one of 45 million earthquake posts

as everyone on earth is no doubt is aware, we had ourselves a freaking EARTHQUAKE here in virginia today. we've had earthquakes here before - two that i can remember in the past decade, in fact - but those were more "earthquakes." like, they definitely happened, but we needed an outside authority to confirm that what we felt (if we felt anything at all) was, in fact, technically considered an earthquake.

let me tell you, you don't need outside confirmation of a 5.9 earthquake. it is PRETTY DARN APPARENT.

there are some on the west coast who have been smirking into their sleeves about how cute we east coasters are with our adorable panicking over an itsy bitsy earthquake, when trust them, this was nothing, they hardly even notice earthquakes of that size over there, teehee!

i've seen a few choice rebuttals to those types of comments, among them:

a. talk to us next time you get hit with a blizzard, and we'll offer our sympathy.

b. talk to us the next time you've had a terrorist attack hit your region - almost exactly 10 years ago - that involved some significant crashing and shaking, and see if your building shaking violently doesn't spook YOU.

my own rebuttal? aside from a general irritated muttering that if your first explanation for what you're feeling is that the construction on the floor below you must have gone horribly wrong and the building is collapsing, YOU'RE ALLOWED TO PANIC A LITTLE BIT?

when i got home today, we discovered that the earthquake had caused a pipe to burst in the apartment above us. i got home 2+ hours after the earthquake hit, and presumably the pipe had been gushing water since then. by the time someone was able to turn it off, water was dripping through our bedroom walls, and had soaked a large spot in the carpet.

another wall - across the apartment, unrelated to the burst pipe - has a crack in it now, from floor to ceiling.

and yeah, half of the pictures and books and knicknacks on our shelves had fallen; pictures were hanging crooked on the wall; a wine glass had vibrated itself loose from our wine rack and was sitting halfway across the room. also: STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. from our adorable, cute, earthquake.

it may have been small by california standards, but that doesn't mean it was completely insignificant.