Just experience my first earthquake. House was shaking moderately as i walked in from pulling my car. Phones are now down and cell service is out.

This was the weirdest thing i have ever experience in my life.

Especially in NJ?

Edit: i guess it originated out of virginia

A 5.8, it was centered about 80 miles SW of DC.


Felt it very well down here in Greensboro, NC as well. Felt the Sofa moving and thought " what the hell is that?"...LOL

Haha I must've posted this right about when you did.

They said it was felt in Chicago, but I didn't notice anything. One night years ago, my wife and I were up watching TV and we heard a whoosh and the P wave traveled from west to east right through the house. My old 300 pound Samsung 65" CRT creaked as it rocked back and forth. We looked at each other and knew it was a minor quake.

I bet the California members get these a couple times a week and think nothing of it.

We felt it here in Mass.

I just happened to be about 20 miles north of DC when it hit. What a weird feeling. I grew up near Aberdeen Proving Grounds where the do a lot of LOUD weapons testing, and within 2 seconds I thought "train?", "somebody working on building?", "airplane?", "weapons testing?". But it kept going and kept getting stronger. It's odd how your brain functions in those situations.

I don't think any injuries were reported in Maryland, not sure about elsewhere.

Jim I had sort of the same experience here a few years ago. People had been cutting down big pine trees and when they drop the trunks on the really big ones it makes the ground shake. It was about 4 in the morning and the dog and the cat started acting really weird with in seconds on me waling up because of them the ground shakes and I'm wondering who the heck is cutting down trees at this time of day. Took me a few seconds to realize that it was an earthquake. I find it amazing that people from the west coast prefer earthquakes to our thunderstorms.

I've only ever heard that said about hurricanes and tornadoes, which are, to people in Los Angeles, indistinguishable from thunderstorms. I think we had one thunderstorm last year, but I'm not sure -- see how I'd class it with hurricanes?

But yeah, until I think about how screwed up life was last time we had one BIG one here, I prefer to watch, for instance Irene right now, and just shake my head that anyone would live in North Carolina.

In that big one, a fire truck rolled right past an apartment building, not noticing any damage, and only later discovered that they were looking at floors one, two, and four, and floor three was gone. A friend (installer) who lived near there had a two-story condo, and he swears that a shirt he left on a chair fell off and was stuck in the wall... with a tiny bit of shirt visible in a crack in the ceiling at the wall downstairs. Damn thing got caught between a joist and the wall! A receptionist I knew came into work and found a sprinkler pipe had fallen from directly above her chair, piercing the chair and hitting the floor. She quit work there right then.

That's what I don't understand. Our storms can be intense, clear skies, then 30-60 mph winds, hail the size of golf balls, rain coming down in torrents, thunder that sounds like cannons going off that rolls forever and lighting that will light up a room with the lights off but still nothing like an earthquake.

Right. And I've never heard anyone say they're okay with earthquakes but fear thunderstorms. They (we) don't want to put up with hurricanes and tornadoes. Putting up plywood damn near every year for hurricanes, often more than once; being picked up and flung about by a twister; those we don't go for.

I have to say I really do not miss living in earthquake country. Somehow for 2 of LA's bigger recent earthquakes (Landers, Northridge)I was out of town for the weekend. The last year we were in LA there seemed to be a lot of smaller ( 3 to 5's) going on. I was tired of seeing the pad shake, including one quake where I was outside. And I looked up to see my 2 story unit go up and down about a foot...

Hope you guys are ok!!

I would not trade our random free roller coasters for seasonal destruction. I hear people on the East Coast say they couldnt imagine living in CA because if Earthquakes, Fire, and Mudslides but these are very isolated and rare events. At least in terms of causing massive damage. Unlike seasonal hurricanes, tornados, snow storms, etc......No thanks. I guess you can use that as a way to convince yourself that you dont want to live here..... whatever it takes I gues :)

Kind of like the small town I lived in for a few years where all the houses along the river would flood out every winter!!! Uh people---MOVE!

You east coasters got a free California massage.