Natural Disasters

Readers,

After a long and eventful summer, it's good to be back in D.C.--Except for the natural disasters.
I'm living off-campus in Arlington, VA this year, so I was able to move in this past Tuesday. As I was driving in the trusty family SUV, I felt this strange shaking in the ground.

Weird, I thought. This is the border between DC and MD; there aren't any subway lines around here...?!

Well, it turns out that I was right: there were no subway lines near my route. It was an earthquake, the largest to strike the D.C. region in quite some time. Luckily, though, this is a tectonically stable region--the quake was only 5.8 on the Richter scale, or less than 1/68,000th the size of the disastrous monster that hit Fukushima, so no GW property or people were hurt.

We're in for quite a storm this weekend, though, as Hurricane Irene rolls into town. Move-in was extended to start today rather than tomorrow for most on-campus students, so let's hope everything is all right...

Let's hope nobody else is hurt and little damage results.

What a way to start senior year. Looking back, I'll be able to say I witnessed snowpocalypse, the quake, and Irene--not to mention Inauguration, the Bin Laden announcement, and all of the rallies in 2010. No other place makes you a witness to history like GW does.
--Adam
Questions? Comments? Let me know at ash1290@gwmail.gwu.edu