Tuesday, August 23, 2011

How was your earthquake?


We're now accepting your East Village earthquake stories. Anyone, by chance, shoot any video? During the earthquake, that is.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi EV. I was sitting on my bed, and it started rocking, and even the cat stirred. I looked under my bed because I thought maybe someone was hiding under it and shaking it. Now I see there was an earthquake in Virginia felt all the way up here. Crazy. My bed was really rocking! I am on East 12th between A and B.--CC

marjorie said...

Jeez, that felt as strong as any I felt living in SF! (I moved there from NYC not long after the big one that collapsed the Bay Bridge, and came back here in '01.)

Desk chair shook, cat ran out of the room, ceiling fan started rocking back and forth and TV started shimmying. I ran to stand in the doorway -- old habits die hard.

Friend in VA had everything fall over on his desk -- reports it was 5.8.

DAMMIT I THOUGHT I COULD HANG MY FREAKIN' KETUBAH OVER MY BED IF I LEFT CA. DANG.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

I'm working at home. Suddenly I feel kind of dizzy, so I stand up and now feel shaky. Then see plant on a stand next to my desk and it's swaying back and forth. Run into the bedroom and see my pants hanging on doorknob shaking back and forth. Call a friend in bldg, then post a comment on EV G Mourning.

Never experienced an earthquake before. Did not like it at all.

Anonymous said...

EV, has anyone checked on the rats? I am worried about them.

Anonymous said...

Everyone in 9th Street Espresso (on C) felt it.

Well, everyone except the irritating real estate agent who was using the place as a personal office.

For a minute I thought they had finished the 2nd Ave subway.

AC said...

I'm off today. I was napping. And as cliched as it sounds, I thought it was a dream. Did anyone else find it strangely quiet for several moments?

glamma said...

i was sitting in a skyscraper in midtown (NOT. TOO. COOL.)
what is a ketubah? so curious

Anonymous said...

Oh crap, my dog and cat were home alone and the dog has some bad anxiety issues :-( I feel so bad about how they must have felt, since everyone says the quake was quite noticeable... (nothing felt in my office uptown).

MizuWari said...

Did the Guggenheim Lab make it out okay? WE CAN'T LOSE THE LAB!!!

Anonymous said...

Work in midtown, live in the LES. Felt the tremor for sure and freaked out. I packed my bag and stood by. I heard the traders in our bullpen on a different floor (all men) evacuated the building while the women stayed behind. HAHAHHA!!!!! P**sies.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

I grew up with lots of quakes on the west coast, but this was the strongest I've ever felt...and it felt weirdly horizontal. Lasted about 30 seconds (W Canal St). Just not got my Notify NYC call - over an hour later.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

@MisuWari - last Friday, when that storm raged, I saw lightning appear to strike the water tower on top of the building at 2nd Ave & 1st St (not sure if it actually did) and at the time, I thought "So close, oh, so close!" Maybe this was the Nature's second attempt...

EV Grieve said...

@Goggla

How did the length of this quake compare to the west coast? The 30-35 seconds seemed like an eternity.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

@Grieve - this felt really long to me. I don't think I've ever felt one more than 5-10 seconds.

Vince Rosalia said...

I definitely thought it was eerily silent while happening, and it seemed like such gentle swaying. I found it interesting at first but it just kept going and going. I didn't necessarily feel in danger, but I was wondering when it was going to stop and if it was going to get worse. Just a disconcerting experience over all.

Jeremiah Moss said...

i thought i was having a neurological event.

starzstylista said...

My friends and I were sitting around bitching about how great the EV used to be and then we heard the EQ. We pretty much agreed the EQs used to be better too. Must be the developers' fault.

Melanie said...

I was sitting at my desk working at the computer when I felt my chair move-then saw my tower with internet related stuff on it shaking back and forth and back and forth--you get the picture.I knew it was an earthquake. At first I thought it was about a 4 but was stronger 5.9. Glad everyone is okay.I experienced 2 earthquakes before in the Caribbean--there the earth felt like it was pulsating and moving in a wavy direction. Different feeling here-things rocked back and forth.

HippieChick said...

I was sitting on my bed when I felt the first pitch and I thought it was someone on the fire escape or that a car had hit the building and the building was getting ready to fall down. Or that the building at 9th and 1st had already fallen down.

Then the second wave hit, much stronger, and it felt like being on a raft in high seas. I was literally moved up and down and sideways, as if someone was under the bed heaving it up. By then I knew it was a quake, and that it wasn't local. I was in the bad Sylmar one in LA in '71, and by comparison this was nothing. But it did make me feel very nauseated, almost a kind of vertigo. Though that could also be caused by the endless local newsies foaming at the mouth and the endless idiots on TV.

faces said...

was in rosa mexicano on 18th having lunch. we had no idea what was going on when the maitre'd came over and asked us to evacuate the building. didn't even feel it.

total ripoff, i want my money back.

esquared™ said...

i thought the fratboys were early in their weekend douchetravaganza and were overrunning the city. that, or there was a tweet of sample sale of manolos and jimmy choos and the scary sadshaws were stampeding to get there...

off to the trilby for some pimm's cup before the end of the world...

jdx said...

i was emailing east village grieve. :D

Anonymous said...

"My friends and I were sitting around bitching about how great the EV used to be and then we heard the EQ. We pretty much agreed the EQs used to be better too. Must be the developers' fault."

Now, that was funny

Anonymous said...

Just watch for more ...exuberant... drinkers in the neighborhood tonight.

http://www.nycrecessiondiary.com/2011/08/nyc-earthquake-bar-restaurant-and-other.html

#quakespecials

Anonymous said...

i was on the subway when the earthquake happened and i didn't even notice it - neither did anyone else on my subway car! i got off at Astor Place and went to Kmart quickly to pick up some supplies and the second I walk in someone comes on the store intercom and ominously says "this is the fire safety manager of kmart, there has been an incident in NYC, please stay where you are until further notice".

so...i start freaking the fuck out! my phone isn't getting service all of a sudden and I think the worst. then after a few minutes he comes back on and says there was an earthquake in virginia and that everything is now fine.

UGH.

Marty Wombacher said...

I didn't feel it at all (I was at work and sadly still am) and I kind of feel like I've been cheated! Sort of like the last Sex Pistols show.

Astor Bill said...

I actually went to the last Sex Pistols show at Winterland in San Francisco. This was around the time I was listening to my Songs in the Key of Life LP in my dorm room at Berkeley. An earthquake struck, the needle bounced across the record, and it skipped forever thereafter. Would kids today understand what I'm talking about at all?

Marty Wombacher said...

@Astor Bill: Did you hear Johnny Rotten snarl that famous last line at the show? I would've loved to have been there, a real slice of punk history. (Sorry that this is somewhat off topic.)

Anonymous said...

Aww... I'm in L.A. right now. I missed it!

...Supposed to happen out here. Not out there!

Anonymous said...

@Astor Bill: "Kids" today still purchase records. Try embracing 8-tracks to be an authentic grumpy old man.

PS - Cassette tapes won't work either.

Squat or Rot said...

I was walking down Chrystie and didn't feel shut, bummer. Hey - why not put up an old blackout post while we're on the subject?

Anonymous said...

I spoke to the Tompkins Square Park rats and at first they thought the shaking was caused by the rambunctious toddlers in the children's park. When they realized it was an earthquake they all dashed back into their rat holes and took cover.