DAVE ROSS

Welcome to the earthquake club, East Coast

Aug 24, 2011, 8:25 AM | Updated: 10:10 am

quakejpgDave Ross Commentary – Listen: Welcome to the earthquake club, East Coast

Coming to you from Seattle, where yes, I admit, when I heard it was a 5-point-something, I said, ‘Why is this even on the news?’ And CBS, was it REALLY worth interrupting the Young and the Restless?

I’ve seen the mockery from the West Coast: the tweeted pictures of the tipped over lawn chair, and the slightly-ajar file drawer with the caption “Where’s My FEMA check.” But our dirty little secret out here is that earthquakes scare the hell out of us too.

I was on the air when we had our 6.8 ten years ago.

Listen to Dave Ross on-air in 6.8 earthquake

They’re scary! So I don’t mock you. I say, welcome to the earthquake club.

And as new members of the earthquake club, you will discover that, in fact, the earthquakes themselves aren’t all that frequent. But the earthquake preparedness is relentless.

Scientists say an even BIGGER one is coming, but they can’t tell you when.

– We all have stashes of water and food; mine is approximately ten years old now and probably poisonous.

– We strap our furniture to the wall, at least we have the earthquake straps and we’re seriously going to do it this weekend for sure.

– And we know not to run into the streets like you did. But we’ll probably do it anyway, because it’s scary.

And worst of all are the insufferable pet owners who insist “their dog knew it was coming.” Ten minutes before the quake the dog ran away. Five minutes before the quake he barked funny. One minute before the quake he looked me in the eye and said “I’d take cover if I were you…ruff!” Welcome East Coast.

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Welcome to the earthquake club, East Coast