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Editor's Desk
After the Quake
What it was like to experience the Washington area’s historic earthquake.
One thing I learned yesterday is that there’s a big difference between an aftershock and the real thing. The aftershock came out about 8 last night and consisted mainly of the lamp on my work table tingling and vibrating a bit. But nothing else in the room did, unlike six-plus hours earlier when the walls seemed to be being broken into and the ceiling creaked and there was lots of outdoor noise as if from some large-scale excavating or maybe from a jet plane breaking the sound barrier somewhere underground.
By Washington, D.C. area standards, it was an earthquake to rival the end of the world. It was the last thing I would have expected here. And as a native of California, I was stunned at how much more violent yesterday 5.8 quake seemed than, say, 1971’s 6.6 San Fernando quake, which shook me wide awake very early one February morning back when I still lived in Santa Barbara.
As it happened, yesterday’s quake hit just five minutes before we were to take our son to the Baltimore-Washington Airport. Local news radio filled us in as details became available. The consensus quickly became that this was a day everyone who lived through it would remember for the rest of his or her life. Maybe so, though that might depend on what happens in the interim. One thing is clear. Phone lines quickly went out, both land lines and cell, from simple overuse. Luckily it wasn’t because something a lot worse had happened to them. But other than that — and the inevitable traffic jams that doubled commuting time — I’m not sure if anything too awful transpired. For all the scare it threw into locals, the quake in Washington was more roar than bite. Happy are those who aren’t at the epicenter.
My sister asked me if our animals had given any advance warning. Can’t say, because I wasn’t paying attention. The doggie might have reacted, but even afterward she appeared mainly preoccupied with the fact that we were preparing to go to the airport without her. The cat on the other hand was totally spooked by the quake. She thought that when we had taken her in last fall she’d found security after a pretty turbulent first year of life. Now she wasn’t so sure. When we got home from the airport five hours later, she continued to hide under the bed, her tail permanently puffed up. Later she did reappear, seemingly more relaxed but still very cautious. We should be able to tell today if she’ll need counseling.
About the Author
Wlady Pleszczynski is editorial director of The American Spectator and the editor of AmSpec Online.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment
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D. Singh| 8.24.11 @ 6:49AM
Sir
It is my belief that this earthquake is a forewarning to the US and indirectly to Britain: Virginia was named after Queen Elizabeth I.
Unless we turn away from our wrongdoing – the next big one is incubating in the bowels of the Earth.
I keep being reminded of a saying, why I know not, and cannot fathom from whence it came: flee from the wrath that is to come.
Stefan Stackhouse| 8.24.11 @ 9:53AM
Of course, for earthquakes never hit any nations where anyone has done anything wrong.
D. Singh| 8.25.11 @ 3:01AM
Mr Stachouse
We have been warned that in the last days earthquakes will occur in diverse places. It may be that the sovereign God has decided to neutralise the US so that it cannot interfere in the forthcoming conflagaration in the Middle East (see further the yet unfulfilled prophecy in Psalm 83).
Appleby| 8.24.11 @ 6:54AM
My cat reacted pretty much the same way -- while I (who was home from work with stomach problems) was still wondering what had just happened. Then the guy on the radio figured out it had been *an earthquake* (here in Toronto it was more like a short jolt that made the floor wave and set the blinds swinging, for about 8 seconds) and I turned the TV to Fox News to discover that a lot of people in DC and NY had assumed it was 9/11/01 redux. Imagine if an event such as 9/11/01 had happened in DC and we had felt it in Toronto! No, you cant imagine it. Neither can I.
Intelligent Design| 8.24.11 @ 6:59AM
The gods are displeased with the federal superstructure in VA, MD, and DC. So are 70% of American voters.
D. Singh| 8.24.11 @ 8:30AM
Sir – this is what David Wilkerson (author of The Cross and the Switchblade predicted in 1974):
The United States is going to experience in the not-too-distant future the most tragic earthquakes in its history. One day soon this nation will be reeling under the impact of the biggest news story of modern times. It will be coverage of the biggest most disastrous earthquake in history.
It will cause widespread panic and fear, Without a doubt, it will become one of the most completely reported earthquake ever. Television networks will suspend all programming and carry all day coverage.
Another earthquake , possibly in Japan may precede the one that I see coming here. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind about this forthcoming massive earthquake in our continent.
I am not at all convinced that this earthquake will take place in California. In fact, I believe it is going to take place where it is least expected. This terrible earthquake may happen in an area that not known as an earthquake belt. It will be so high on the Richter scale that it will trigger two other major earthquakes.
Dan Hirsch| 8.24.11 @ 10:08AM
Oh, get real.
The planet is 4 billion years old. It is composed of a liquid center upon which is floating a crust of generally brittle rock, that is divided into separate pieces that move independently, into or away from each other. It also rotates at about 1000 mph at the equator.
It does not read books and plan its activity, it does not notice what the little ants that are men have built on the surface.
Grow up. There will always be earthquakes, there will always be volcanoes, there will always be stormy weather. Recorded human society has been around for maybe four thousand years. Just because you have not seen something in your 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 year lifetime does not mean it is particularly unusual.
Consider this: in the US the oldest continuously recording weather station has about 160 years of data. So let's all unknot our shorts, kneel down, and remember Who made this whole thing and that it's up to Him what's going to happen in it.
Nolite me conculcare!
PS
If you do not like the fact that I said the earth is 4 billion years old because you have an idea that it is more like a couple of thousand years old because it only took a couple of days to create, consider this: Saturn's "day" is about 10 earth hours long, Venus's "day" is about 5,830 earth hours long. God, who made the entire universe may have days that are not specifically earth "days" in length. I don't know. You don't either. HE is God, HE made it all, He has it under control. Just go with it. Still don't believe it? That's why we call it "Faith!" Okay? DH
DN| 8.24.11 @ 10:52AM
Of course God was speaking to man in terms that applied to man, meaning that a day was 24 literal earth-time hours. A perfect year was originally 360 days (i.e. 360 degrees in circle), but a fallen year is 365 days. Sounds to me that Dan Hirsch has been reading too many science books that simply reflesct man's opinion which shall surely be revised again next year as they always are.
The earth IS almost 6000 years old. There is no need to continue to debate this as all the world shall know soon enough.
D. Singh| 8.25.11 @ 3:09AM
Mr Hirsch
It is written: ‘knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,’
Anita| 8.24.11 @ 1:45PM
As long as I can still get a pizza delivered what the heck!
D. Singh| 8.24.11 @ 8:53AM
Sir
I feel frustrated and have great compassion for the American people. Sir, you are a respected editor of a magazine that is admired the world over. You have a moral duty to somehow warn other sympathetic editors of what is to come so that many people may take precautionary measures. You have a duty to warn the mayor of your town; your family and neighbours.
For example, the stockpiling of tents and tinned food could be taken as preparatory measures? Local citizens could draw up plans to protect their communities. Radio communications equipment should now be inspected to see if it will work in the event of an emergency.
Al Adab| 8.24.11 @ 1:04PM
Sahib Singh:
Interesting that it takes people of our background to point out that G*d protects and judges nations. "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray... then I will restore their land." He may not cause but He can prevent. Thank you for your comments herein.
D. Singh| 8.25.11 @ 3:09AM
In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
C Smith| 8.24.11 @ 9:12AM
Wish I could have seen the liberals running like rats from the 200 year old Capitol; wish they would think twice before returning.
POST American| 8.24.11 @ 9:38AM
----The great SE Asian Tsunami quake on
MAO's birthday 5 years ago --the 1/11 Haiti
quake a year or so ago --the 3/11 and then
4/11 quake tsunami events in Fukishima just
months ago, even as Japan was making obstructive
gestures viz a viz the Globalist
enabling of the US taxpayer underwritten
RED China 'miracle'----and now, as 'the agenda's'
been unmasked and the culprits are realizing
they're exposed -----this latest on cue, HAARP
-esque event.
----------------HMMMMMMMMMM----------------
C Smith| 8.24.11 @ 10:01AM
"Woe to Ariel, to Ariel [Jerusalem], the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision" (Isa 29:6).
PolishKnight| 8.24.11 @ 10:27AM
I wasn't home. On the last earthquake I experienced back in California, my male cat was sleeping on the bed at my feet and woke up about the same time I did and didn't even bother to get up. He just remained against my leg and looked up at me to see if I was worried. I wasn't and then when it stopped, he went back to sleep.
Then again, this cat slept even as I vacuumed AROUND him.
Vern Crisler | 8.25.11 @ 7:48AM
Hah! Whenever I turned on a vacuum cleaner my cat's back would arch, and his hair puff up. The odd noise that a vacuum cleaner makes seems to scare cats as much as any growling dog.
OldSeabee| 8.24.11 @ 10:31AM
For all the apocalyptic references, the East Coast of the USA is a subduction zone, like the San Andrea Fault line. There have been several earthquakes reported occuring in Virginia over the past 15 years. A really intense 'quake hit Charleston, SC in the 1830's, which caused the church bells in Boston, Mass to ring! It's just another example of the dynamics of our planet, and another thing to have to deal with once in a while. And, we should all be very thankful that this event did not cause physical harm to anyone, although I have friends who were very frightened by it. Please go to the American Red Cross website where you can read and download info about disaster preparation. (And Hurricane Irene is headed towards the East Coast!)
mjfin| 8.24.11 @ 12:58PM
The Virginia fault line responsible for the earthquake was initially misidentified by the Press as the Not My Fault. Obama spokesmen later corrected the error. It was of course Bush's Fault.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 1:50PM
Out here in western PA right on the border of OH, our walls sounded like they were cracking, and the we felt the earth moving under us. Our phones were out too from overuse, I imagine.
We sat waiting to see just how big this was going to get and then thankfully it stopped.
As to The above post re David Wilkerson~ I don't buy it when men try and play God and make predictions like Nostradomus, another fraud who used the Bible to make his so-called prophecies.
All these things like earthquakes happening more frequently is already told to us by Christ Himself in Matthew 24. He tells us these things in order to be aware of the things that will take place before His return.
Be like Christ Himself who put no trust in man because as it is written, He knew what was in man. (Jn. 2:25).
He trusted only His Heavenly Father, God. If you do this you will fare well.
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 2:15PM
Frauds Like Crazy Anti-Catholic Margie.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 4:17PM
Thus sayeth Pope Clint!
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 8:12PM
Dr.Reich The Poseur Punk Poster Is Punking Margie, Once Again.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 9:28PM
Wrong, Mr. Paranoid. If Dr. Right has "punked" me, I must have missed it.
No, it is I. You are from this time forward being referred to by me as Pope Clint.
e cowan| 8.24.11 @ 1:53PM
You east coast wimps don't know what a REAL earthquake is!
Vern Crisler | 8.25.11 @ 7:52AM
It's not the earthquake that was scary. It's the knowledge that buildings on the east coast were not built to withstand earthquakes. If the earthquake had been a little stronger, a lot of buildings would have flattened, along with the people in them.
For years I've being going to California hoping to experience an earthquake but as usual California disappointed me. So I had to come all the way out here to New Jersey for a sample. Go figure.
Fly| 8.24.11 @ 2:28PM
Radio communications equipment should now be inspected to see if it will work in the event of an emergency.
http://www.wholesalesunglassesbrands.com
Dipesto| 8.24.11 @ 2:39PM
The DC quake was a sign by the One Above All that He is po'd at the Liberals at the National Cathedral, and the cracks in the phallic Washington Monument are His wrath at that old slave-tooth-pulling Massa, and He must have been sending a sign to Ben Stein, who has a hootch in the Watergate,that he needs to sell some of the many mansions he owns.
Tex Expatriate| 8.24.11 @ 3:41PM
I am 74-years old and have been in several earthquakes, all of them scoring higher than the east coast earthquake. (How about those east coast sissies! Still freaking out. Are there any men left who live on the east coast?) When I lived in Denver, Colorado several earthquakes were caused by humans.
How? The Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Golden, Colorado, right at the foot of the Rockies, were pumping nuclear waste into the earth. When the observation was made that this was happening, the theory developed that the wastes were lubricating faults, which then moved. Of course the theory was poo-pooed in the press and elsewhere, particularly in government, but when the Rocky Mountain Aresenal caved under pressure and quit the pumping, the earthquakes ceased. Mmmmm.
It's not exactly Anthropogenic Global Warming, which is a hoax, but it was Anthropgenic Earthquaking. Oh, and when it happened (which was long before Colorado became a haven to leftist freaks) Coloradans weren't running around freaking out about it, and it wasn't national news no one cares about.
If you ask me, it would be a wonderful thing if a sinkhole opened up and the entire District of Columbia fell into it, taking with it every single politican and bureaucrat living there. Sorry about the other folks: collateral damage.
W| 8.24.11 @ 7:25PM
Margie,
I thought you were a Jersey girl. Welcom to Western Pa.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 8:35PM
Thanks, W. I think!
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 9:32PM
W,
Furthermore, I am from NJ~ grew up there~ all but 2 decades of which I lived in NYC.
We just moved to PA a year ago~ but it is a temporary home till we get our house in Ohio in order, very shortly.
Clint, as usual and as he's been doing practically since posting day one here~ is a blatant liar, and has constantly and without ceasing tried to make me out to be a liar.
He already has his reward. (From the Great I Am!).
W| 8.25.11 @ 8:44AM
Sorry to hear you grew up in Jersey.
The time in Western Pa will cleanse you, like purgatory!! But Ohio??? hope you are not near cleveland.
Ohio does have lower property taxes than Pa, but Ohio has a graduated income tax, I think it tops at 10%, while Pa has a flat income tax of about 3.5% Ohio is better is you are retired or semi retired so you don't have the high property taxes.
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 8:28PM
These Joisey Israel Firsters Are A Sneaky Lot.
Foist, It's Joisey, Then Dr.Reich Is In Chicago.Then Voting For Steve Lonegan.
Now Maegie Isn't In Joisey, But Is In Joisey.
And Here We Thought, Apocalyptic Crank Lady Bigot Margie Told Us, God Will Punish All The Biggie Baddy Liars.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 8:35PM
You really, really, reeally need to get a life!
Moe Blotz| 8.24.11 @ 9:25PM
Quit the ersatz Brooklynese as well,Clint. We natives pronounce the name "Noo Juhsey".
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 11:05PM
Why Don't You Try & Make Me Moe Joisey .
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 8:41PM
Aaaaand You and your Serial Anti-Catholic Bigot Buddy Dr.Reich need to get your stories straight.
Very,Very Sneaky Liar Stuff There, Apocalyptic Crank Lady Margie.
Margie| 8.24.11 @ 9:34PM
You're the proverbial pot calling the kettle black, doofus.
I am no sneak, but completely open about what I think and believe. You just don't like it so you must try to destroy my character. As some others here have done as well.
Notice anything? I'm still here.
POST America| 8.24.11 @ 10:59PM
--------------------BOTTOM LINE----------------------
The first, unprecedented mega tsunami in SE
Asia a few years ago ---on MAO TSE TUNG's birthday.
The Haiti quake a year or so ago --on 1/11.
All those dead blackbirds and dead sardines
last February.
The Fukishima quake/ tsunami on 3/11 and
then 4/ 11 --just as the IMF disabled Japan
was begining to make obstructive gestures
viz a viz the US taxpayer created
RED China Globalist 'model'.
AND, as the fallout from Fukishima continues
mixing with the HAARP enabling CHEM-trails that don't exist
------just months after David Rockefeller
himself called publicly for MASSIVE
and RAPID depopulation--------
---------------NOTHING'S GOING ON----------------
-------------------RRRRRRRIGHT
---------------------DEAD RIGHT------------------------
Clint| 8.24.11 @ 11:03PM
You're American Spectator's Resident Fixated Lapsed Catholic/Anti-Catholic Nut Case.
That's What American Spectator Readers Notice, Head Case.
Margie| 8.25.11 @ 1:30AM
Pope Clint I has a 'habit' of projecting.
LOL.
marshcope| 8.25.11 @ 2:41AM
How solid is that river bottom ground that DC is built on. In a really strong quake could it hold up all those huge edifices in the government area of the town? I got to thinking of the Mexico City quake in '85, with the whole city built on a filled in lake, and the Frisco quake in the 80s that leveled the section of the place that was built on the rubble piled up from the 1906 quake. Would DC really be a big "level playing field" after it rocked and rolled?
D. Singh| 8.25.11 @ 3:34AM
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
rendite| 8.25.11 @ 6:45PM
Not in all posters above, but in some I see: A prideful arrogance. A folly. Like the poster who called those on the East Coast sissies.
I do not care how strong you are, how youthful, how well off financialy, and how solid you think your house or business built.
There is no earthquake, tornado, flood, or hurricane that cannot wipe it all out. And that includes your body.
Just look again at pictures of Joplin, Missouri and those from Alabama.
Count your blessings. Stay humble. Build your house on the Rock (and you'd better know that that phrase truly means).
More 'trouble' is on our way this weekend.