Well that was a first! I was sitting here in my basement office when my desk started to rattle a bit. I was leaning up against it and kind of sat back to see if it would stop. It didn't...and I was very confused. It rocked back and forth for a good 5 seconds as I just sat there looking befuddled. Hey...this is New Jersey, not California, so an earthquake is the last thing that would have crossed my mind. They are actually digging a foundation for a new house just down the street, so my first thought was that they had an accident with the backhoe. Maybe it fell back into the hole or they hit a gas line and we were feeling the rumble of an explosion. I really didn't know what to think.
Just then it started to get much worse and the entire room was shaking. I finally realized that this might indeed be an earthquake. I started my way upstairs just as Kel was making her way down from her 2nd floor office. Just as I got to the family room it really got bad. The entire house was shaking back and forth pretty vigorously at this point. I was just about to go out the back sliding door when it all just stopped. 25-30 seconds of shaking was over. Felt like 2 minutes to us though.
So this thing was a 5.9'er and based over 200 miles away in Virginia. That being said, I can't imagine what an 8 or 9 must feel like! I'll be honest here, I was a bit scared. Mostly because I didn't know what was happening. Like I said, if I were in California I think I would have been like "oh, so this is what an earthquake feels like"...but here in NJ it really did come as a surprise.
About to do a quick perimeter and interior structural check of the house...this place was built in 1920 and I'm pretty sure it's not up to modern seismic codes! I can already report that one picture frame did fall off a shelf, so hopefully that's all there is...
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UPDATE: 4:55pm
Did a quick walk around and I'm ready to furnish my damage report. As mentioned above, we lost one picture frame that fell off a bookshelf. Exhibit A:
When I ventured up to the 3rd floor I noticed that one of the starfish thingys Kelly has on a ledge didn't survive either. It's hard to make out, but the starfish are a his/her type deal that depict a wedding couple. Kel's starfish is the one who didn't fare too well. I'm still standing strong! Exhibit B:
Who do I contact about this damage...FEMA?
Now that you've survived your first NJ earthquake here comes the hurricane! Hope you don't have any 100 year old trees that can do damage.
Posted by: MarilynL | August 25, 2011 at 11:48 AM