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Holy shit what a ride! Sitting at home in my office in Ozone Park NYC and I hear what I think is a low flying plane coming in to JFK. Happens when weather is b

Holy shit what a ride! Sitting at home in my office in Ozone Park NYC and I hear what I think is a low flying plane coming in to JFK. Happens when weather is bad and they come in lower they can rattle my windows. But the intensity grew suddenly and my entire house was shaking and everything was rattling. At first I froze for a few seconds as I could not make sense of what I was experiencing - but it was clear this was not normal so I ran like hell downstairs and outside. While running I was trying to make sense of the shaking: did a truck or plane crash? no not this long - maybe the elevated A train up the block is collapsing? An explosion? some kind of cataclysm? WTF is happening! But after I reached the side door and the house was still shaking I realized this is an earthquake. Earthquake was not the first thing on my mind for sure as I have lived in NYC all my life and never felt anything like this. Fucking nuts

noman-land 3y ago
Thanks for the exciting first person account.
swozey 3y ago
I've never been in an earthquake it's got to be such a strange thing to experience the first time. Hearing tornado sirens for the first time was wild, especially as a Silent Hill fan. On the other hand my friend moved to Brooklyn from Haiti after their terrible quake so he's in a mood right now.
- pixl97 3y ago
  A number of decades ago I took a trip out to California for the first time and we had reached our friends house pretty late. After driving for 12+ hours straight I passed out on the floor. In the middle of the night I was awoken by what I thought was a large truck out front, like a garbage truck or something. But it kept getting closer and more intense and everything started shuffling around in the house with a shik-shik-shik-shik noise and the blinds started rapping off each side of the window sill. When you experience something new like this where your brain kind of spins around in circles not knowing what to do, then it came back with the answer of Earthquake! which I involuntarily yelled out loud. My next thought was "Is this going to get worse, and what do I do if it does". I was in a new place that I had barely even looked at before falling asleep. Thankfully it subsided after 20 seconds or so without any major incident. Was hard to fall back to sleep that night.
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  My only earthquake experience was also in NYC. In the 80's I was awakened by what can only be described as feeling as if someone had picked up the entire apartment building a couple inches and dropped it. Sudden and severe and over in a second or two.
  - nobody9999 3y ago
    Early morning on a weekday in 1985? Yeah, I slept through that.
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
  My only earthquake experience was also in NYC. In the 80's I was awakened by what can only be described as feeling as if someone had picked up the entire apartment building a couple inches and dropped it. Sudden and severe and over in a second or two.
- chasd00 3y ago
  when all the fracking quakes were happening a while back i felt one in Dallas. I was sitting outside at a coffeshop working. It felt like a big truck drove by but when i looked up there was no traffic at all. very strange sensation.
chasd00 3y ago
> At first I froze for a few seconds as I could not make sense of what I was experiencing i hate that feeling, a few weeks ago i was walking my dogs and surprised by a pitbill and some other mix that immediately attacked my two small dogs. It took like 5-10 seconds for me to even figure out what was happening and what to do about it.
- MisterTea 3y ago
  Unless familiar with such situations you can't react to them - especially when it's a total surprise with violence or a threatening situation (like your house shaking). Next time we should be able to react faster because of these experiences.
- MisterTea 3y ago
  I'd like to add that when we had an aftershock at ~6PM EST I immediately reacted to it. At that point I knew it was a quake and did not hesitate to get up. Of course it was not a big deal and was over before I could get a glass of water.

noman-land 3y ago

Thanks for the exciting first person account.

swozey 3y ago

I've never been in an earthquake it's got to be such a strange thing to experience the first time. Hearing tornado sirens for the first time was wild, especially as a Silent Hill fan. On the other hand my friend moved to Brooklyn from Haiti after their terrible quake so he's in a mood right now.

pixl97 3y ago
A number of decades ago I took a trip out to California for the first time and we had reached our friends house pretty late. After driving for 12+ hours straight I passed out on the floor. In the middle of the night I was awoken by what I thought was a large truck out front, like a garbage truck or something. But it kept getting closer and more intense and everything started shuffling around in the house with a shik-shik-shik-shik noise and the blinds started rapping off each side of the window sill. When you experience something new like this where your brain kind of spins around in circles not knowing what to do, then it came back with the answer of Earthquake! which I involuntarily yelled out loud. My next thought was "Is this going to get worse, and what do I do if it does". I was in a new place that I had barely even looked at before falling asleep. Thankfully it subsided after 20 seconds or so without any major incident. Was hard to fall back to sleep that night.
HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
My only earthquake experience was also in NYC. In the 80's I was awakened by what can only be described as feeling as if someone had picked up the entire apartment building a couple inches and dropped it. Sudden and severe and over in a second or two.
- nobody9999 3y ago
  Early morning on a weekday in 1985? Yeah, I slept through that.
HeyLaughingBoy 3y ago
My only earthquake experience was also in NYC. In the 80's I was awakened by what can only be described as feeling as if someone had picked up the entire apartment building a couple inches and dropped it. Sudden and severe and over in a second or two.
chasd00 3y ago
when all the fracking quakes were happening a while back i felt one in Dallas. I was sitting outside at a coffeshop working. It felt like a big truck drove by but when i looked up there was no traffic at all. very strange sensation.

chasd00 3y ago

> At first I froze for a few seconds as I could not make sense of what I was experiencing i hate that feeling, a few weeks ago i was walking my dogs and surprised by a pitbill and some other mix that immediately attacked my two small dogs. It took like 5-10 seconds for me to even figure out what was happening and what to do about it.

MisterTea 3y ago
Unless familiar with such situations you can't react to them - especially when it's a total surprise with violence or a threatening situation (like your house shaking). Next time we should be able to react faster because of these experiences.
MisterTea 3y ago
I'd like to add that when we had an aftershock at ~6PM EST I immediately reacted to it. At that point I knew it was a quake and did not hesitate to get up. Of course it was not a big deal and was over before I could get a glass of water.