Joann Foley

Our little town has been the hot item in the news for the past 2 days.  We have had ABC, CBS and Fox News here 2 days in a row, and I imagine they may film the demolition of the building next to ours tomorrow.  Good Morning America was also in town this morning.  Even though we were 35 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter, we were the hardest hit (so they say, anyway).

I did a radio interview and my boss did an interview for Fox 5 news.

I feel badly for those people who lost their homes to the quake, but I am very thankful that no one was seriously injured or worse. Let’s hope we don’t have another earthquake in this area in my lifetime – that was enough excitement for me!

Our building did not sustain any structural damage that we are aware of right now.  It has, however, been deemed unsafe for occupancy, due to the building that sits to our north.  The old brick walls throughout the entire building are cracked.  They are demolishing the building tomorrow.  Three different people are losing their homes from this demolition.  I hope that they can find a place to go soon.    So, that meant that the boss and I spent today clearing out the computer, active files, and any other things that we need on a day to day basis and moving them to a temporary office in the building directly to our south.  It was a short move, but we had to carry everything up a flight of stairs, and things were heavy and there were many things to take.  You never realize all the things you take for granted on a daily basis, that are right at your fingertips for use, until you have to move them to a new location.  The only things that we do not have use of is our Internet access, a fax machine or a telephone line.  We tried to get those things moved over, but the phone company said that they could not get someone out to the office for 3 weeks!!   We are only going to be there for 4 days.  So, we will make due until we can get back to normal.

Well, I was in one of the areas hardest hit by the recent East Coast earthquake.  I was at work, when the building started shaking.  It was a small, rattling at first, then grew to a very hard and loud shaking.  At first, I thought it was a truck, sitting at the stop light in front of our building (the building sits very close to a major intersection in town)0.  Then, as it got stronger, I knew exactly what it was, even though I’ve never felt an earthquake before in my life!

Now, the building that I work in is over 200 years old, as are the buildings that sit on either side of it.  All I could think was to get out, in fear that the building would collapse on me.  I ran into the street, making sure that there was no traffic coming.  But, where to run?  After it was over, I realized that the desk that I sit at is a very heavy, solid wood desk, that would have been great protection for me in this situation.  Hindsight really is 20/20.