OT: Is DC the biggest panic city in the world? (Earthquake) (California: home, schools)

[superseiyan]

1. First off, people are joking around and all, but I tell you the few seconds while it happened and after the building shook it was not funny, I was terror-stricken for a few seconds I'll admit.

2. My japanese coworker stood out in how calm he was. Said this happens there all the time, it's not even a drill, nobody budges. He wondered why we were sent home early if the building was safe enough for us to go and collect our stuff (though admittedly whose going to concentrate after that?)

3. I hear people took 2-3 hours to get home? I stayed in town and waited until 6 pm to drive out, I knew that would happen. Just like during that wet blizzard I knew to leave EARLIER than others. If everyone is on the road at the same time..... Anyway I stayed and took a run by the memorial, basin and monument. Beautiful. Can't beleive I hadn't done it before.

4. On a day like this I don't know what would be worse, Metro or driving in. Today I just happened to drive in which is rare--speaking of which, the roundabouts and one way streets in DC are especially treacherous on a day like this, but they suck all the time anyway. Too each their own, I can't imagine driving to work every day, Metro it is for me.

[diplomat74]

Judging from todays Anarchy, YESSS.

[btsilver]

I'm not gonna lie to you, I was on the seventh floor and affter the second shake I bolted along with everyone on my floor it took about a minute to get down to the first floor but it seemed like forever.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by superseiyan

2. My japanese coworker stood out in how calm he was. Said this happens there all the time,

So true. I'm in Japan.

When that 9.0 hit in March, we had DAILY aftershocks that were 5.0 and above for a month. Actually you could feel tremours every few hours. The earth didn't seem to actually settle for a month. Actually still getting them, there was something around a 6.0 just two days ago.

[Alley01]

Sure seems that way now that I have talked to a few of my neighbors that had the longest commutes today. I guess we have to understand that most people in DC haven't been in Earthquakes before. So, when you are in an unfamiliar situation and are in an area that has been targeted by terrorists, you are a bit on edge. When you don't know what to do, you think irrationally and end up making a situation much worse. Perhaps it is time for the entire country to have Earthquake drills. I have lived in California and dealt with them and although I was on edge initially, it just became a second nature type of thing to know what to do. Same with living on the coast of Florida during hurricanes. I was not the most rational person the first time we had an evacuation but the second time and thereafter, I had a plan and knew what to do. So, it wasn't a big deal.

The only way to prepare for weird things like this is to have drills, etc. because DC and the surrounding area doesn't need a repeat of the hysteria next time around.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by superseiyan

1. First off, people are joking around and all, but I tell you the few seconds while it happened and after the building shook it was not funny, I was terror-stricken for a few seconds I'll admit.

2. My japanese coworker stood out in how calm he was. Said this happens there all the time, it's not even a drill, nobody budges. He wondered why we were sent home early if the building was safe enough for us to go and collect our stuff (though admittedly whose going to concentrate after that?)

3. I hear people took 2-3 hours to get home? I stayed in town and waited until 6 pm to drive out, I knew that would happen. Just like during that wet blizzard I knew to leave EARLIER than others. If everyone is on the road at the same time..... Anyway I stayed and took a run by the memorial, basin and monument. Beautiful. Can't beleive I hadn't done it before.

4. On a day like this I don't know what would be worse, Metro or driving in. Today I just happened to drive in which is rare--speaking of which, the roundabouts and one way streets in DC are especially treacherous on a day like this, but they suck all the time anyway. Too each their own, I can't imagine driving to work every day, Metro it is for me.

I think it's a little bit unfair to say DC is a panic city. I know I've never been in a earthquake myself, and so it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was happening. With that said, I didn't even know the first thing to do. There have been examples of things like this happening over the past few years in this country, like when it snowed in Atlanta during the winter. They had a blizzard and didn't know how to handle that amount of snow especially considering they didn't have any equipment to handle it so the city was shut down. Should we laugh at them for not knowing? We are Monday Morning Quarterbacking this situation but really, who would have thought prior to yesterday that practicing Earthquake drills would have helped?

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by meatkins

I think it's a little bit unfair to say DC is a panic city. I know I've never been in a earthquake myself, and so it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was happening. With that said, I didn't even know the first thing to do. There have been examples of things like this happening over the past few years in this country, like when it snowed in Atlanta during the winter. They had a blizzard and didn't know how to handle that amount of snow especially considering they didn't have any equipment to handle it so the city was shut down. Should we laugh at them for not knowing? We are Monday Morning Quarterbacking this situation but really, who would have thought prior to yesterday that practicing Earthquake drills would have helped?

I think it's fair. Every little weather event and the city comes to a standstill. I'm thinking of a couple years ago when the weather people were warning of a big snowfall. Not a single flake fell, but the Federal Govt., and schools all over shut down. The food stores had all their bottle water, toilet paper, candles, batteries etc... all sold out. I've seen this over and over again for 13 years. It''s getting to be ridiculous! Yesterday, and today, the Govt. shuts down, people were terrified, Metro ran at 15 mph, utter chaos, when the quake wasn't even that bad. I've never seen a place get this way so often. I think it's fair to call this panic city. I'm not laughing at you, or anyone, though. I don't think it's funny.

[selhars]

Some things you just pick up by the osmosis of living and/or watching the news. My car has never fallen into a river or a creek -- wires in my backyard have never fallen -- nor have I ever been lost hiking in the desert or mountains, but I've seen enough survival segments on 20/20 and other news special to know what to do.

There's certainly been enough news coverage of other earthquakes -- AND the sidebar stories on what to do -- that adults of a certain age or awareness should be aware of what to do. PANIC during yesterday's event was completely unwarranted.

Survival experts will tell you A CALM HEAD is perhaps the most vital asset in an emergency.

I didn't even watch the news yesterday -- avoided it actually -- because I didn't want to see news anchors and reporters hyping what happened with their "most complete, comprehensive team coverage all over the Washington DC region." Enough already. They run every story angle into the ground. I get enough of that with a snow forecast.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by dkf747

I think it's fair. Every little weather event and the city comes to a standstill. I'm thinking of a couple years ago when the weather people were warning of a big snowfall. Not a single flake fell, but the Federal Govt., and schools all over shut down. The food stores had all their bottle water, toilet paper, candles, batteries etc... all sold out. I've seen this over and over again for 13 years. It''s getting to be ridiculous! Yesterday, and today, the Govt. shuts down, people were terrified, Metro ran at 15 mph, utter chaos, when the quake wasn't even that bad. I've never seen a place get this way so often. I think it's fair to call this panic city. I'm not laughing at you, or anyone, though. I don't think it's funny.

That's the media for you. They will get people to panic and do whatever. Remember when the 9/11 attacks happened and they had people getting bottled water and duct tape. Duct tape? Let's face facts, no matter what part of the country we're in, people are sheep. They will flock at just about anything you tell them. Common sense rarely kicks in.

As far as the metro is concerned, I don't think what they did was unreasonable, especially considering the criticism they have been under. The earthquake, as insignificant as it was, did cause some damage and since that is the case, it made a lot of sense for them to proceed with caution until they were able to assess all of the tracks. Once all of the tracks were checked then they should go back to full speed like they did. Can you imagine if they just simply assumed that no damage was done and they had another accident? Seems risky to me.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by meatkins

As far as the metro is concerned, I don't think what they did was unreasonable, especially considering the criticism they have been under. The earthquake, as insignificant as it was, did cause some damage and since that is the case, it made a lot of sense for them to proceed with caution until they were able to assess all of the tracks. Once all of the tracks were checked then they should go back to full speed like they did. Can you imagine if they just simply assumed that no damage was done and they had another accident? Seems risky to me.

You're right about that. I was just looking for something to add to the list.