23 August, 2011

5.9 baby! I felt the earth move under my feet

Today there was an earthquake! A real live trembler, that shook the walls, made the cubes sway back and forth, and made the ceiling tiles jump up and down. It is the sounds that were most amazing to me. All over the office you could hear the tiles clicking up and down and the walls of the cubes clattering.

Afterwards, everyone in the office popped out of their cubes and offices to marvel at the first earthquake most of us had ever experienced. I felt giddy and excited, it was so out of the ordinary! Then we all talked for a while and then drifted back to work. No one panicked, no one left the building, and no one even mentioned leaving for home.

I had a 4pm appointment over in Towson, and was shocked to find that the traffic on the feeder roads and on the beltway was bumper to bumper. There was a fender bender RIGHT in front of me, you needed to pay complete attention to your driving, and everyone was yakking on their cell phones in flagrant defiance of Maryland law!

Anyway, I was surprised to hear that many places sent people home. While it was a significant earthquake at 5.9 on the Richter scale, for the area - there just wasn't a lot of damage. I hear that down in DC some buildings took damage, but I don't know of any here in Baltimore. I think people just LIKE to have an excuse to be all dramatic..."I must drive home and make sure the plantation survived the earthquake," said Miss Scarlet.

So, my first earthquake! I never expected that when I got up this morning. It just goes to show that you never know when something unexpected is around the corner.

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