East Coast Earthquake: 50 Thoughts in 15 Seconds

FIRST PERSON | I was grocery shopping at a Fairfax, Va., Giant grocery store Tuesday when the earthquake hit. I didn't feel any movement at first; rather, the first thing I noticed were tiles, metal connectors, and other debris falling from the ceiling.

I had experienced an earthquake before some years ago in Seattle, but the sensation had been completely different. The earth had felt as if it were rolling. This experience, however, felt more like a shaking, and I felt an aching in my neck, almost as if I had rear-ended another vehicle while driving my car. My first thought was that it might be an earthquake, but because it did not feel like a West Coast earthquake, I wondered if a bomb had gone off. Living in the D.C. metropolitan area, an act of explosive terrorism sometimes seems only a matter of time.

These thoughts must have sped quickly through my mind; when I felt the shaking, I also immediately looked around for my 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. They were frozen and confused as merchandise flew off the store shelves and bottles shattered across the floor in nearby aisles. My daughter was closest, so I instinctively grabbed her and covered her head. There were no doorways to flee to, no tables to crawl beneath. When the shaking ended what was probably 10 to 15seconds later, I returned to my first thought: yes, it had been an earthquake.

I spent the next few minutes comforting my crying daughter; marveling at my smiling son, who thought it had all been "cool;" and explaining to a nearby customer who had never before experienced an earthquake what just happened. I checked for, and thankfully discovere,d no injuries among my children, and we slowly made our way through the scattered mess to the front of the store.