Who’d have thought I’d experience both an earthquake and a hurricane in Philadelphia in the same week! I’m writing this as the northern part of hurricane Irene is sending rain squalls through through the city. We just made it through the first Tornado Warning which was officially over 5 minutes ago. I’ve just seen rain, not really any major wind gusts or even lightning and thunder. The loudest noise so far isn’t the wind, it’s the sirens going by in the street.

Here’s my earthquake story:

I’m currently working on the 38th floor of the Comcast Center, the tallest building in Philly. Every Tuesday I attend an engineering call in which we discuss design details for our application. This call involves a development team who sits on the seventh floor, another two engineers from Reston, VA and myself. Towards the end of the call, (1:51 pm I found out later) the guys in Reston start to make a racket and come back on the phone saying that they think someone backed a truck into their building. Ten to fifteen seconds after that commotion, I feel the earthquake shaking my floor. This quake wasn’t super powerful in Philly, but I think being up 38 floors amplified the motion. The developers on the seventh floor felt it, but didn’t think much of it. I found out Accenture people on the ninth floor didn’t even bother evacuating.

The best comparison I can provide of this quake is that it felt as if a group of fat men were jumping up and down on the floors above and below me. There were vibrations also, which may have been the steel floors and walls absorbing the shock. Nothing was knocked off my desk, so there wasn’t too much power left in it. The Reston guys have already started talking about work again when Philly is hit. An earthquake was really the last thing on my mind at this point, as I was thinking explosion somewhere. The people on my floor were unsure what was happening and no one came on the intercom to say what was going on. Eventually, someone opens the stairwell door and we saw a stream of people from higher floors headed down.  I followed suit and started down 38 floors of stairs.

At this point I’ve realized that whatever shook me is was much closer to Reston,VA than to Philly, so I don’t really have much anxiety, however, most of the people in the stairs are not as calm. Around floor 32, the woman in front of me stops and asks me to hold on a second while she removes her heels. She’s on her way down from at least 1 floor above me, which means she’s gone down at least 26*7 steps before she’s had this thought. I’ve texted Emily to let her know I’m on my way out of the building and have posted a status update on Facebook. I’ve also realized that my cousin in NY, a friend in MA, my aunt in CT, and my buddy at the Pentagon have all felt  the earthquake . It’s pretty cool how quickly Facebook provided me with this information. I’ve also texted my boss who’s working in Denver, but normally works on 39 that there was an earthquake and we are evacuating the Comcast Center, but so far everyone is alright. Naturally, he didn’t believe me.

Around floor 12, I pass an older man on his way down. I estimate him to be at least 70, in a very nice suit. He’s moving very slowly and most people are going around. I do the same. As we go down the stairs, the number of people increases as we get closer to the ground floors. The temperature in the stairwell also goes up from having so many bodies in it.  At floor three, the pace drops to almost to a standstill.  As we slowly make our way down, I realize the holdup is due to an extremely large woman standing in the corner of the stairwell fanning herself and acting like she can’t go on anymore. I hear someone mention carrying her before I get there, but by the time I go by, she’s still standing there fanning herself. At the bottom we end up coming out a door that dumps us onto Arch Street.

QUESTION: what are the proper things to do in evacuations for people not able to get down the stairs as effectively as anyone else? This includes, a) women in high heels, b) older people moving slower than others, and c) overweight people too tired to continue?

Once on the street, I  realize that most of the city is going on with life as normal. Cars are going by the crowds of people along the street, everyone is texting.  I end up finding a few people from my company and discussing what happened with them. After a few minutes they decide to head back to where they are working. I have no intention of going back inside until some sort of “all clear” signal is given, so end up heading around to the front of the building. The front of the building is actually a much more spacious area, however, the stairwells all lead out back, so there are less people here. I see a newsman from CBS 3 asking for people from above floor 47, I guess he’s already interviewed someone from that floor and wants to go even higher. I considered saying I had been on a higher floor to get on the news, but only briefly. At this point, I’ve texted Emily to let her know i’m ok, but still no calls are going through.

I end up at the outdoor restaurant in front of the Comcast Center (Table 31) , which is still serving after lunch. A waitress provides me complimentary iced tea for which I tip her $4 (all the small bills in my wallet) It’s a very beautiful afternoon. The sky is blue with only a few clouds, the temperature is in the low eighties, and a nice breeze is blowing down JFK Boulevard. I watch people scurry by while I finish the tea and a refill of water. I finally reach Emily, even though my phone is now constantly playing the busy signal tone, both during the call and even when I’m not on one. Turns out her car is officially broken. (We have a new Honda now, but that’s another post)  Eventually, most of the people outside have either left or headed back to work. I take my cue and head back to floor 38 on the elevators.

After I’ve returned to work, a message finally comes across the intercom telling us there was an earthquake. They also let us know that the building is ok, but that Comcast employees have been given the rest of the afternoon off and the facilities are being closed out of precaution. This is a grey area for me as I’m not officially a Comcast employee and only get paid for hours worked. I see Comcast employees leaving and even other contractors too. I decide I’ll work from home and head towards the exit.

As I walk towards the elevators, I think about everyone still in the building trying to use the elevators to leave now that the facility has closed. I also pass by a TV tuned into MSNBC (surprised? You shouldn’t be as Comcast owns 50% of it now) saying aftershocks are “highly likely” which convinced me to take the stairs down from 38 once more. Luckily I take the “no re-entry” staircase this time, which has much less people and get down in a quarter of the time. I walk home and call my wife, mother, brothers, dad, etc. The end.

My hurricane story is still in progress, but so far it goes like this:

It is raining, the news is broadcasting about power outages everywhere else, and New York transportation has been shutdown since Valentine’s day in preparation. New Jersey’s governor thinks you’ve been tanning long enough and should get off the beach, and the Phillies think they can  squeeze a baseball game into a 45 minute window.

More to come.

Danny

Here’s the Comcast Center:

Comcast Center