Some friends and I were talking about the earthquake this morning. We realized that when we were experiencing a quake, we rarely had a first thought that it was an earthquake. Last time we had a temblor here in the Sierra Foothills, I thought for sure that a bear was walking around on my roof. Took me a while to realized it was an earthquake.
Same with the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. I was all alone in the office at about 5:10 PM, talking on the phone. All of a sudden, I felt seasick - but had no idea at first it was an earthquake.
-Joe-