ALABAMA EARTHQUAKE?!

Drudge links news that there was a 4.9 magnitude quake near Fort Payne in the northeast part of the state and famous primarily for being the home of the country music group Alabama. Freakish. I lived in and out of Alabama since 1980 and don’t recall any mention of an earthquake during that time.

Update (13:32): AP reports the quake lasted 45 minutes and was felt as far away as North Carolina.

Update 2 (13:54): PoliBlogger, who lives in Montgomery (south-central) didn’t feel a thing.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. ray says:

    A 45 minute earthquake? Yikes. I live in earthquake capitol So Cal and I can tell you they may *feel* like 45 minutes but I really doubt that it lasted that long.

    Quakes in Alabama? Next thing you know we’ll be having tornadoes in LA.

  2. James Joyner says:

    Heh. And, yes, I would guess it was more like 4-5 minutes than 45–if that. The figure was just some woman in Gadsden–quite a ways away.

  3. PoliBlogger says:

    Most likley no more than 45 seconds–and even that is a long one. I will say, having lived in SoCal and having experienced some fairly large quakes, when the ground shakes, 30 seconds can seem like 30 minutes.

    The one when we were in our sixth floor apartment in Bogota, Colombia, was my all time favorite, however. All I could think of was “we are having an earthquake, and we are the the THIRD WORLD.”

  4. John Lemon says:

    Just to let you know, I held back from making a very stereotypical comment about Alabama in this post. My restraint is unparalleled, at least for my recent past.

  5. PoliBlogger says:

    Let me guess: something about trailers?