EARTHQUAKE!!!

Ho. Lly. Crap.
I thought it was the canadian 9/11.

Last post was on our bowling morning.  We had a team building activity that afternoon with about 70 coworkers.  I took my car that day, I usually take the bus to work.  I got there for noon and we all had pizza together, while checking out the team they had put together on a big board.

First game was played with 3 new people I didn't know.  Which was nice because I love meeting new people (helped that one of them was cute..uh hum...).  We played our first game of 5 pin (it's a canadian thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_pin_bowling).  We had 2 games scheduled, with different teams and different alleys.  After we finished our first game, I went to stand next to the team board, so I could mark down our scores, as we had prizes for high and low scores.  A lot of people were around, so I was waiting for the crowd to clear a bit.  From where I was standing, I could easily see the exit, the bar and most of the 27 alleys.

I was chatting with a coworkers when we heard this explosion-like rumble which seems to come from the floors above.  The alleys are in the basement of the building, and there 2 or 3 floors of offices above.  My first thought was that there was an explosion, but then I noticed that the ground was shaking, so that explosion was, in my head, collapsing the building.  Dust was coming down from the building and next thing I know an employee runs for the exit yelling for people to get out.  I had my bowling shoes on, but I had my heels in my hand and my purse on my shoulder.  We all ran for the exit at the same time while the building shook, and I though, was going to fall down on our heads.  I ran like hell out of there and far in the parking lot as well.  I though it odd that I was the only one smart enough to get away from the building if it fell down.  Everyone was staying close, I thought they were all very stupid, or just had a death wish.

After a couple minutes by myself far from everybody, it was obvious the building was staying up, so I came to talk to people about it and found out it was an earthquake.  PHEW!!  My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding.  I pulled out my cell and called a few people, and I learned from other coworkers that some cell towers were out, thank goodness mine wasn't.  We couldn't go back in the building, I think we had to wait for inspectors to come clear it, but I had all my stuff with me, thank goodness.  Our CFO walked around telling people to go home, even with bowling shoes on.  A lot of them just hung around, but I went home right away.  Called a few other people and calmed down when I saw the news.  It was more traumatizing than anything.  Not much structural damage.  Funny enough, the epicentre of the quake started where my cottage is.  We have yet to go check, but I assume everything will be fine.

The 5.0 quake was felt from Detroit to Toronto and Montreal.  It was a big one for us.  No casualties, just broken windows and shaken up people!

But for the 30 seconds that the earth shook, I had the scare of my life.

NOTE: There was an NDP press conference going on at that time, which was filmed.  I thought it illustrates well the situation...