How to Best Communicate When An Earthquake Strikes

Don't bother making or receiving calls on a land line of a cell phone. Instead check Facebook or Twitter immediately. And communicate via Messenger, Chat, texts, and email.

Seriously.

Yesterday, I was at the Maryland Zoo, sitting on a short wall, waiting for a tram, when I felt the wall shake. I thought it was a big truck or something. I looked around, saw nothing that could be the cause of the shaking, and by the time I could process what was happening, the shaking had stopped.

My phone rang, I couldn't answer it. I couldn't call out either. But I could receive and send emails and texts and I could check Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to technology and the interwebs, I connected with my husband and mother, who informed me that I was then able to reach out on Facebook and Twitter to find out how all of my other friends and family faired.

A number of emergency response agencies also noted yesterday that people should stay off phone lines for a few hours and instead turn to texting and emails. 

Meanwhile, I managed to scoop up several AWESOME Foursquare badges!

Twitter and Facebook, kept me in the loop and up to date with everyone.  And Foursquare sucked me back in with these badges.

Everyone's fine. Us East Coasters are being heavily mocked by those on the West Coast and this photo is making the rounds on the Internet, depicting the damage from the quake.

The takeaway from this is if you don't have a smart phone, good luck contacting your friends and loved ones in the case of a large scale emergency situation.  And ALL HAIL SOCIAL MEDIA!!!