I live in NYC and this was my 2nd earthquake of any magnitude.
The 1st was sometime in the early 1990's and at that time a large picture frame fell off the wall and the glass broke into 2
pieces....it is hanging again and the glass has never been
replaced. We lost 5 Irish chrystal wine glasses (@$250.00 ea.)
that day because the shelves shook so much they banged
against each other and broke. That time it was a local quake
and lasted about 20 sec. which felt like much longer.
Today, 2 earthquakes were felt in NYS....one at 6am in Upper New York State which we did not feel in NYC...and the Virginia
earthquake which we did feel in NYC.
Because of the shallowness of the Virgina one, it traveled further (covering an area from Mississippi to Canada...my family felt it in Georgia) and due to NYC/Manhattan being of solid rock...I understand the tremors or waves were felt more in Manhattan
proper. There are 2 different faults in Manhattan, Upper
Manhattan (which also runs under the Nuclear Plant) and also across 14th Street in Lower Manhattan near where I live.
I had described today's like walking on Jello...but later heard a man on TV say it was like stanging on a mattress and having some one jump up and down on it next to you. It lasted about 20-25 seconds, but seemed longer.
I have 3 large cabinets with sliding doors at the top and at the bottom with shelves in between. These 12 doors rattles so loudly they sounded like a machine gun. I had a stack of about 40 or 50 National Geographic/Smithsonian and other magazines that I was going to tie up and put in the recycle bin. This pile
was strewn all over the floor like some one had given them a big
kick in various directions. My cell phone would not work...and
my cat was standing on his hind legs...looking like a rabbit, ...
frozen...looking out the windows with eyes twice the normal size. After it stopped, he ran over and jumped into my arms like
a dog would...very strange.
It may not have been a California type earthquake, but that is fine with me...I will take these "little ones" and be glad of them...