Did the earth move for you?
Because it didn't down here at Cell Block G. Dubai experienced a slight "tremor" today, after a more serious earthquake in Southern Iran, resulting in the evacuation of Emirates Towers and a few other scrapers:
"Witnesses in high-rise buildings said they felt the ground shaking beneath them for about a minute. Many residents evacuated their buildings and waited on the streets."
Expect endless earthquake experts in the papers tomorrow, such as the prophetic Dr Azm Al Homoud:
"We should stop saying the UAE is not in an earthquake prone area. I must say we are near major epicentres across the Arabian Gulf and fall within the collision area."
Inmates in the far southern gulags miss out on everything. Cut off by distance, traffic and general lethargy: the forgotten folk in the shadow of the Jebel.
"Witnesses in high-rise buildings said they felt the ground shaking beneath them for about a minute. Many residents evacuated their buildings and waited on the streets."
Expect endless earthquake experts in the papers tomorrow, such as the prophetic Dr Azm Al Homoud:
"We should stop saying the UAE is not in an earthquake prone area. I must say we are near major epicentres across the Arabian Gulf and fall within the collision area."
Inmates in the far southern gulags miss out on everything. Cut off by distance, traffic and general lethargy: the forgotten folk in the shadow of the Jebel.
Labels: environment
19 Comments:
I thought I just had a dodgey stomach after my curry for lunch.
I was looking out for reports on this now, after hearing several evacuation stories happening all around Dubai. What I hear is that a tremor was felt in Sharjah..unconfirmed report though.
I'm outta here!
First hand reports I received were that the National Bank Building and the Twin Towers( both on the Deira Creek area)shook and had to be evecuated.We had a person working in an audit firm located in Emirates Towers at our office.She called in to her office and the news she got was that some of the people had left the building and the crowd in the lobby was being told that there was no "you know what" and that it was just a rumor.Heard that the Media City was affected too.
The PR person at our agency in Media City was hyterical for a while after feeling certain tremors. She pointed at the water dispenser and said, "Look, the water is shaking!"
I didn't trust her, due to my prejudice toward PR people. But, she was right after all!
One of our Site Engineer called from Jebel Ali and asked whether we knew anything about the Tremor. "No", I said. He then informed us that the mild tremor was felt in Dubai, Sharjah and Jebel Ali and that they all were out.
Even, one of my friend's wife called him up and said that their office has been closed and they all have been asked to evacuate the office and go home for the day.
Checked with Gulf-news come. The upload was not possible due to too much of traffic to the website. Got it later and saw it in the 'Breaking-News' Section that "Earthquake Tremor felt in Dubai, Sharjah, RAK and Al Ain'. Before I could access the webpage, this News Item VANISHED !!
Shocking though is the earthquake, even more shocking is that even News disappear under the earth or perhaps over the Sky !!
so what's with the 'radio silence'?! Except for a few sympathetic RJ's taking phone calls, most of us dont know whether we've got 'SZR Anxiety syndrome' or whether it really happened!
Would be nice to hear from an authority instead of this 'unconfirmed reports' mumbo jumbo!! When it's 50degrees out and 'they' say 45degrees... i can take it... why cant someone just come out and say something!? Its been 75mins since the 'incident' and still no official word!?
What are they waiting for?!?! Approval from em@@r and N@khee1? (Which begs the question... what happens when we experience the 'real deal'??!!)
Lots of buildings in SH Zayed road were evacuated. Sharjah felt much stronger termors than dubai.
no official comment cos the government spokespeople didn't know about it until journalists told them.
the aus earthquake isn't allowed to talk to the press, apparently.
anyway, this was just another iranian quake, according to agencies:
A moderate earthquake shook
southern Iran Sunday, Tehran's seismologic center said,
and there were unconfirmed reports of injuries.
¶ The 5.9-magnitude quake was felt as far away as Oman
and the United Arab Emirates, and buildings were evacuated
as people sought shelter in the streets.
¶ The quake jolted the major port city of Bandar Abbas
and Qeshm Island, 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) south of
Tehran, the capital.
¶ The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 6.1.
¶ Local authorities were not immediately available for
comment.
¶ Alireza Khorshidzadeh, a local journalist, said initial
reports showed minor damage to some buildings that left a
few injuries.
¶ "Power and water supplies were not affected. People
poured into the streets, fearing aftershocks," he said.
Didnt feel anything here in jebel ali... *yawns and goes back to sleep*
I'm sitting in my office in Rashidya, with all sorts of rumours floating around about the severity of the tremors. No tremors here. Any news about traffic congestion with everyone trying to leave their offices at the same time?
Some links here:
Gulf News story here
Reuters news article here
Iran earthquake report here
UAE earthquake science (video) here
Google News (+earthquake +Iran) here
Click here to read Gulf News' latest, in case their server is still overloaded.
I was taking my afternoon nap when all of a sudden the bed shook.. Suprised i wondered if i was getting any action with me knowing it ;) , then i thought ok maybe its the drilling from the construction going on across the street... so turned and went back to sleep. awoke at 3.30pm and i heard on the radio all hell had broken loose... so whats the latest???
We felt it here near Sharjah Airport.
For p*ss*d note that if one has blogs you've found trustworthy, then they can substitute for the official word, and for news outlets that can't handle the traffic.
I missed the earth moving for me today ... but i felt it several times before...
felt it quake in the sharjah desert. epicenter was some coastal village in iran. thank god it did not trigger a tsunami, i wouldn't want anything bad happening to our beloved jumeirah janes and the palm...
I work in Dheid off the Sharjah airport road....and on the second floor i can clearly feel it..it lasted for a good 20-30 seconds, being a ex californian and living through the Northridge quake of 94, I have to say this was not a pleasant feeling, I thought I got rid of all this crap about waiting for the "BIG ONE". The funny thing was on the way back into Sharjah, I live on Al Buhairah Corniche, I saw a good number of people camping out on the corniche, at that time of day its usually quiet, only then did it occur to me how serious this was, as a matter of fact it was 9 pm and looking out of my window I can still see people with folding chairs and blankets camping out, I think there was a second tremor, I didnt feel it but a couple of my friends did mention that they felt it, so lets hope and see what happens, let me tell you one thing, the aftermath would not be pretty.... and just like i did in 94, if im gonna go..im going down in my bed fast asleep...im not gonna bother, and people do not think that leaving the building is safer than being in it, a significant quake would probably not topple the buildings, it is more likely to shatter the glass, even that is unlikely, but it is more feasible than the whole building going down, so i dont know about the evacuation stuff, authorities in cali always advise us to stay away from windows and glass, and hide under a sturdy desk or stand in a doorway. Stay Safe.
UAE officials are in denial when it comes to this earthquake. I think they're afraid it'll scare off property investors. They remind me of the mayor of the town in the movie Jaws who wanted everyone to rush headlong into the choppy surf and serve the beast. Sure if you talk to construction talking heads they'll tell you everything is ok, but there are some professors tucked away in some of the area universities who are sounding much more dire warnings.
Definitely felt it in RAK. The computer monitors were all wobbling back and forth and floor was rolling back and forth - very weird.
On another topic, SD I know how fond you are of those "oh so wacky" RAK stories, but have you seen this one yet?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Emirates_Gay_Wedding.html
Gosh! Weirdness going on and it's not in RAK? Whatever next?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
national/1107AP_
Emirates_Gay_Wedding.html
Does this work? I can't seem to work out the right url code.
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