Resident: 'I Thought Someone Was Shaking Me'

Of all the “remember when” stories you thought you’d tell your children one day, “remember when we felt the earthquake on Long Island,” was probably a long shot from making the list.

That was until Tuesday when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Virginia at 1:51 p.m., according to reports, with tremors felt up the east coast and in the Sachem community. 

According to multiple government agencies in the area, there have been no reports of substantial damage within the police district at this time.

Brookhaven Town Hall was evacuated shortly after 2 p.m.

“Town Hall is currently open, with limited services as fire marshals and building inspectors perform a thorough inspection of the building,” a representative from the town said in a statement. “As of 3:30 p.m., no damage has been reported and essential personnel remain on site. Town Hall is expected to be open for business with all services on Wednesday morning.”

Mase Kocath, 17, of Holtsville, was at Smiths Point beach with his friends when he felt a little shake.

“I didn’t think much of it,” he said. “I looked up and everyone else was doing the same. I was lying down. It was the smallest tremor you could feel.”

Brendan Jones was also at the beach with Kocath.

“I thought someone was shaking me and then I realized nobody was actually touching me,” said Jones, 18, of Farmingville. “When I looked up, everybody just looked confused.”

For Jones, this wasn’t his first earthquake experience. He was in California two summers ago and felt a 5.5 rumble.

“So I had a suspicion that it was an earthquake today,” he said.

Kristen Chilovari, a Sachem East alum attending school at Lynchburg College, was close to the main area of the quake.

"It was a weird first experience," she said via email. "I'm glad it wasnt too traumatic in Lynchburg."

Lisa Florenco Guiliano just got back to her car when she started, “bouncing back and forth,” she said via Facebook. “I actually got out to see if something was wrong with me tires. Then I thought, ‘maybe it was an earthquake … nah. Can’t believe it was.'”

Alex Flores was laying down, barely awake, when the bed started moving.

“At first I thought it was a prank and looked around for someone shaking my bed, but I found no one,” Flores said via Facebook.” I tried to go back to sleep, but instead, I got up and found out minutes later it was an earthquake!

Suffolk County immediately issued material about emergency contact information:

Non-Emergency Contact Information ... You may want to report the situation to our county or state offices of emergency management or health departments. Their phone numbers are:

• Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management: 631-852-4900; 24-hr
• NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services: (518) 457-2200; 24-hr
• Suffolk County Department of Health Services: (631) 853-3000 FAX (631) 853-2927
• Emergencies after 5:00pm and weekends (631) 852-4820
• NYS Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health: 1-800-458-1158
• Residents who wish to report non-emergency incidents resulting from the earthquake, such as downed trees or wires, are asked to call the Suffolk County Police Department’s non-emergency line at 631-852-COPS. Residents may also call 911 if there is an emergency.

Care to share your experience? Email chris@patch.com, comment on our Facebook page, or post a comment below.