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5.9 Earthquake Hits Washington, D.C. and East Coast, how's the TV coverage?

recto101 said:
But if the 5.9 quake took place in Seattle it would be confined to the State of Wahington just like a 5.9 in Hayward Fault in CA would be confined to CA.
But if it was a 9.5 quake in either of those areas, you can bet the coverage would NOT be confined to the local area. A 9.5 quake could EASILY trigger a Tsunami (Among other things & ESPECIALLY in Seattle)

Cheers :D
 
Well first of all an east coast earthquake is rarer than a west coast earthquake.

If there was a category one hurricane that struck LA, you'd be hearing about that. While a category one hurricane is not that big news out east.

Secondly, the earthquake did effect DC, which is the nation's capital, so it does bear a national interest when the nation's capital is effected.

Anything that happens out of the ordinary makes interesting news.
 
BRNout said:
Californians are ridiculing East Coasters about this today. With good reason.......

And Californians are used to earthquakes. I'm 22 and that was the second (and most powerful) earthquake I've ever experienced. You'd better bet I bolted out the door as fast as I could drag the dogs.

If Los Angeles had a couple of inches of snow and people who rarely ever see snow in their locale were panicked about driving in it, would you also consider ridicule from people in areas where snow is a regular occurrence to be "with good reason"?

- Trip
 
I think the CABLE NEWS NETS should've went wall-to-wall with it BUT ONLY AS LONG AS THERE WERE DEVELOPMENTS TO THE STORY !!!!! Beyond that, it should've been a top story (Along with Libya & Hurricane Irene) on the OTA national newscasts (And maybe some local stations with nothing bigger for a top story) BUT THAT IS IT !!!!!

Definately not worth the coverage devoted to it. If it was, then WHY would MLB even allow a game to be played at Nationals Park THAT NIGHT ??

Cheers :D
 
Pat Cook said:
recto101 said:
But if the 5.9 quake took place in Seattle it would be confined to the State of Wahington just like a 5.9 in Hayward Fault in CA would be confined to CA.
But if it was a 9.5 quake in either of those areas, you can bet the coverage would NOT be confined to the local area. A 9.5 quake could EASILY trigger a Tsunami (Among other things & ESPECIALLY in Seattle)

Cheers :D

If a 9.5 happened I'd be DEAD right now...as well as hundreds of thousands of others. Thankfully that Nisqually one in 2001 caused no damage to our house!

-crainbebo
 
Its crazy when I saw the first few minutes of Media coverage of the 5.9 quake in DC I noticed there was this panic that you thought Loma Prieta size quake hitting the east coast and you thought it would have damage in the Landfill areas like what the Marina District and Cypress Freeway did. Well Since I lived through Loma Prieta Quake in 1989 I understand that you are told to act calm during the quake.
 
I understand plate tectonics quite well, yet my example of a similarly sized Midwestern quake in '08 holds. It was 5.8 as well and centered near the Ohio River in SW Indiana (IIRC). Felt it myself in the Chicago 'burbs - probably about the same strength as those sissies in New York felt yesterday. It wasn't run wall to wall on the cable news nets. Did you see the video shot during a news conference in NY? A little shaking and the media ran out of the room like Chicken Little!

Wabash County, IL, actually. A very similar event to yesterday's. The damage was limited to a dozen or so chimneys that collapsed within 25 miles of the epicenter. As you can see from WFIE/Evansville's newscast, live when the earthquake hit, it wasn't all that concerning, at least to the weatherguy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ-AWw4lntk

I'm not sure if the newscasters over-reacted to this story, or the overreaction was on the part of the people living and working in the mid-Atlantic. Anything that disrupts the workforce as much as this earthquake did clearly deserves some coverage.
 
Wasn't the earthquake that happened in Mineral, VA a 5.8 and not a 5.9 which is stated in the subject of this topic? Surprise no one caught that yet as most media outlets said 5.8
 
If the trending topics list on Twitter was any indication, people were thinking the earthquake was in DC, not 80+ miles away. ::)
 
Here in VA and only 15 miles from the epicenter, I had one reaction as the ground began to shake: This is a big deal.

Then I had two immediate questions in my mind: How long will this last and how big will it get? It was a very long 20-30 seconds for us folks who never get these kinds of events. Laugh if you like, but remember, with no frame of reference, even a small natural occurrence can seem very big to those who haven't experienced it.

Add to this, that I was approximately 12 miles from my home and business and out of contact with my wife and employees. Were they OK? Was there an even larger earthquake where they were? It may seem like no big deal to a Californian who's witnessed a number of quakes, but here, it never happens.
 
No one will ever learn and this will repeat from now till the end of time. When a natural disaster strikes, STAY OFF THE CELL PHONE! Yes it's natural to call loved ones immediately after such occurrences but unless you are broken and bleeding you are preventing those that are with your otherwise worthless phone calls jamming the system.

Just something to think about. Especially those of you that have long ditched a landline for wireless only. When the power conks out (especially during quakes by design) the first things to go are electricity. The same juice that powers those precious cell towers. Hammering your *Dial Send* key actually could be the difference between someone else calling for real emergency attention from getting through.

Also, that landline phone you ditched years ago, even without electricity, would likely still be operational. Food for thought.
 
You can bet Californians (And transplants located there now) are laughing. They deal with earthquakes EVERY DAY

And now Floridians & those along the Gulf Coast are laughing their heads off too at how the East Coast north of the Carolinas is reacting to the prospect of Hurricane Irene taking aim at DA BIG APPLE & all points north of there. It'll be interesting to see how the famous newsplex in Boston plays....Err....HYPES this up :LOL *Rolling eyes*

Cheers :D
 
^As a resident of the gulf coast, I have never laughed, nor will I ever laugh at folks reacting at an unusual, yet possible course of a tropical cyclone. I'm interested in how the news of the storm will be reported and broadcast nationally and locally in the areas that may be affected.
 
As I said in another post or two on this board, everyone loves to laugh, until it happens to them.

I'd much rather have my generator ready to go, my flashlights all fully charged, plenty of water, and food and the grill ready just in case, rather than being one of the people reliant on FEMA, or some other organization to save my butt. Overreact? Not really. I just get ready to go and don't make it some panicked production. I also take the media stuff with a grain of salt, watch unfiltered weather reports (meaning those not talked over by a "forecaster) and if something seems like it might get serious, hunker down and wait it out.

All that said, it may sound fun to laugh and joke about the people who felt a "little" earthquake, but I can assure you all, it wasn't "little" to me, as I've never felt anything quite so violent and without warning. If it were possible that even a "little" Category 1 hurricane were to brush the West Coast, I bet folks there might get a little nervous and maybe "overreact" too. Having no frame of reference, makes things seem pretty serious to those who haven't experienced them before. A little understanding of this might help those of you out there who think it no big deal when some act of nature takes over.
 
I don't think the potential for danger is as much as damage. I remember when Fort Meyers and Naples got dumped on by a tropical storm. It just sat there for a few days and dumped so much rain on the area. It was far worse than any hurricane they had in the last few decades.

So the potential for damage is there. Also who knows how rickety buildings will hold up. I was in Hurricane Andrew and I went through Homestead after. In case you don't know most of Homestead looked like a third world city. It was very poor but the buildings in the richer section of town were barely touched. Most of the damage came because the buildings were awful. They were like plywood shacks.

So some of these areas of Philly and Boston and NYC might be in trouble, if the building were built a hundred years ago and/or subject to flooding.
 
Well, with damage, comes danger.

Felled power lines that are still live with people who don't understand the magic of electricity, dirty water not fit to use after a power failure of several days, washed out roads under seemingly shallow water, inaccessibility by emergency personnel for true medical issues, zero law enforcement (think desperate looters), people who didn't prepare in the least trying to take from those who did in some misguided attempt at fairness, and you have a recipe for a real mess. You never really get to see human nature at its most primal level until you've experienced a major disaster.
 
Pat Cook said:
And now Floridians & those along the Gulf Coast are laughing their heads off too at how the East Coast north of the Carolinas is reacting to the prospect of Hurricane Irene taking aim at DA BIG APPLE & all points north of there.

Hahaha, I know, I just get a huge laugh at the thought of people being killed by natural disasters. Whether it's people drowning in floods resulting from a hurricane that follows an extremely wet summer, crushed under collapsed buildings that aren't built to withstand earthquakes, anything at all, people's untimely deaths are a hoot. It's absolutely hysterical. Nothing makes me laugh harder.

For those who missed it, that was sarcasm.

- Trip
 
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