quakes in two cities

All's well, but it certainly didn't feel well. I've felt far worse in Tokyo, but something about being in NYC, where no one knew what was going on (everyone scattering into the street below, shouting into their cell phones--by far the worst thing you can do during a quake), and there are no established alert or emergency systems, and so many of the buildings, down here, especially, are already old and crumbling and made of stiff brick that will collapse instead of 'sway'...no, it didn't feel well at all.
When I first realized it wasn't another 18-wheeler grinding cobblestones in Soho, that the movement was both harder and more sustained, my little mind ticker registered 'earthquake,' and I was actually annoyed. I think I spoke to myself, muttering like a geezer, saying something like, "What? Oh, come on! Here?"
By the time I had risen from my desk, glanced at the table vase to confirm that, yes, the liquid was indeed sloshing from side to side, and begun my crouch beneath the mahogany, it had stopped. I looked around, stood and went to a window. Seemed like everyone was out on the corner--the deli staffers, the neighbors, tourists, local shopkeepers--aglow in bright sunlight and looking anxiously up and around at the buildings.