How Did Some Folks Not Feel The East Coast Earthquake?

[cfry]

So, Im sitting in this bar eating my lunch when I started to feel disoriented. I look up and my eyes cant make sense of what was going on. My seat was rocking and it felt like I was on a boat. My first thought was holy cow something blew up outside! I look out the window and all I see is some guy casually getting off his motorcycle. The building was making creaking noises. Then it stopped. The motorcycle guy strolls in, has a beer, then leaves. He didn't mention anything about what just happened. The only other person in the bar was the waitress/cook and she was back in the kitchen and didn't say anything either. Was I going nutty? Stroking out maybe? My wife calls and asked me if I felt the earthquake. Holy cow was that what it was? I call back to my office and ask if they felt it there (roughly 100 miles away). My boss says he felt it too. He had to grab his cup to keep it from spilling all over his desk. Thing is, when he went to talk about the earthquake to others in the office, no one knew anything about it. Later I turn on the radio and the guy on the political talk show (I think it was Hannity) said the studio had been shaking. When he called his wife to make sure everything is ok, she thought he was joking or making it up. On one of my local news outlets they said that the phones were out in some areas because of the quake and one township now has muddy drinking water as a result of the shaking. So this all leads in to my question. How did so many people, in areas that were definitely effected, not notice the ground shaking under them? Is there a phenomenon for this, or do so many people just have their heads that far up their *** that they were unaware an earthquake was happening? Does this kind of thing always happen during an earthquake where some definitely feel it and others are completely unaware even though they are only like 15 feet away? I realize that my area was much less effected than VA/DC but, it was still very noticeable. Being on the east coast, I am not accustomed to anything to do with earthquakes, so maybe this kind of thing happens regularly in areas where quakes are more common. I previously posted this on Yahoo Answers, but didnt get any real feedback on it.

[J.C.MacSwell]

So, Im sitting in this bar eating my lunch when I started to feel disoriented. I look up and my eyes cant make sense of what was going on. My seat was rocking and it felt like I was on a boat. My first thought was holy cow something blew up outside! I look out the window and all I see is some guy casually getting off his motorcycle. The building was making creaking noises. Then it stopped. The motorcycle guy strolls in, has a beer, then leaves. He didn't mention anything about what just happened. The only other person in the bar was the waitress/cook and she was back in the kitchen and didn't say anything either. Was I going nutty? Stroking out maybe? My wife calls and asked me if I felt the earthquake. Holy cow was that what it was? I call back to my office and ask if they felt it there (roughly 100 miles away). My boss says he felt it too. He had to grab his cup to keep it from spilling all over his desk. Thing is, when he went to talk about the earthquake to others in the office, no one knew anything about it. Later I turn on the radio and the guy on the political talk show (I think it was Hannity) said the studio had been shaking. When he called his wife to make sure everything is ok, she thought he was joking or making it up. On one of my local news outlets they said that the phones were out in some areas because of the quake and one township now has muddy drinking water as a result of the shaking. So this all leads in to my question. How did so many people, in areas that were definitely effected, not notice the ground shaking under them? Is there a phenomenon for this, or do so many people just have their heads that far up their *** that they were unaware an earthquake was happening? Does this kind of thing always happen during an earthquake where some definitely feel it and others are completely unaware even though they are only like 15 feet away? I realize that my area was much less effected than VA/DC but, it was still very noticeable. Being on the east coast, I am not accustomed to anything to do with earthquakes, so maybe this kind of thing happens regularly in areas where quakes are more common. I previously posted this on Yahoo Answers, but didnt get any real feedback on it.

 

Not sure about psychological effects but damping vs non damping +resonance would have something to do with it in some cases. You may have been in a local peak area to feel it.

[cfry]

Not sure about psychological effects but damping vs non damping +resonance would have something to do with it in some cases. You may have been in a local peak area to feel it.

 

What is damping? Never heard of it. I am curious.

[J.C.MacSwell]

What is damping? Never heard of it. I am curious.

 

In this context it is absorbing and dissipating energy rather than transmitting or rebounding it.

[cfry]

In this context it is absorbing and dissipating energy rather than transmitting or rebounding it.

 

Can one small area be dampened, but have another area only a few feet away be not dampened at all?