Earthquake!
It’s about 5:40 AM and I’ve been watching Doogie Howser, M.D. non-stop. Suddenly, my chair begins to rumble and I can feel the floor moving a bit. It was as if a dinosaur was walking a couple of blocks from my building. I could see ripple marks in the Dr. Pepper bottle that was on my desk. I was confused! I really did think there was a monster or giant that was causing this! That thought only lasted 1 second though. The rumbling lasted for about five seconds and then I felt the whole building shake! It was a soft shake. Lasted maybe three seconds tops. I mean, if I was asleep I probably wouldn’t have felt it. But it scared the crap out of me! After it stopped, I grabbed my phone and put my shoes on. Then I realized that none of my neighbors were out in the hallway. I decided to stay put.
Then I went to the US Geological Survey website to see if I was maybe imagining things. I didn’t see any reports for anywhere near my town so I decided to file a “Did you feel it?” report. About 40 minutes later, there was an official report of a magnitude 5.2 earthquake that took place at 4:36 AM in the state next to mine! So I’m guessing that what I felt was an aftershock. How cool is that?!
As of now (8:45 AM), there have been over 16,300 reports from filed just like mine from 2,820 zip codes from hundreds of cities, towns, and states surrounding the initial earthquake location. And I’m guessing it will keep rising throughout the next couple of hours.
This might sound dorky but it was great! I actually felt a real earthquake. I felt was given a little hint of the awesome power that is nature. If I had felt a more intense one, there would have been a 36% chance of me actually wanting to get a degree in geology. But thank God that didn’t happen. I can always watch National Geographic or the Discovery Channel.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Oh yes, I called my cousin the day after and she said she slept through it. She’s a heavy sleeper. I don’t think she will wake up even if the ceiling came crushing above her head x_x
April 19th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
yeah it was some rumbling and 3 shakes.. is she in the illinois or indiana area? bs a lot more states felt the aftershocks.. the epicenter was in southern illinois though..
pretty cool stuff