Canadian Workers Terrorized by Earthquake

Yesterday, the kids and I were at the Lake doing Jesse's reading (much nicer than sitting at home).  We are reading Kaitangata Twitch by Margaret Mahy (one of NZ's best children's writers).  In the chapter we were reading there was an earthquake.

We completed the chapter just as some helicopters were flying over and it was noisy.  Jesse wandered off to see the fish that a man caught.  My phone rang, it was Andy.  He asked, "Did you feel the earthquake"?  We didn't, what with the helicopters and the fish and the fact that we were outside, there was too much going on.

The fire alarms were going off at his building and they had to evacuate.  Of course we thought it was all very funny.  Andy said the earthquake was only just detectable and he wasn't even sure if it was one.  It was 5.5 on the scale and centered in Ottawa.

Apparently, one of the workers in Andy's building had panicked, never having experienced an earthquake before, and pulled the fire alarm.

Did no-one ever tell them to stay indoors during an earthquake?

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June 24, 2010