I was in my office having a “teacher’s conference” with a group of students less than an hour ago and I felt the desk shaking against my leg. I first thought it was my student kicking my desk. “Mr Saleh, are you kicking my desk?”…of course he denied doing it. I kind of thought he just didn’t want to admit to it. I didn’t think anything of it until the next group of students came in for their meeting and asked, “Did you feel the earthquake?” Wow! I know that earthquakes in Oman are extremely rare. My students and I briefly talked about whether this might be an effect of “climate change” as that happens to be the very topic we’re discussing in our class these days!
Students with their WhatsApp and social-networking are reporting that it was felt all over the Sultanate and wasn’t only felt here in the capital of Muscat.
Now that I’m back home, I see that it was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale near the Pakistan-Iran border. Here’s a quick report from Muscat Daily. For a great write-up from another blogger, Muscat Mutterings reported on this the fastest and now has over 80 comments on the post!
Here’s a funny pic from the Muscat Ads facebook page, haha!:
So did any of you reading this blogpost in Oman feel the earthquake? What were you doing? What’s your story?
Andy in Oman 
My dog felt it before it starts!
He was somehow crying!!!
Animals are mysterious that way. I heard that many animals started heading up to higher ground before the Indian Ocean Tsunami hit as another example of this kind of phenomenon.
I was working in my office when the glass doors started making this vibrating sound and I felt everything on my desk was shaking. I initially thought they brought some heavy equipment in the floor and were trying to push it to settle it somewhere but it went on for a good 40-45 seconds till I became sure it was an earthquake. This is the second time in my life I experienced a quake and I must say nothing is more terrifying than this. From what I know, when this happens, you have to keep calm, make your way out of the building with your family to an open ground, don’t use lifts, and shut off the stove / oven to avoid any incident relating to fire.
Muhammed,
Yikes! The last place anyone would want to be is in a place with lots of glass. Seems like some experienced only a few seconds (like me) while others (like you) experienced longer vibrations. I’m guessing that you must have been a few floors up, huh?
I am not sure where exactly you were during the quake, but the farther away you are from the epicenter, the lesser impact you’d feel, like people from Nizwah didn’t feel anything at all. I was near the Al Alam palace of His Majesty in Muscat in my office and at the 2nd floor of the building and since my room was very quite and there was no one except me, I heard and felt things shaking from the very beginning. While this was indeed a strong one, I thank God there was no tsunami warning issued. However, would advise anyone not to go to the beach this weekend at least as the aftershocks keep coming after any quake for a week or so.
I didn’t feel a thing in Nizwa, but all my students told me about it as soon as they got messages on their phones. I sure hope a serious quake doesn’t happen, because Oman’s buildings are not constructed to withstand earthquakes. Imagine all the concrete and marble falling. Yikes!
Cathy,
Good for you. Some people here (on twitter/facebook) sound disappointed that they didn’t feel anything! Lots of people I talked with didn’t feel anything here in Muscat. What you stated about the condition of Oman’s buildings in the event of an earthquake is definitely food for thought! In my online search, I noticed 2 articles which stood out as polar opposites. An article from Oman Observer (http://omanobserver.om/node/111025) states that such big earthquakes in Oman are highly unlikely (so don’t sweat the small stuff!), while the Gulf News (http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/earthquake-resistant-infrastructure-needed-in-oman-says-expert-1.966141) has an article about the need for earthquake-resistant buildings and quotes an Omani seismic expert stating that, ““A major earthquake in future in Oman is a possibility.” Yikes indeed!
Yikes is right. I just hope I’m gone before that happens. But now that the Iranian earthquake has shaken things up, you never know what to expect. Scary.
It’s been some time since the earth moved for me, and I miss it !!
Be careful what you wish for…
Certainly felt it here in Al Khuwair 33. The major tremor lasted about 5 seconds and then there were a few tremblors for another few seconds. But it was powerful enough to really rock the building (I’m on the 3rd floor). The five gallon water bottle was sloshing about for a little while after so was powerful alright. Wonder how bad the damage is at the epicentre.
And Andy, really hope you explained that climate change has nothing to do with earthquakes!
Jayant,
I was on the groundfloor and felt it, so I’d hate to imagine what it felt like for those higher up. BTW, it was just a quick comment the students made about global change as the textbook links “global change” with rising sea levels and other phenomena. Because of this connection and mention of other natural disasters, they were making a link that I didn’t teach them. (Don’t worry! 😉 ) One student disagreed with his friends and said, “No, teacher…end of world!” He did not seem to be joking as the other students clearly were.
Reblogged this on Kaleidoscopic World in Words.
Thanks for sharing, Arta!
me and my husband were laughing hard on something and suddenly there was the sofa bed shaking a bit so it was kind a hilarious :p
but we felt it for about 10 seconds in Ruwi
Naila
Naila,
This reply is rather late, but thanks for commenting! 🙂
My bestfriend’s father was an oil geologist here in Oman for ages. He told us that earthquakes are a fact(there is a tectonic plate that can affect the area) and would never ever live in a house that was over one storey high or near higher buildings in Oman for that reason even though the government was always trying to move them to a massive villa. I was glad my husband finally believed me, I could be like, told oyu so, because he was always like, Oman never can get earthquakes.
Well, let’s hope that’s the worse we see! Technically Oman received a tremor and it was Iran that had the earthquake though.
My office building in Shatti shook for a bit, a 6 storey concrete and glass building. At first the blinds were hitting the windows, then the desk wobbled and the floor. My water rumbled like the scene from Jurassic Park. Most people in the office stood still, looking at each other in disbelief. Some say they didn’t feel it, one was in the lift at the time. We were evacuated for an hour while security checked the building and let us back in.
Sounds like a scary situation!
I was on my desk – typing, when I felt it. I thought I was having Vertigo. I was feeling a bit queasy yesterday, so I thought it was me. But then I asked myself, how come my monitor shook also? I never touched it. I hear people in the corridor, panicking. It took a few seconds to realize it was an earthquake.
Sounds kind of like my experience where it took a while to realize that it was an earthquake. Thanks for sharing.
good luck to you!
Thanks, Frizz. Same to you – always!
Thank you for sharing this with us. I hope you and your family, your students and their families are ok; especially since earthquakes there are rare.
God bless and protect you always 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. Your prayers are always appreciated, sister! 🙂