It got me thinking what would we do without power for several weeks with no internet connection? We are so dependent on everything online from banking to shopping, to connection with friends and family. In 1981 we were hit with Hurricane Gloria and we lost power for 2 weeks at my parents home. The biggest issues I remember was food. I remember walking through neighborhoods because we could not drive with all the downed trees. The other big event I lived through was the Blizzard of 1978 and got stuck in school for a week. It was fun back then. (I wasn't working or having to drive in it) We had to walk everywhere for weeks and it was not a predicted storm.
I normally worry about food, family members, etc. but I was thinking about our online business and how my cell phone battery today would not last much over 4 hours with extensive use. During lunch on Twitter someone made a comment about loving their smart phone and I tweeted "Yes, was thinking this a.m .- what would we do without electricity for days and without our smart phones?" and someone else chimed in and tweeted "you could charge them in your car, lol." Okay I thought if the storm does not affect our vehicles that is a good idea. I do charge mine in the car now.
I got back to my office just before 2 pm after lunch. I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden felt dizzy and sick, I got up and 2 co-workers started to look at me and said "did you feel that?" and I said "yes, the building is shaking and there are no trucks driving by, it was quiet." I grabbed my smart phone and tweeted back at first tweet about earthquake "@Sunnydaze888 felt it in Providence....." and I did a search with #earthquake. Sure enough, the feed lit up with reports of earthquake down south in Virginia and all along the East Coast. We knew immediately from Twitter, our thoughts were confirmed.
I then downloaded an earthquake tracker on my smartphone. It made me feel like at least I could do something - being able to track it if we had aftershocks. It's not like anyone can stop it or even predict when it will happen. At least with the hurricane we have time to prepare and can see it coming. An earthquake you have no idea that it is coming. I don't think I could live in California. We can prepare for mother nature's possible events but we have no control.
