Oh my goodness. The east coast had an earthquake today. In other words, I experienced my first earthquake. Since the east coast rarely gets earthquakes, I always laughed at what I would be doing when something crazy like an earthquake happened. I mean, would I be in the shower and have to get dressed real quick to run into a door frame for safety? Would I be by myself and scared out of my mind? What on earth would it feel like to have the ground beneath me shake? It always seemed like a distant thought, but today, I found out. My first earthquake experience went a little like this:
I decided to enjoy the beautiful DC weather and take a lunch time walk with a co-worker. On my way back into my office, I ran to the private restroom in the office exercise room (because it is located right by my office and I know I would be at my desk working for the rest of the day). While I'm sitting (aka: peeing) in the bathroom all by myself, the floor started to shake. I thought to myself "Noone was on the treadmill when I walked in? Could someone have just started running really hard all of a sudden?". The floor continuted to shake. It felt as if it was swaying back and forth and at any point, the building could crumble. My next thought was that I needed to get the heck out of the bathroom and figure out what was going on. I ran into my office to see my coworkers running into each other figuring out what just happened. My mom called my cell phone in a panic to tell me picture frames were rattling on the walls and handles from a tall dresser were shaking.
I couldn't believe this was really happening! An earthquake in DC? A real earthquake in DC? An earthquake that was not only felt in DC but 30 miles outside of the city?
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the east coast just 4 miles beneath the surface.
A 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the east coast just 4 miles beneath the surface.
My entire office evacuated and for the next hour, I walked around making sure people were ok, finding hand sanitizer since I didn't wash my hands after using the restroom (ha!) and answering any questions I could with information I was being passed on from inside the building (I have to love being in Human Resources). After standing in the (beautiful) sunshine for a while, our office decided to let everyone return into the building, grab their personal items, and close for the day!
Whoa! The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying a few beers outside with coworkers while laughing and cheersing to Earthquake Day!
I truly don't ever think I will forget my first earthquake, on the toilet. At least all were safe!
Only me.
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