Alex Barnett blog

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My first earthquake

This morning I experienced my first earthquake, although I didn't realize it at the time.

You see, I was doing email and checking out blogs from home, in front of my laptop and suddenly felt weird for about 3-5 seconds. It was like that feeling you get when you've been on a boat for a few hours and then step foot on land...that kind of sea-rocking sensation you get as your body adjusts to terra-firma.

As the weirdness hit, I tried to fix my eyes on to something steady - the corner of my laptop - and could have sworn I was watching it sway ever so slightly. In a few seconds, the sensation went I away.

I looked at my espresso cup and thought - "wow, that's good stuff!"

Then on my drive to work, I heard the news on the radio of a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Wells, Nevada that took place around the same time as my weirdness moment, some 170 miles away from where I live (Sandy, UT). Well, I put two and two together...

No-one was hurt in Wells, but a fair amount of damage was caused.

 

There's an interactive map here with reports written in by readers of the Salt Lake Tribune describing where they were when they felt it.

Comments

Linda said:

That's just one sensation you can experience from an earthquake...I call it the "ocean affect," where it feels as though you're floating on ocean waves. The second type is the "rattle," where everything - including you - rattles and shakes with the earthquake itself. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Some folks (like myself) become very disoriented and nauseous from the feeling.

# February 24, 2008 1:03 PM