8 Thoughts to “Happy 5th anniversary: August 23, 2011 earthquake”

  1. DB
    August 23, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    I was driving. Didn’t feel a thing. Came home and my children were all in a frenzy about an earthquake. And in our house we had some minimal disruptions.

  2. Steve Thomas
    August 24, 2016 at 7:54 am

    I was at work, at my desk, in Stafford. Things started shaking, drop-ceiling panels falling, and I ducked under my desk. I had previously experienced quakes and tremors in Okinawa, so I knew what was happening pretty quick, but remember thinking “a quake, here?”

  3. MoonHowler
    August 24, 2016 at 10:54 am

    I was at home, sitting on the sofa watching TV, getting ready to go vote in the primary.

    I remember thinking squirrels were running on the roof, then deciding if THAT was a squirrel I had far bigger problems than I thought. Then I though terrorist attack. Then I thought earthquake and started calling it out to my husband who was around somewhere saying “what the F—?!!”

    I had never been in one, even after being in Yellowstone twice and at Mt. St. Helen’s several times.

    What struck me as odd is it took the TV stations over a half hour to report that there had been an earthquake.

  4. Scout
    August 24, 2016 at 7:15 pm

    I had come home mid-day to let my dogs out. About 30 seconds before I noticed anything, they became somewhat agitated (they are big dogs and not the types that are very excitable). Then I heard rumble that sounded like a large truck or road machinery going by the big street on one side of my property. Then the bookshelves and lamps began to shake. I knew then that it was an earthquake. I had experienced a few tiny ones in my year in Northern California. Like Steve, I sure was surprised.

  5. punchak
    August 24, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    I didn’t feel anything – maybe because I had lived close to the St Andreas fault
    in Palo Alto, Calif. for some 20 years. We had hanging lamps in the living room,
    and once in a while they’d be swinging / Oh, another quake.
    Wasn’t there during the really bad one, when the Bay Bridge collapsed.
    It’s scary.

    Currently – earthquake in Italy and Burma. My geologist husband said that
    there are earthquakes going on constantly – somewhere.
    Guess there’s nothing that’s really “solid ground”.

  6. Ed
    August 24, 2016 at 11:18 pm

    I was on the 9th floor of an office bldg. I heard a thump thump and stood up to look outside thinking that construction equipment had started a pile driver or a big air hammer next to our building. Then the floor started tilting and I stumbled to the door of my office to get away from the window. At that point I figured this must be an earthquake even though I had never experienced one before and started to fear that east coast buildings weren’t built to handle this and big windows would start popping out and my office contents would go with it. I sat on the floor and held on to my doorpost so I would not go tumbling down 9 floors with my desk and bookshelves. My fear quickly subsided when the building didn’t fall apart with that first ground ripple and then I started hoping for a decent aftershock so I could enjoy it–like the second time around on a roller coaster when you don’t close your eyes. But nothing more happened and after a few minutes we calmly evacuated down the stairs. Coworkers coming back from lunch said they saw the building swaying. Not many people had smart phone with good video back then so no one got a picture.

    1. MoonHowler
      August 25, 2016 at 12:19 am

      All I could think was, I might die today. I never even thought of grabbing my cell phone.

  7. Joe George
    August 25, 2016 at 9:45 am

    I was in the Pentagon and one of my co-workers, who was there during the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, thought we were under attack again, and I took a few of us a couple of hours to calm her down.

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