 richest counties in America). Anyways, I'm still in recovery mode from this ordeal and hope everyone has come out of this with minimal damage. I wonder what measures we can take (other than holding onto our tanks) to make them earthquake proof? That is, in the case of a extreme circumstance. *Fingers Crossed* that the aftershocks are not that bad. There was about two hours after the original one but it was small and not felt in my neck of the woods.
Just for clarification - it was a 5.9 earthquake - almost 6!
