Quake in T.O.?
June 23, 2010 10:51 AM Subscribe
Did the earth move for you? (Toronto)
About 13:45 EDT, I felt a swaying movement and my monitor waas wobbling a little. It lasted about ten seconds. I live about 20 km East of downtown Toronto. Anybody else felt it?
About 13:45 EDT, I felt a swaying movement and my monitor waas wobbling a little. It lasted about ten seconds. I live about 20 km East of downtown Toronto. Anybody else felt it?
According to my Twitter feed, yep. Earthquake.
posted by JoanArkham at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by JoanArkham at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2010
Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, NYC. I would guess most everywhere in between, as well.
Twitter is your friend, MetaFilter:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23earthquake
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:53 AM on June 23, 2010
Twitter is your friend, MetaFilter:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23earthquake
posted by tapesonthefloor at 10:53 AM on June 23, 2010
I'm in Boston. Half my coworkers felt something just recently, half didn't. (Twitter says there was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake in Southern Ontario.)
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:53 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:53 AM on June 23, 2010
Definitely felt in Kitchener-Waterloo.
posted by cCranium at 10:54 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cCranium at 10:54 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yep, I'm glad somebody asked because I was looking all over the net t see if I was crazy.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:55 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:55 AM on June 23, 2010
Felt it as far away as Boston, as well, in the fifth floor of my office building. Very faint (I thought I might just be dizzy at first), but it was definitely there.
posted by divisjm at 10:58 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by divisjm at 10:58 AM on June 23, 2010
Yep. I'm in Ajax at the moment. I thought I was having a dizzy spell, then everyone stuck their heads out of their offices.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 11:02 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 11:02 AM on June 23, 2010
i thought i was losing my mind, but Google reassured me that plenty of people were asking about it on Twitter. phew.
posted by gursky at 11:04 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by gursky at 11:04 AM on June 23, 2010
My roommate and I are both home in Cambridge, MA today. He felt it, I didn't.
posted by oinopaponton at 11:05 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by oinopaponton at 11:05 AM on June 23, 2010
Epicenter in Southern Ontario, 5.5 or 5.7. Got it here in Montreal.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:07 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:07 AM on June 23, 2010
Yes, I am just north-east of Toronto (in Scarborough) and I felt a definite earthquake. The building I am in was shaking. But there doesn't seem to have been any damage.
posted by grizzled at 11:09 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by grizzled at 11:09 AM on June 23, 2010
Response by poster: House in one piece? Check.
Sanity in one piece? Check (Well, sort of).
And that was a baby shake. Can't imagine how the folks in Haiti handled this in January...
posted by HarrysDad at 11:09 AM on June 23, 2010
Sanity in one piece? Check (Well, sort of).
And that was a baby shake. Can't imagine how the folks in Haiti handled this in January...
posted by HarrysDad at 11:09 AM on June 23, 2010
Yep, I'm in Ottawa and was shaving at the time. I was pretty scared for my face! The house shook pretty violently. The pictures on the wall behind me were banging against the walls.
posted by battlebison at 11:11 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by battlebison at 11:11 AM on June 23, 2010
YES. Oh thank Christ, I thought I was losing my mind. I was having a nap and my enormous, immovable bed started shaking and rattling around.
posted by Ouisch at 11:14 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by Ouisch at 11:14 AM on June 23, 2010
My desk was doing a fair mamba.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:16 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 11:16 AM on June 23, 2010
I'm in an ancient student house in Hamilton where the basement is currently being dismantled and renovated. First instinct was that the repair guy hit a vital support beam or something. Second thought was inner ear damage.
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 11:24 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 11:24 AM on June 23, 2010
Any thoughts as to why some felt it and some didn't?
People on the 25th floor of my building at Yonge/Eg completely freaked out. I was about 200 m away down the street and didn't notice a thing. Others on the ground did notice.
posted by cranberrymonger at 11:29 AM on June 23, 2010
People on the 25th floor of my building at Yonge/Eg completely freaked out. I was about 200 m away down the street and didn't notice a thing. Others on the ground did notice.
posted by cranberrymonger at 11:29 AM on June 23, 2010
I am in southern Ontario but was on the conference call with a couple of people in Ottawa. There was a rattling there and some commotion on the far end of the line as they evacated the room posthaste (without troubling to tell the guy on the phone what the situation was). As I sat there stupidly saying, "Hello? Hello?", my house, 500 km away, began shaking thirty seconds or so later.
I was doubly pleased: both to have divined what the problem was at that end, and to have learned first-hand the speed of ripples in the restless earth.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:30 AM on June 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
I was doubly pleased: both to have divined what the problem was at that end, and to have learned first-hand the speed of ripples in the restless earth.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:30 AM on June 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
Hm. I'm in Pittsburgh and around 1:50 I instant-messaged a coworker with "Either I'm about to faint or the building's shaking."
posted by punchtothehead at 11:32 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by punchtothehead at 11:32 AM on June 23, 2010
We certainly noticed it here on the other side of the lake in Rochester
posted by tyllwin at 11:33 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by tyllwin at 11:33 AM on June 23, 2010
I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio and thought it was low blood sugar as I was working (about 1:55PM EST) and then my Facebook lit up with other Cincinnatians saying they also felt the earthquake. Crazy.
posted by banannafish at 11:37 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by banannafish at 11:37 AM on June 23, 2010
Yep, felt it on the 13th floor at Dundas & Bathurst. Friends in Vermont felt it as well.
posted by nprigoda at 11:39 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by nprigoda at 11:39 AM on June 23, 2010
Best answer: I wonder if there will be tsunami alert for the G20 Fake Lake....
posted by Kurichina at 11:43 AM on June 23, 2010 [9 favorites]
posted by Kurichina at 11:43 AM on June 23, 2010 [9 favorites]
Yay from the second floor of a townhouse near a bunch of railway tracks in the Junction in Toronto! W00t! AWESOME! Not the basement crumbling below me, not a sign from God that I should just clean some junk out of the house, not the neighbours getting up to who knows what, not the government of Ontario doing something awful yet again to my neighbourhood -- but an earthquake!
posted by maudlin at 11:44 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by maudlin at 11:44 AM on June 23, 2010
Felt it in downtown Rochester. I'm on the 13th floor of my building and we shook pretty good.
posted by tommasz at 11:45 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by tommasz at 11:45 AM on June 23, 2010
It was big here in Ottawa. Lasted at least a minute with small shocks going on 5 minutes later. One of my cow orkers dercribed the break-room floor as "rippling". At least some of the high rises in downtown Ottawa/Gatineau have been evacuated. All precautionary, no word of damage. Us out in the 'burbs get to stay at work.
posted by bonehead at 11:53 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by bonehead at 11:53 AM on June 23, 2010
Some reports as far south as Virginia, but I didn't feel anything here in DC.
posted by JoanArkham at 11:54 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by JoanArkham at 11:54 AM on June 23, 2010
I blame it on women dressing immodestly. I think some Iranian mullahs will back me up on this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:56 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:56 AM on June 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Felt it very strongly in Ottawa. I was surprised to find out that after years of earthquake drills (in school, in Vancouver) that my gut reaction is not to get under a desk or stand in a doorway but to grab my kids and get the heck out of the basement.
posted by Abbril at 11:57 AM on June 23, 2010
posted by Abbril at 11:57 AM on June 23, 2010
Yep, felt it here in Ottawa. Scared the cookies out of our two cats.
posted by LN at 12:00 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by LN at 12:00 PM on June 23, 2010
Felt it very clearly. It was unpleasant, and made my guts feel all squirmy. I have since learned through experimentation that I can stabilize them with a little vodka.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:04 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:04 PM on June 23, 2010
Definitely felt it in the 5th floor of our apartment building in western Ontario. I just assumed that it was due to the construction across the street, guess the wife was right!
Epicenter said to be 11 miles underground.
posted by papafrita at 12:05 PM on June 23, 2010
Epicenter said to be 11 miles underground.
posted by papafrita at 12:05 PM on June 23, 2010
Felt nothing at work in Sherbrooke, QC. But I have often been accused of being insensitive.
posted by TheyCallItPeace at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by TheyCallItPeace at 12:43 PM on June 23, 2010
I felt it in Pittsburgh. At first I thought I was having muscle spasms, but I noticed that my headphone cord was swinging. I asked my co-workers if they felt anything as it was happening, but they were too wrapped up in whatever they were coding to respond (also headphones). I figured it was a train and went back to work.
posted by Alison at 12:54 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by Alison at 12:54 PM on June 23, 2010
Northern NJ, USA in 4th floor office building. Felt it, fire department evacuated us and made us stay out until a building inspector deemed the building safe.
posted by de void at 1:00 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by de void at 1:00 PM on June 23, 2010
Any thoughts as to why some felt it and some didn't?
People on the 25th floor of my building at Yonge/Eg completely freaked out. I was about 200 m away down the street and didn't notice a thing. Others on the ground did notice.
In our office building in downtown Toronto, only about 50% of the people on the lowest floors even noticed this. On the higher floors (above the 10th, say), everyone definitely noticed and reacted.
Other earthquakes I've felt here haven't had enough ground motion to get the building swaying. Those were more of a bang or rumble, whereas this one produced no sound and no vibration that I could feel. All we noticed was the building swaying for a second or two.
I would think if the ground motion gets a building to sway, it'll sway more the higher up you are. So at ground level that would be pretty mild, and there didn't seem to be much else to notice with this one.
posted by FishBike at 1:11 PM on June 23, 2010
People on the 25th floor of my building at Yonge/Eg completely freaked out. I was about 200 m away down the street and didn't notice a thing. Others on the ground did notice.
In our office building in downtown Toronto, only about 50% of the people on the lowest floors even noticed this. On the higher floors (above the 10th, say), everyone definitely noticed and reacted.
Other earthquakes I've felt here haven't had enough ground motion to get the building swaying. Those were more of a bang or rumble, whereas this one produced no sound and no vibration that I could feel. All we noticed was the building swaying for a second or two.
I would think if the ground motion gets a building to sway, it'll sway more the higher up you are. So at ground level that would be pretty mild, and there didn't seem to be much else to notice with this one.
posted by FishBike at 1:11 PM on June 23, 2010
I've heard rumors that it was felt in Philadelphia. But I'm in Philly and felt nothing.
posted by madcaptenor at 1:31 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by madcaptenor at 1:31 PM on June 23, 2010
Felt it here in Toronto. Thought nothing of it until Twitter exploded with "WTF was that?" tweets.
posted by cozenedindigo at 1:44 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by cozenedindigo at 1:44 PM on June 23, 2010
My mom texted me to say she felt it in Cleveland, OH
posted by emilyd22222 at 2:01 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by emilyd22222 at 2:01 PM on June 23, 2010
Yes. Please make a report at the USGS website. And hey I made a post about Moose Factory because I've been staring at the map of the quake area saying "does that say ... Moose Factory?"
posted by jessamyn at 2:17 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by jessamyn at 2:17 PM on June 23, 2010
Downtown Toronto - I was asleep at the time, and didn't feel a thing, but woke up because my birds went nuts. completely ballistic, spazzing out in their cages. One of them now looks rather bedraggled because he bent a few feathers.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:34 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:34 PM on June 23, 2010
It's so cute to see you folks on the east coast experiencing a small earthquake. Glad it was a small one.
posted by cleverevans at 3:55 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by cleverevans at 3:55 PM on June 23, 2010
Westchester County, NY. Didn't feel anything, but I was running in the woods at the time.
posted by Opposite George at 4:14 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by Opposite George at 4:14 PM on June 23, 2010
cow orkers
That's one way to describ'm.
"Don't try to understand'm..."
posted by ovvl at 5:56 PM on June 23, 2010
That's one way to describ'm.
"Don't try to understand'm..."
posted by ovvl at 5:56 PM on June 23, 2010
Here in Vermont too! Haven't felt an earthquake here in over 7 years...
posted by Wuggie Norple at 8:06 PM on June 23, 2010
posted by Wuggie Norple at 8:06 PM on June 23, 2010
I felt it here in Oakville, ON... Barely. My wife, who was working from home (6.5km closer to the epicenter) due to the G20, felt nothing. Apparently my old office building in uptown Toronto was evacuated, which I find kind of silly - but maybe it felt much stronger up there. Here it was just a wee shimmy.
posted by antifuse at 6:31 AM on June 24, 2010
posted by antifuse at 6:31 AM on June 24, 2010
Supposedly IL felt it
posted by stormpooper at 12:03 PM on June 24, 2010
posted by stormpooper at 12:03 PM on June 24, 2010
Twenty years after the failure of the Meech Lake accord, Quebec finally decided to physically leave the rest of Canada via earthquake...
posted by Premeditated Symmetry Breaking at 12:11 PM on June 24, 2010
posted by Premeditated Symmetry Breaking at 12:11 PM on June 24, 2010
I felt in Akron. I was in my bed and thought it was my dog scratching his ear (while leaning against the bed). When I saw he was nowhere near the bed, I figured it was an earthquake, similar to the rare tremors that have rumbled Northeast Ohio in the past.
posted by sproggie at 5:46 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by sproggie at 5:46 AM on June 25, 2010
Definitely felt it in a high rise downtown Ottawa. Knocked some things over and coworkers reported seeing the building sway. Coincidentally, the air conditioning was busted and someone sent out an email saying "Earthquake + no a/c = shake and bake". Which made me LOL.
posted by KathyK at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by KathyK at 7:01 AM on June 25, 2010
Midland, Ontario experienced an earthquake, tornado and flood all on the same day!
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2010
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:59 AM on June 25, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Simon! at 10:52 AM on June 23, 2010