How old were you when you first experienced an earthquake?
By redmaryjane
@redmaryjane (891)
United States
August 23, 2011 3:06pm CST
We just had an earthquake here in New York, where earthquakes don't normally tread. I grew up in the Philippines where quakes happen more than a handful times a year. It still freaks people out and I don't blame them.
However, my early childhood saw me in Adak, Alaska. To get an idea of where this is, click here: http://www.dced.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/images/Adak.gif
Pretty far flung, huh? We had tremors everyday. They weren't just earthquakes. They were TREMORS. The ground would vibrate and not just shake.
I was almost 3 when I had my first earthquake. My mother was sleeping in the next room and I was watching alone watching tv in the living room. Then the ground shook. We had a sea shell hanging decoration and it made a sound that was like a high-pitched rumble but you can hear the earth make a rumbling sound on its own.
So you see, earthquakes don't scare me easily. Usually, those things stop almost at the moment when you realize what that was but what happened today had a bit of character: I started mildly. I was out on our balcony (where you are most likely to feel it) when I felt shaking. Like there were four people shaking the support underneath me. It felt wobbly then it got stronger. Then it died back down, got stronger again, then died down for good.
Because of where I grew up plus living in the Philippines, I know that things could get worse.
Having said all that...HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU HAD YOUR FIRST EARTHQUAKE? What happened? Were you scared after the rest of your other earthquakes?
Let's talk!
2 people like this
7 responses
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
23 Aug 11
I think I was 43. It was around 2 years ago or maybe even less. I live in Illinois so we don't have a lot of earthquakes here. We did have one in recent years though, but it was very minor but I did feel it. It was around 5:00 AM. I was in bed and I felt the bed moving, I thought the dog had jumped up on the bed but when I looked up the dog was not even in the room. I thought since I was so tired it must have been my imagination, then I found out later that there had been an earthquake and that is what I felt. My husband was in the basement at the time and he did not feel it. My kids were all asleep and did not feel it either. So you can tell that it was a very fast and very minor earthquake since it didn't even wake people up.
@redmaryjane (891)
• United States
23 Aug 11
Thanks for responding!
Wow. I find it amazing that you've never felt an earthquake before but then again these parts aren't even on the edge of a tectonic plate. But were there other people who felt it in your are aside from you? My roommate was fixing his stuff in his room and didn't feel it in spite of the fact that it was a 5.8/5.9
@shaggin (71664)
• United States
3 Aug 16
I actually have never felt one thankfully! Mylot started paying again so I came back here. Hopefully you will return as well!
@skydancer (2101)
• United States
16 Sep 11
I experienced my first earthquake less than a month ago. I live in North Carolina (and I live in the piedmont, which is NOT prone to natural disasters - not even hurricanes - as many are lead to believe). The actual earthquake was up in Virginia but we felt it all the way down here. I was in the master bedroom and the house all of a sudden started shaking and I had no idea what it was and neither did my nextdoor neighbor, who called our house to find out if ours had "just shaken the way hers did." My neighbor has lived in North Carolina longer than my parents or I have, just to give you an idea how rare such an occurrence in our area is.
Another friend of ours said she knew exactly what was going on because it apparently happened when she was in college in the area (1969ish). I think she was in the minority though because the people at my dentist office initially thought the shaking was due to the construction going on nearby, and a lot of people who felt it out on the road thought their cars were breaking down... The only other person who seemed to know what was going on was a friend from California! The rest of us were totally clueless until it was already over and we had time to check the news. It was crazy - pardon the cliche.
@allknowing (130066)
• India
8 Sep 11
I was newly married in my twenties. It was in the wee hours of the morning. We noticed our bed shaking and that woke us up. We knew it was an earthquake. We stood up, held each other and said our last prayers! But it lasted only a few seconds. The epicentre was miles away from where we stayed and there there was a lot of damage.
@unique16 (1531)
• United States
8 Sep 11
I felt my first earthquake last week here and I am 46 years old on the East Coast of the United States. I live in Penna. near Philadelphia. Then we had Hurricane Irene and now this week Tropical storm Lee with so much rain. Tooo much not many places where it can go. I hope the Hurricanes are done now for our area and go to Texas and Tennesee where they need the rain more.
Thanks and have a great night.
Sincerely Unique16
@Professor2010 (20162)
• India
6 Sep 11
There is no frequent earthquake here in this part of the globe, now i am 67, i have experiened it twice, once in 1956 i was 6 years young then and another in 2006, they were very mild lol
Still it was a thrilling experience..
Thanks for sharing
Best of luck.
Professor
Professor
@marguicha (215389)
• Chile
30 Aug 11
I have lived with earthquakes since I remember and have feared them all my life. I live in the country where the biggest earthquake ever recorded happened (Chile). I was a teenager and the country changed forever.
But a lot before that one, I rwemember being very little and running down the stairs 3 stars at a time, to the waiting arms of my grandmother. I don´t know how I never got hurt. I just jumped.
In the last big earthquake I was living alone. My house is built earthquake proof, as much as you can do that. And even though it has two stories, the main room idçs on the first floor and there´s a door I don´t close at night so that I vcan run to the garden as soon as it starts to tremble.
I think that earthquakes are the only thing that I really fear.
