Right Coasters be safe

[rkawakami]

So with the approach of Irene, does anybody feel like moving out here to the Left Coast? You'll ditch the yearly hurricanes and only have to deal with the occasional (and unpredictable) earthquake. Like the 5.8 one that hit Virginia today

[Harryc]

I was standing on solid concrete when it hit and I was too preoccupied with installing a garage door opener to notice it. My wife said the whole house shook. I am in upstate NY...many miles away from Virginia.

[killer]

I hope all ThinkPad forum members (and everyone else) in the affected area are safe and well.

Edit: Having just reminded myself of the world's earthquake zones it appears that the US East coast is not considered a hot zone. Very odd! Are you sure someone didn't leave an unexploded nuclear missile on the sea bed? We had an 3.9 earthquake in the English Channel recently and I wondered if that was something left over from the 1950s. Spooky?

[Thinkpad Lover]

Oh, some of us definitely felt it in NYC here. I was on the second floor of a large Victorian-style home constructed about 100 years ago. Probably not built to withstand a major earthquake The entire house vibrated in such a strange way. The windows rattled and hummed especially. Seemed like 10 (long) seconds. It was surreal. You feel lifted up off of your feet. You can tell something large is moving the whole unit underneath you. Not like a train, small explosion/building collapse nearby, construction in part of a building or anything like that. Much more invigorating/all-encompassing. As you can tell I've never experienced an earthquake before. And if this was only a 5.9 magnitude centered in Richmond, Virginia 291 miles away, then I don't want to be in a big one. Thank God all the preliminary reports seem to indicate damage to some buildings/infrastructure, especially in Virginia, but no loss of life. I'll tell you what- I'd rather put up with a yearly threat or two from a hurricane like Irene, (we mostly get a lot of extra rain/strong winds here in New York), than a strong earthquake.

I think I'll stay in New York, for now... Actually, now that I think about it ... it's been a while since I've visited my cousins up in Canada. l think I'll make it a nice, long visit this time- long enough to grow a beard. I've never actually seen all the beauty of Toronto, or Montreal for sure. Hmmm... I wonder if I'll have to apply for dual American/Canadian citizenship to stay there 6 months each year

Daniel.

[underclocker]

I was in a bicycle shop when it rolled through the DC area. I immediately figured it was an earthquake because everything was shaking at the same time plus there was a deep low rumbling noise. The bike shop hangs dozens of bikes from the ceiling by their seat tips. I looked up and quickly backed away from the swinging bikes over head. None fell. I'd say it lasted about 15 - 20 seconds. But it certainly felt much longer.

The interesting thing about an earthquake is that your not sure how much worse it will get or when it will stop. For those brief seconds nearly everything is literally out of your control...and in nature's hands.

DC is about 85 miles from the epicenter. I hope all others are OK, too.

[JaneL]

We felt some shaking here in South Carolina but no damage that I've heard of. We're about 400 miles south of the epicenter.

[jdk]

I did not feel anything at work. I was in the basement of a tower though....it seems the higher up people were, the more the building(s) swayed. We get low magnitude (2.x) earthquakes here a few times a year. According to an article at Ars Technica, the continental shelf is older and much more dense on the east coast than the still forming shelf on the west coast, which is why the waves were felt over such a huge distance from the epicenter.

As for the hurricane, we need the rain.