Hurriquake Week

A few weeks ago brought a strange coupling of natural disasters. 

Tuesday, August 23, 2011. 

I happened to be working from home that day, as we were in the middle of switching offices at work and our computers were not set up yet.  I was sitting upstairs on my bed working, when a soft thudding and shaking started.  My first thought was, "Are my neighbors home having sex right now?"  I live in a townhouse and have no idea how thick the walls are and luckily I've never heard "those" sorts of sounds coming through the walls before. But then my mind quickly jumped to something happening over at the construction site nearby.  Did a crane just drop? Did something explode? But then the shaking got more intense.  Everything was rattling and shaking on my dressers and walls.  I stood up in confusion and couldn't believe that it could be an earthquake.  An earthquake out here?  Ridiculous!  I walked to the center of my bedroom, looking around in confusion, then went back to my laptop and messaged my co-worker, "Are we having an earthquake?!" 

When the shaking didn't stop, I decided I better do something.  I thought back to all the earthquake drills we had in CA as a kid.  But then I remembered that all those safety techniques were questioned recently; some report saying that the drop and cover method was proven to be deadly, saying you should NOT hide under your desk because you will be crushed under it (Triangle Of Life).  I couldn't remember if standing in the doorway was still a good idea, so I was about to flatten myself on the ground right next to my dresser, all the while in disbelief that I was really having to do this, when the shaking finally stopped. 

**I have obviously since researched the earthquake methods again to find that Drop, Cover and Hold On is still the most safe method to follow.  Snopes has the original article and breaks it down HERE.  American Red Cross' response is HERE**

I then went downstairs to see if anything had fallen and broken.  Everything seemed fine.  I went outside and there were a handful of people looking like zombies trickling in to the parking lot, looking toward the construction site.  Seems like they, too, thought the shaking must have been caused by something over there.  But I've been through enough earthquakes to know that we just went through one.  One lady asked me, "Is that was I thought it was?"  I told her, "We just had an earthquake."

I went back inside and turned on CNN and was glued to the TV for the rest of the day.  I was SO grateful I wasn't in the city working on that day!  I'm sure my thoughts would have quickly turned toTerrorist Attack, as likely many people's did.  Earthquakes are rare on the East Coast.  A lot of people have never been through one.  I can only imagine their panic thinking that DC was getting attacked again.  So close to the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. 

A lot of others made fun of this earthquake saying, "Please, if you think this is bad, live in CA!" And other such comments belittling people's scared feelings.  I think this is totally unwarranted.  Nevermind the fact that buildings out here are not built to "earthquake code".  While this was not the biggest quake I've been through (CA & WA both), it was almost just as disconcerting as a bigger one, as earthquakes just aren't on my radar living out here.  Unfortunately, terrorist attacks ARE on my radar.  And to believe that a terrorist attack had happened again is truly terrifying.  I understand why so many people here and in NY were emotionally distraught and afraid. 

There WAS actually some structural damage, too, to go along with the emotional damage.

The Washington Monument is closed indefinitely until repairs can be made to big cracks at the top:

The National Cathedral also suffered damage:

All spires on this tower were damaged: The center spire completely fell off; the one to the right almost tumbled as well

Just a few days later, Hurricane Irene stormed her way through the region.  Luckily I avoided her by attending my annual company trip to the lake about 220 miles SouthWest of my house; 150 SW from Mineral, VA - the epicenter of the earthquake. 

While Irene was doing this:

(Just a few pics from the DC metro area.  A lot of states got it worse)

We were doing this:

View from the upper deck of house on Smith Mountain Lake

Pretty butterfly

Typical scrambling and maneuvering between the pontoon boat, the wave runner and the speed boat

Hanging out in the "Relaxation Station"

Wakeboarding and waterskiing with the SeaDoo

Waiting for the fun to begin

Always an exhilerating ride on the SeaDoo!

Enjoying the ride

Getting exciting!

Wooo-eeeeeeee!!

A really fun weekend, but I was nervous to come back to damage at my house.  Especially since I had forgotten to bring in my patio furniture before I left and I got a text from a friend at 3AM Sunday morning telling me that it was guaranteed everything had blown away.  I had nightmares of my chairs smashing through my sliding glass door, and everything broken and flooded inside.  But the only sign I saw of any sort of storm were a few fallen leaves and twigs!  Everything was in its spot looking bored and innocent.

A crazy week of excitement, but I managed to survive.