Twas a Beautiful Day for an Earthquake!

Did you hear? We had an earthquake yesterday. It was a little before 2pm, when I was sitting at my desk. The building started to sway, like a big gust of wind was blowing. It made everyone pause and perk up. Then it happened again, underscoring that it indeed wasn't just wind. The office is on the sixth floor and overlooks Chinatown. I could see people spilling in to the streets, looking confused.

Of course the first thing that came to mind was terrorism. But I received a text from G, who works across town, asking if I was ok. That clued me in that it might be an earthquake...something far reaching. (But then again, it could have been a really lethal bomb reverberating.)

The funny thing about human reaction, it's always a bit delayed. People need/want guidance. I wasn't waiting around for it. My immediate thought was to get out of the building and move away from the center of town, where it's congested and there's an abundance of tall buildings.

I headed northwest into the residential neighborhoods. Of course, cell phones weren't working, but text and email were. Note: texting is the best way to communicate in times like this. G and I updated each other on our whereabouts and agreed to meet at a central location in Cleveland Park, which is over two miles from my location. I walked it. It was a beautiful day, but I had wedges on. Not so good for the feet.

As I left the building, I saw crowds gathered on the streets -- office workers, waiting for direction. Again, really? Standing under a tall building after a big tremor (with the potential for aftershocks) is not the best idea. Anyhoo, I walked the two miles. In the residential areas, you would never know anything was wrong. People were scarce, save for some dog walkers. As I crossed the beautiful Klingle Valley Bridge, which runs between Kalorama and Cleveland Park neighborhoods, the crush of traffic re-asserted that something was amiss. I eventually met up with G a little after 3pm, who had the car and we drove home. It took us almost two hours to get home because of the traffic. We were only going eight miles out. Grrr.

So weird that we experienced an earthquake. It's apparently the strongest this area has felt in 67 years. But, I totally forgot that we actually had one last summer in July. Not as rare as you'd think at this rate! Earthquake 2011!

p.s. No damage to the house! Knock on wood.