Devastating east coast earthquake

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the east coast yesterday, freaking everyone out, causing schools and offices to close, and causing general mayhem:

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(Source)

I didn't feel it, and growing up in California, it might not have even registered. Then again, the reaction (general fear, disbelief, and confusion) is about what I would expect if we received even a half inch of snow in San Diego. But maybe now people out here in Boston won't be so confused when I mention my deep-seated fear of brick buildings.

In other "disaster" related news, my computer has a fresh hard-drive, though I had to restore my data from a few weeks ago, so I lost some photos, but not much else. On the whole, it could have been a lot worse.

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Seriously, I endured the earthquake, then once it was done I sat back down at my computer and got back to what I was doing. Then some security guards came along and wanted everyone to evacuate (which most other people were doing already). Finally, they closed the facility (Goddard Space Flight Center) and sent everyone home. Seemed like rather an overreaction to me.

@ ToSeek - Sorry, your first comment got marked as spam because you had two links in it.

We had a similar thing with a minor bench-top fire on a different floor. It was contained in about 60 seconds, but it tripped the alarm so we had to evacuate the entire (16 story) building and wait for the fire department to come clear every floor and give the OK.

I just went home instead.