Unless you have been under a rock (maybe not anymore), you have heard that the East Coast experienced an earthquake of about 5.9 a few hours ago. As I put on my FB page, I pray that everyone of my friends, family and yes, even people who get on my nerves are safe and A-OK. Now that I have expressed that heartfelt sentiment, I have one more to add…
WE are really spoiled on the East Coast especially in the mid-Atlantic region. In California, this shifting of buildings would have been a nuisance. Remember the San Francisco earthquake back in 1989 DURING the World Series. That was an earthquake that devastated a major urban center and claimed 63 lives. In Maryland, we have the occasional hurricane (possibly this weekend) and a couple of major snow events a year and that’s about it. It is amazing that it does not happen more often… a fault line lies about 20 miles south of Baltimore in Columbia, MD.
On a positive note: The scariest part for most of us was the unknown of never having gone through an event like this (and hopefully never happening again). I was working at one of the major hospitals in the United States, and while there was momentary fear, the staff focused on providing a sense of calm while caring for our patients while we were internally scared by the shifting of walls six floors above the ground.
While today’s movement of the earth was not a big one, it reminded me of how we all take the earth for granted. I, for one, thank God that today was limited to moving walls and rattled nerves.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.