Shake, Rattle, and Roll
So I figured I would share my earthquake story because it’s kind of funny and I hope it makes you chuckle or smile at the least. If you are not aware, on April 5, 2024 New Jersey experienced an earthquake that was a 4.8 on the Richter scale sometime after 10:00A.M. New Jersey does not generally experience earthquakes, and the ones we do experience go unnoticed and are low rated on the Richter scale. I was working from home at the time, so I was on the couch with Rogue and I moreso heard what I thought was a large truck turning around on our block, after the normal amount of time it takes for this to happen I started to almost feel it, and it still kind of sounded like a truck doing a u-turn but louder, then I thought maybe it is very windy outside, like aggressively windy, so I open the blinds and am looking out the window - I have my face right next to the window looking up to see if trees are swinging - they weren’t, now it is strong and I feel vibrations and it actually feels like a wave going from the front of the house to the back of the house, I wouldn’t say it was a shaking that I felt but more like vibrations. At this point, I actually thought oh no, did a bomb just happen or an attack somewhere in like NY or something, what was that? I have never experienced a bomb, but I also have never experienced an earthquake. This night I was actually going to meet my girlfriends that I went to Stockton with for dinner in central Jersey so our chat was in and out confirming reservations and whatnot; and one of them says “did you guys feel that?” I think oh my gosh, no way. I am here in North Jersey, three of them are in Central Jersey and one is in South Jersey, just outside of Philly - we all felt it. I’m like whoa, no way would I have thought that they felt it too, nor even anyone outside of my immediate area because I still didn’t know what it was. So then I began to ask some people outside of my town but closer in this area and everyone felt it and then I saw/found out it was a 4.8 earthquake. Sooo, I did nothing that you should do in an earthquake - I put my face right next to the window, and our windows are not sturdy Haa and I did not take cover in a doorway or anywhere safe. Thankfully we did not experience any damage but I immediately thought and said “that was strong, our poor earth”. I had taken Rogue for a 3 mile walk the day before and she was tired and sleeping and totally didn’t budge during the earthquake, I have heard some animals act weird right before because they can feel the vibrations and sense it, if she did she just didn’t care and sleep over everything at that moment.
Later that evening, I was on my way to dinner and NJ experienced another earthquake around 6PM, I did not feel it as I was driving and I believe it was not as strong as our one that morning. Also, I have heard that NJ has experienced like 9 minor earthquakes over that following week, but small ones that not many people felt.
The last earthquake that people in NJ experienced was about 10 years ago. I do remember this one although I did not know that I felt it. I remember I was working in Paramus and I even remember what exam room I was in and I felt extremely dizzy and thought I was going to fall and/or pass out. I did not feel shaking or know what I even felt or why; I believe it was somewhere around like 2:30PM. I know this because later I was asked did you feel the earthquake today? And I was like OMG no I did not, when was it? And they said the time and I knew that was when I felt dizzy based on the patient we had just seen appointment time and the next. So again, I did not feel shaking, I didn’t feel anything other than dizzy.
I hope everyone was safe and did not experience any damage and if you did it was minimal and fixable. I do not watch the news but I did not see anything that anyone had experienced severe damage, thankfully. So that's a new experience checked off the list.