People stand outside of their buildings after being evacuated following an earthquake on August 23, 2011 in New York City
Did you guys hear there was an earthquake in Virginia, and people felt it all over the East Coast?
If you haven’t heard about the Virginia quake you either must be living under a rock. Or you’re not on Twitter. The 5.8 quake struck in Virginia on Tuesday afternoon and tremors were reportedly felt as far away as Toronto, Ontario. But they were definitely felt in New York City, as NewsFeed can personally verify, not to mention the denizens of Twitter.
(LIST: The Funniest Tweets About the Earthquake)
Almost immediately, social media sites blew up with tweets and status updates commenting, joking and just generally freaking out over the earthquake. Judging from Twitter alone, the New York tremors were pretty monumental. But how did people on the street feel? Taking into account that people tend to exaggerate online, and that New Yorkers tend to downplay pretty much everything in person, we thought it’d be interesting to compare a random sample of Twitter reactions versus in real life reactions.
Here are the results:
Twitter: “I SURVIVED THE GREAT NEW YORK CITY EARTHQUAKE OF 2011!” —@unclegrambo
Reality: “I didn’t feel anything.” –Tom Hernandez, who was eating lunch in Bryant Park when the earthquake happened.
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Twitter: “of course i called my mom and was like “MOM DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ME THERE WAS A HUGE EARTHQUAKE IN NY AND IM ALIVE FYI” #dramatic” —@mattkays
Reality: “I got a text message from my brother asking me about the earthquake and I was like, ‘What earthquake?’” —Christina Cosmas, who is on vacation from London, was outside the Empire State Building when the earthquake happened.
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Twitter: “Is there an earthquake in Brooklyn right now? My whole apartment is shaking.” —@NateErickson
Reality: “What earthquake?” –Marc Garcia, who was on subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan when the earthquake happened.
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Twitter: “NY Earthquake – Duh Do not stand under tall buildings!” —@peoplesrev
Reality: “We didn’t feel it.” –Kevin Rhoades, referring to himself and Kyle Boyd, who were working in midtown Manhattan when the earthquake happened.
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Twitter: “DID WE JUST HAVE AN EARTHQUAKE” —@Kaneshow
Reality: “I actually didn’t feel it, but the other people [in my office] did.” –Fred Bryant, who works in midtown Manhattan.
PHOTOS: Earthquake Shakes The Northeast