Earthquake

[afuna]

There was an earthquake earlier today. I was in the office (26th floor!), sitting on the floor and listening to a presentation, when I realized the room was swaying slightly. It didn't take long for everyone else to notice; the shaking grew much stronger but was over in moments. Magnitude 6.0, but it didn't hit Metro Manila that hard. Just to be sure though: you guys all okay?

I know at least that everyone in my family is safe. My sister was the first to contact me; texted me as soon as the tremors died down. Then my mom called and when I didn't answer sent me the same message my sister had, word for word. I couldn't answer the phone as I was listening to a talk, but I did text them both back after *g*. My dad and my older brother didn't even try. (I suspect my dad didn't even realize what had happened) Men. Hmph. ;)

(As a side note, "earthquake Philippines" keeps giving me links that say Monday. Confused me until I realized that they meant Monday their time not ours ;-))

Oh, also, I got free pizza after attending the talk. That wasn't my primary goal, to be sure, but mmmm. Pizza.

Comments

[chocobojules.livejournal.com]

oh yeah I felt that!
I wasn't sure whether I should leave my computer seat and stand below a door frame or something. and I wasn't sure if it was the right safety measure to stand under a door frame. I was also cursing parents for not installing a bath tub. I heard that's a good earthquake hiding place.
so mostly I just stood in the middle of the room waiting for something to happen. Then sat back down when the tremors stopped.

[afuna]

Hee. I was sitting on the conference room floor, and if things had gone really bad, I could probably have scooted under the gigantic conference table. Glad it wasn't necessary, though *g*

[iruka11.livejournal.com]

probably felt more to me since i was in the 30th floor x_x
anyway, i'm still alive and kicking XD

[afuna]

Yay. Just don't kick me!

PS. Cuuute icon.

[habeo.livejournal.com]

Bah lucky, experiences like that rarely occur, and to have lived through a "terrifying" yet "relatively safe" one is definitely one for the journal.

[iruka11.livejournal.com]

awww.. you'll experience one of those someday ;)

[pauamma]

Is this the one you're talking about? Also, yay free pizza! (what toppings?)

[soph.livejournal.com]

Well, the link in the post (which didn't show up due a misspelled "href") was http://www.sunstar.com.ph//static/net/2007/11/27/manila.skyscrapers.sway.in.6.0.magnitude.earthquake.(2.02.p.m.).html . It looks like the one, but the times are different. Weird.

[pauamma]

Maybe 2:02pm is actually the time of the news dispatch? *clueless*

[afuna]

Could be. The earthquake happened around 12:30PM, but I wasn't able to start digging for news until some time after lunch ;-)

[afuna]

Well, there were three different flavors. I ignored the all pepperoni one, and concentrated on the two which had pineapple and mushrooms. (They were slightly different, but I'm not sure how else. I just remembered they both had pineapples :D)

[pauamma]

Mmmm, shrooms.

[soph.livejournal.com]

I have three sides of me that are trying to say different things, so I'll let them all speak.

The compassionate side of me says: I'm glad you're okay. I've never experienced an earthquake myself - we don't get them in the UK. At least it wasn't too bad. *hugs*

The hungry side of me says: Mmm, free pizza. *wants*

The geek side of me says: You misspelt the "href" in your link.

<3

[afuna]

Mmm. I don't really remember the last major earthquake I experienced as I was only in preschool then. But that one was huge. This one wasn't much, for which I'm glad.

No free pizza for you! I ate it all <3

No I didn't! *shifty eyes* You didn't see anything!

<3

[richestgrave.livejournal.com]

Glad you're all right! And yeah, I felt that. Pretty strong. It actually caught me at a bad time: was attaching a mouse to my laptop and I was sort of leaning forward, sitting at the edge of my seat. When the quake sort of happened, I felt the world tilt a bit and I fell down. Hard. D: I thought it was a vertigo attack or something until I noticed how the lights hanging above me were swaying. I've now a growing bruise on my right knee. But that's hardly anything really. XD Again, happy to hear you and your family are okay. *hugs*

[afuna]

Ow! *hugs Nagy tight* I'm glad that you didn't get hurt any worse than a bruise, but still!


Glad to hear that you are also all right <33

[ursamajor]

*snicker* That was my dad during the Loma Prieta quake. Struck at 5:04, right as he was leaving the office to come home to play tennis; he drove over the Cypress Structure (which fell down in that quake) daily at that point to come home. Had *no* clue why we all ran up to him and hugged him frantically when he pulled in at 5:30, like normal, considering what we'd just seen on the news. "There was an earthquake? I didn't notice!" YOU WERE DRIVING THROUGH IT AND YOU DIDN'T NOTICE THE ROADS BEING A LITTLE WEIRD?

(It was also on his birthday, so we call it the "Dad's Birthday Quake." Hee.)

[afuna]

Hahhaha! That is an awesome story. I'm glad that he wasn't injured!

[cindyg.livejournal.com]

I was the only one in the house that felt it. ::pout:: Everyone thought I was having imagination overload, and then the news came out on TV. Vindicated!

So it was intensity 6? Our house is sunk into bedrock, so it didn't feel so bad...probably intensity 4 through Manila.

After having gone through that 7.7 monster that collapsed the Baguio Hyatt Regency, I've always been particularly sensitive about quakes. But I'm always the first or only one to feel them. Wah!

Glad to hear you and yours are okay!

::squish::

[afuna]

Awwww. <3 Yeah, probably only intensity 4 here or something, as we're pretty far from the epicenter. I've missed a couple of small quakes, but this one, while not scary, was far from missable.

[cindyg.livejournal.com]

Being on any floor higher than ground level can make even the mildest tremor feel gross. I remember being on the 11th floor of a building when an intensity 3 rolled around - we were shakin' and bakin' for the ten longest seconds ever.

I don't want to know how my friend felt this afternoon. She works on the 68th floor of a Makati building.

@_@

[afuna]

OMG. I am speechless. I... I'm not sure I want to be anywhere near that high when an earthquake hits.

[habeo.livejournal.com]

Call me morbid, but I was actually depressed I didn't feel it as "bad" as you people did. I've always wanted to feel a "major" quake, and I missed my relatively "safe" chance since nothing really happened within our area.

I decided to take an early lunch at the second floor of Pearl Plaza when the earthquake happened, so no high-floor-multiplier. My friend was the only one who felt it, and if he didn't get my attention to attune myself to the earth, I probably wouldn't have felt the rather pathetic wobble of the floor. We exited the premises to avoid a possible panic rush outside, should a much stronger aftershock have occurred.

Glad you're ok, but I wish I was in your shoes for that moment.

[afuna]

Aw. *hugs* Nothing really happened in our area, either. I mean, we're about the same since our buildings are only a fewt streets away ;-) Was nothing special, really, and I'm glad that it's so.

[habeo.livejournal.com]

Ah true, better than widespread destruction and cataclysmic disaster any day. I hope the poor people near the epicenter are alright. In the middle of 3 storms too, no less.

[afuna]

Grabe talaga. I just learned an hour ago that there was more than one storm hitting the Philippines today. I thought there was only the one that had since moved away north...

[habeo.livejournal.com]

At least the third one won't *hopefully* hit us, and the second one is hitting us where we can easily take it, the urban sectors. Damage is damage, but us getting hit is better than the farmers to the east and south who are in the middle of harvest time. Good thing the first one glided away, imho. :)

[afuna]

*nods* True. I mean it will be inconvenient for a while, but better inconvenient than having the crops destroyed. What I'm worried about, though, are the squatters...

[iruka11.livejournal.com]

hopefully... if it does.. i might be "alone" on my birthday... ~_~ (not again please? i don't want to see a horrible natural disaster on that day)

[habeo.livejournal.com]

Aww don't worry, whether it rains or not, I'll come to your party. :D

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you guys are safe. ^_^;; Those can be really scary, especially if you don't experience them very often.

And I echo what Pau said about pizza. ;D

[afuna]

Mmm. (Oh man, now I can't stop thinking of pizza, and I was just about to head to bed too ;))

[aveleh]

!!!

[afuna]

I know! Free pizza always gets me that way, too.

[atomic-clay.livejournal.com]

I thought I just lacked food. O_O But when I realized it was an earthquake, damnit, I was really worried. I mean, Eastwood is full of tall buildings - where do you evacuate if ever? 8-}

But it was a good thing it stopped soon enough. And we were only on the 8th floor - you must have had it worse. O_O

[afuna]

I am amused at how many people thought they were just dizzy because they were stressed or lacked food. Are we all that overworked?!?

[atomic-clay.livejournal.com]

Haha! Yes, I think maybe we are. :)