I must confess, I contributed to the jammed phone lines. I am a true earthquake newbie ;)
I'll tell you though, this thing shook really hard here just outside of DC. It was very loud too. We started coming out of our offices into the lobby and it was almost a novelty at first, but it really ramped up for about 10 seconds and got quite scary. I remember thinking, "oh crap, this building couldn't possibly survive this". I suppose we did exactly what your not supposed to - we took off down the stairs and out of the building.
I will never forget the feeling of that earthquake. Something I see on TV quite often, but never expected to actually experience it myself.
I am guessing Bush’s Fault?!