Now that the East Coast 5.8 magnitude earthquake is over and no one is apparently seriously hurt from it, I have seen a lot of blogs and news reports about how the people on the East Coast are pansies. Even Mark Belling, Rush Limbaugh’s guest host, alluded to it and went on a rant about the lack of manhood in our culture (no argument there from me).
Look, the fact is, the East Coast of the United States almost never gets earthquakes and the few we do get are small, no larger than a magnitude of 3.0, and fairly isolated in certain areas. I know that California has bigger ones and that they are better prepared for it. But at the same time, because such an event is once in a lifetime here on the East Coast, we are not necessarily ready for them.
Our buildings do not have the support they need to properly handle a massive earthquake that might hit Los Angles. Given that we were not expecting anything like this nor were we prepared for it, I will say that it stands as a testament to the strength of our buildings.
We were rattled for the unusual phenomenon. Most of us were laughing at it because it was fairly ironic. I myself found the whole incident to be rather fun, like a harmless carnival ride of some kind. I was on the phone with brother outside when it hit and he was the one who told me an earthquake was coming the few seconds before it really hit. Before that I thought some large truck was causing vibrations in the ground or something. He was a little closer to the epicenter than I was, so that is understandable.
Anyway, what is with the people jeering at us over here. Let me tell you, if you saw 2 inches of snow fall on Los Angles, there would be massive riots and car pile ups over there.
In other news, I heard some physics professor of some sort demanding that the East Coast reinforce their buildings to be similar to Japan’s or the West Coast’s. But this is patently absurd considering that this kind of thing does not happen all that often and that even a nearly 6.0 magnitude earthquake caused next to no damage.
Already most news outlets are not reporting on this story, probably because nobody died, and most people have gone back to life as usual. There was really nothing to it and many of us are treating it like that. It is a shame that so many people feel the need to mock people they have never met based on our reaction to an event that had never happened until yesterday.