A whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

     How many earthquake puns are you going to hear today? A lot. I'm going to blog my experience--the earthquake will be blogged. Also, disclaimer, this image is an extreme exaggeration.

     I'd like to post some of the news sources that were either sent to me or that I found. My personal story of the quake can be found below the links.

MSNBC's Coverage of the Quake

Virginia Earthquake: Washington National Cathedral Damaged, to speak as to the scope of damaage. This link is the worst I've heard so far.

[Edit at 5:13pm] WMATA's Post-Earthquake Service Updates. WMATA is still operating at 15mph system-wide while all of the tracks are checked.

[Edit at 4:57pm] Did you feel it? Tell the U.S. Geological Survey your story.

[Edit at 5:09pm] FEMA: What to do after an earthquake, in case we're not yet out of the woods.

    A little before 2pm, OSA Headquarters. I'm at my desk, publishing today's Optics Express papers, when suddenly, I'm moving, and my very large and easy to see computer monitor appears like I'm looking through water at it. The whole thing lasted under 10 seconds, I'm sure. I went to the entrance of my cube and see the head of my department running down the hall and saying, "Get out of here now!" Thanks to her immediate leadership, I grab my purse and phone and leave. To note, this was right in front of my face, and it didn't waste any time at all. I work on the third floor of our six-floored building, so we are hastily making our way to the basement exit, as our emergency plan instructs. I think our general evacuation went off without a hitch. Out of the building and on the sidewalk, I can see that other buildings are doing the same--evacuating. I grab my phone and call my husband once. Twice. Thrice. No service. I think I said to no one in particular, "This is big."

     While my phone calling and texting abilities were limited, I still had 3G coverage (which, to date, is the best excuse for a smart phone I can come up with). I sign on to Google Chat and am able to stay in contact with my husband. He was telecommuting in Fairfax, VA. At 1:57pm, he said, "We just had an earthquake." Although the word was in my mind, I had not officially labeled this incident an earthquake yet. My husband was the first to confirm it. At 1:59pm, he sent that there was a system wide alert that he area was hit with an earthquake. I'm not sure if this alert came from the television or the emergency weather radio that we have. He also told me that his parents felt something too--up in State College, Pa, over 200 miles away. With a computer at his fingertips, he sent me updates as he could find them. I got the first number from him--5.8. Later, he sent me the epicenter, which is currently believed to be in southern VA. As he sent these things to me, I updated my surrounding coworkers. We were gathered in the green space beside PNC Bank in Dupont Circle. We had to wait for the Fire Department to inspect and ensure the security and stability of our building, post-quake. By my emailing history, I can see that we did not return to the building for roughly 37 minutes.

As of 4:24pm, my place of work, OSA, is officially closed. I received an email at 4:07pm from OPM that an early dismissal is in place. It remains to be seen what the operating status will be tomorrow.

     Back in the building, I checked the usual social media suspects--Facebook, Twitter. Both were abuzz.

     At my work, we had a practice evacuation planned for Thursday, August 25th. Post-quake and once we were all back in the building, our building manager sent around an email that began, "Can I plan an evacuation drill, or what?"