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Reactions rove from fright to entertainment Tuesday as a 5.8 - magnitude quake score the East Coast , revealing post-9/11 fears as well as agitation fence a rare , and fortunately not baneful , event .
" Everyone composure down , " ticket political newswriter John Dickerson wrote on Twitter . " If this is anearthquake on the east coastwe’re supposed to oppose ironically . "
This map shows earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 3.5 that occurred between 1900 and 2009 along the east and west coasts of the U.S.
Many hoi polloi did , circulate a wave of earthquake jokes on Twitter . Others were more alarmed .
" Two fair sex were yell , " said Paige Furbush , an intern for Utah Senator Orrin Hatch who was on her second solar day on the job Tuesday . " A few people recollect it was a bomb , so the bulk of people in the Capitol were emphatically panic . "
That chain of reactions is n’t unexpected , aver Josh Klapow , a clinical psychologist at the University of Alabama , Birmingham , who specialize indisaster preparation . People get their own anxiousness to an unexpected effect , and rendering matters , Klapow told LiveScience .
" The environment and the event set the level , but it ’s people ’s minds , their cognitions , their persuasion that fill in the gaps , " he said . " So if you ’re in D.C. in the Senate , if you palpate a large jolt and earthquakes are not coarse , a common perception would be , ' Oh , it ’s something else . It ’s a dud . ' "
Unexpected event
Many people report an initial wave of jounce and fear . Philadelphia occupant Russ Bader read the quiver of his building reminded him of a " poltergeist tone-beginning . "
" I was one of the lucky people who felt the seism and was majorly freak out , " Bader recount LiveScience , adding , " Who would have hump that I would ever finger an earthquake in Philly ? " [ say : Why Virginia Quake Shook Entire Coast ]
" I was really scared , " New Yorker Karthin Patel , who experienced the earthquake from 1 Madison Ave . , evidence LiveScience . " But I ’ve feel seism before , but from the 2nd floor . Here it ’s the eighth floor . We would have to take the lift , that death gob . "
In New York , the quake seemed to bring back bad memories of the 9/11 attack . Allison Bethell , 28 , who own a real acres caller in Philadelphia , felt the quake in a park in New York City .
" hoi polloi came step on it out of the buildings , " Bethell secernate LiveScience . " I wondered what was go on . People in the building were wondering what it was , if it was another terrorist flack . "
West coasters were often more relaxed about the temblor . Yana Price , a student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania , could n’t avail but be amused at her friend ' reaction to the temblor on Facebook .
" See , I go to schooltime in Pennsylvania , but originally I ’m from California , " Leontyne Price told LiveScience .
Preparing for rarefied disasters
Noticeable earthquake arerare along the East Coast , specially compare withseismically alive California . But you do n’t have to study up on earthquakes to be ready for one , Klapow said .
" We ’ve really move to what ’s called an all - hazards approach , " Klapow say . or else of urging the great unwashed to make for individual disasters , public wellness officials recommend that everyone make a few basic preparations , no matter therisks in their region .
Knowing an emergency evacuation route for your home and workplace , having an out - of - state contact who can be in touch with congener and Quaker if the phones in your areas are down and keeping a three - day cache of pinch food , water and first tending supply on hand will help in any emergency , from disease outbreak to hurricane , Klapow said .
" What those kind of things do besides preparing you practically or logistically is that psychologically , it ’s a huge avail , " Klapow said . " give yourself that gumption of dominance will really go a long way in reducing your anxiety , as well as potentially saving your living . "
LiveScience reporter Jennifer Welsh contribute to this clause .
