Earthquakes are something I grew up with. Given that I was born and raised in San Francisco, while we were in school, we had earthquake drills as often as we had fire drills, so anyone growing up in San Francisco, or California for that matter, was well versed on what to do in the event of an earthquake. We always knew to get under heavy tables/desks or stand under load-bearing door frames. We also knew that if we had to evacuate a building, to never, ever use the elevator during an earthquake, but instead to take the stairs. I suppose that’s the same advice to heed during a fire, as well.
In 2011, New York City experienced an earthquake. I still remember I was at a work lunch when all the tables and chandeliers above us started shaking. Everyone was freaking out. My colleagues complained about it for days and talked about how scared they were. I was a bit nonchalant about it and barely said anything; that shake was nothing to me.
Well, we had an earthquake that lasted a couple seconds this morning. It was just past 10:30am when I was at my desk working. Suddenly, I noticed my entire desk shaking, plus the mug of hot, steaming chai I just made about to spill. It ended pretty quickly, though. But within ten minutes as I checked my Instagram, almost every other post was about the earthquake that hit us. The New York Times and BBC reported it was a 4.8 magnitude earthquake that originated about 50 miles outside of New York City, in New Jersey. Everyone in my Facebook groups were wishing each other safety or sharing how scared they were .
My reaction is still, “meh.” I had a meeting today where I had to present, and a few of my colleagues asked if I was okay and how things were in New York. I just smiled and told them it was a little shake, no biggie.
“Okay, I think Yvonne is the only calm person in all of New York City right now!” my colleague declared, laughing.
Honestly, when you’ve dealt with far more frightening or traumatizing things in life, you cannot sweat the small stuff. And the small stuff, for me. is a 4.7 earthquake. I raised my eyebrow for a second, then I let it go after the shake stopped.