Earthquake Epicenter: Mineral (actually Cuckoo)

Louisa County is a small place that is currently the center of attention. Yesterday, just before 2pm a 5.8 or 5.9 Earthquake rumbled through our small town. Because the of the geological homogeneous nature of the terrain of the East Coast, this quake was felt all over the Eastern seaboard and as far away as Toronto, Canada.

I have felt an earthquake before when I was in New Zealand, but nothing like this one. It is making me angry listening to people say we are blowing it way out of proportion and that it wasn't that big of a deal. I know that this was not that big of an earthquake in the grand scheme of things, but those of us who were near the epicenter know that it was a big deal.

I was teaching chemistry and fourth period had just started. My room is on the second floor in the center of the building with no windows. Class began as normal with students retrieving their homework and starting on two conversion problems. Then the room began to shake. At first it was like a train. I used to live right on the tracks and there is just across the street from the school, but it was louder and longer than a train rumble. It took me a few moments to register what was happening, then once I realized it was an earthquake I thought "doorway!" and then "how can I get all my students in the doorway?" Then I dove under the nearest desk. I yelled for the students to get under their desks too. The room was shaking back and forth and ceiling tiles were falling.

From what I have read online the shaking lasted about 45 seconds, but it felt like it was much longer than that. When I finally found Aaron after the kids left he told me that he was in the hallway when it happened and that he was bouncing off the floor until he remembered to get in a doorway.

The room was still unsteady when the fire alarms started to go off. My students wanted to leave immediately, but I asked them to wait because the room was still swaying and because I wanted to talk to them. I had them take their backpacks (so they would have their phones), cautioned them to be careful, quick, and calm. My students were excellent. It took me a few moments to grab my phone, keys, and name sign and I was one of the last down the stairs. There were cracks in the wall. Students were exiting very quickly and taking it well. One girl's backpack fell open and three boys stopped grabbed all her things and kept walking. This amazed me and I commended them.

My students met me at the bottom of the hill, our prearranged meeting location and were standing quietly. I urged them to sit down and take a breather while I answered any questions I could about earthquakes and what was happening. I told them stories about the last earthquake I felt in NZ, about my apartment next to the traintracks, whatever I thought would ease the tensions.

While we waited in the sunshine, so bright and happy despite the terror inspired by the earthquake, we could hear and feel aftershocks. You could hear them before feeling them which was surreal. I am very proud of my students for staying calm and sharing phones so that others could try to get in touch with their loved ones. I had some students that chose to sit near me I think because I was calmer and seemed more knowledgeable than anyone else.

At 2:02 I received a text from Andy in Mass asking if we felt the earthquake. He said it was 12 miles away from us. I asked for more info. At 2:25, Josh from NY called and wanted to know if I was ok. He told me that it was a 5.9-5.9 centered in Charlottesville. Others heard the center was in DC. Some of the smarter kids had figured out how to listen to the radio with either a phone or an ipod. We were outside of the school for 2 hours with very spotty information and it was frustrating just because I wanted to know what was going on. I walked around asking if other kids were ok and answered a lot of questions like when are we leaving, what about my car keys in the building, are we gonna die, what about my brother at the middle school, etc. On the whole the students were very calm and behaved very well. It was a day that I was glad I taught high school not younger students.

After the buses had arrived students walked calmly to the bus loop and got on the buses to go home. I tried to help as best I could and use my voice to clear students from the pavement - "Get on the bus or on the sidewalk!" Students that drove to school and had their keys were allowed to get in their own vehicles and drive home. On the whole, I am amazed how calm everyone was during a situation that does not frequently occur in Virginia.

Teachers reported to the front of the highschool for a quick meeting. We were told to report the next day at 8 - but we might receive another call. Anyone who absolutely needed something in the building in order to get home would be accompanied by an administrator and an officer - but if you didn't really need it then forget it. I didn't remember that my wallet was in the building until I was 15 minutes down the road. Aaron said we should have turned around, but I didn't.

Getting home was easy until we got into the town of Culpeper. A lot of streets were closed and it turns out there is a busted gas line that needs to be repaired under Main and under Davis. Aaron actually got out the car and walked home while I waited with all the cars trying to navigate the side streets. Our house is fine. We have big cracks in the plaster in all the rooms especially above the windows, however there is no structural damage. Our chimney where it sticks above the roof is damaged, but the landlords are on it. We only had two picture frames fall and break and they were propped on the door frames. Nothing else hanging (not my thimbles or glasses) fell.

After that sort of day all I wanted was a beer. The Smokehouse staff was there, but they were not allowed in until the building inspector came. And I am sure they were tied up with the gas main problem less than a block away. We waited outside for a while and then came home and cooked dinner. They posted on facebook when they were allowed back in and we happily went down to give them some business. While at the bar we got two calls from LCPS. One telling the students they were out of school until after labor day and another telling us that we would find out Thursday if we were to report on Friday. Aaron is irked that we may be called in to work for a full week without kids and what would be do.... but I just feel like if they need help putting things back together and cleaning up then I would be happy to do it. Currently all school buildings are locked and being patrolled by the local authorities so any belongings left by students or teachers are safe.

I am not sure what all this time off is going to do to our schedule. I do feel like it is absolutely necessary. Parts of the high school are very old and we already knew there were some issues of structural integrity before the earthquake hit. There are cracks visible from the outside and news footage shows damage as well. That and people are still feeling aftershocks of various magnitudes.

This morning I watched several news clips. We watched the news here, but we get a DC feed and it is not the same - it's like they knew nothing other than Mineral was a one stoplight town and that the grocery store shelves were on the floor. They reported nothing on the schools.This one has an interview with our superintendent during an aftershock (perhaps the 8pm one) and shows the most footage on damage to the high school (HERE). I wouldn't be surprised if this interview during the aftershock didn't make national news. There are many others. I love how they all focus on the fallen ceiling. It's a drop ceiling - easy to fall and not too bad to fix!

• interview with student from my fourth period - talking about me! HERE
• interview with superintendent 2 HERE
• big cracks in back of school - interviews with two students HERE
• interesting take on scientific funding - will politicians be questioned about earthquake research? (the USGS is slated to lose 10% of its funding)
• NY Times article featuring a friend of mine HERE 
• National Zoo Press Release on Animal Behavior in response to the quake HERE

At first the most reliable sources we had said the epicenter was the Louisa Airport which is not far from the school at all, but using the USGS information, the epicenter was between 605 and 522 south of Cuckoo and very close to where my mom lives - and still close to the school. I am not sure if any of those homes had severe structural damage, but I know that lots of things fell over and broke.

It will be interesting to see what news accumulates as people learn more. All I know is that it was very scary and I am thankful that no one got seriously hurt.