The above cameraphone video (via @stevesilberman) was taken from inside an apartment during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Van, Turkey. It's titled, "VAN DEPREM SON DAKİKA," which, according to Google Translate, means "Van earthquake last minute." If anyone speaks Turkish and has a better translation, please tell us.

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This video recently released by the National Park Service shows what it was like inside the Washington Monument during the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia, sending vibrations up the Northeast coast, last month. It is unexpectedly scary!

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The office of Governor Cuomo has released a statement saying that a 2.9 Magnitude Earthquake has been recorded outside of Albany. The release states, "We have reports of a 2.9 magnitude earthquake just west-southwest of Altamont, New York. Although this was a mild earthquake, out of an abundance of caution, I have ordered immediate inspection of nearby infrastructure, including a NYPA inspection of the Blenheim-Gilboa Dam in Schoharie County." So that's two earthquakes and one potential hurricane this week. New Yorkers, remember to get your natural disaster card punched to earn a free volcanic eruption. [@nickgreene]

Earthquake devastation, via @BYT

As we all freak about the possibility of a New York City hurricane -- FYI: Mayor Bloomberg says, for what it's worth, that any evacuation orders won't be given until late Friday if they're given at all -- we can for a brief moment feel vindicated about something else in the natural disaster arena that happened just days ago. Remember when California was, like, you East Coasters don't even KNOW what an earthquake is? Well, it's true, we don't, or most of us didn't, until Tuesday. But also, earthquakes feel stronger on the East Coast! Even the L.A. Times says it's so.

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via

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian

While the rest of the animals at the National Zoo in D.C. freaked out about yesterday's earthquake, the giant pandas were just sitting around, totally indifferent. If they even noticed. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were just lolling about on their adorable well-padded rear ends while the other animals shrieked and "belch-vocalized" and generally carried on.

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Yesterday, we and others wondered how long it would take for the usual suspects to blame the earthquake on New York's recent passage of same-sex marriage.

Turns out Rabbi Yehuda Levin was wondering the same thing, and answered: "Not very long at all."

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Congratulations everyone, we survived an earthquake. Everyone stopped what they were doing, DSK included, to comment on the aftershocks that rattled NYC only briefly. But the real damage came after the fact, when we were subjected to hundreds upon hundreds of bad jokes via almost all of our social media platforms. That's not to say we didn't make them too, but enough about us. We were too slow to get together our favorite tweets, or status updates, or Tumblr posts about the earthquake (you could also argue we just didn't have the patience to sift through all the horrible ones, and for that, we salute our media counterparts who did!) so instead we're recapping our favorite "Best Earthquake Something or Others," a list of lists. It's so meta we feel a little nauseated, or is that another aftershock? Whatever.

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National Hurricane Center

According to Mayor Bloomberg's address of the city post-earthquake, here's what the several moments of shaking accomplished: People went crazy calling 911, resulting in a spike of 6,900 calls in one half hour (wow). There was some minor private property damage, including a chimney collapse in Red Hook -- the building was evacuated and no one was injured, and the building was ready to be re-entered shortly thereafter. And, there was on incident on 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, with no injuries reported. Sounds good! But, before you relax too much...

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Look, there's Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance attempting to hold a press conference about his office's abandonment of the DSK case today. Around halfway through, the itty bitty NYC version of today's earthquake hits.

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via AP

• ​Following a shift by Hillary Clinton, President Obama spoke from the White House yesterday to take somewhat of a harder line on U.S. intervention in Libya: "If Colonel Qaddafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences. The resolution will be enforced through military action." Said resolution has been approved by the U.N. Security Council. In the event of military action, we'd be joining up with the U.K., France, and a group of Arab states. However, Obama also said that there wouldn't be a deployment of ground troops. According to MSNBC, this means that the U.S. would provide the coalition intelligence and surveillance planes and aerial refueling, as well as naval power, including two nuclear submarines. [NYT, MSNBC]
• Making the above even more of an immediate concern is that Qaddafi forces have stormed rebel-controlled Benghazi, rebels say. A rebel fighter jet was shot down, and Qaddafi's tanks and artillery bombard the city. The Libyan government denies this and claims to be sticking to the ceasefire its foreign minister announced yesterday. World leaders will meet in Paris today to discuss whether Qaddafi's latest actions justify military intervention. [Reuters]
  

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