Earthquake in Ottawa

The news got around almost instantly, and the method of transmission was worth noting.


I was on the bridge of VOCM Backtalk when I first heard the news, watching captain/producer Pat Murphy steer the radio show through NL airspace.


The news was not delivered by Internet, phone or CrackBerry.


Or even the newsroom.


“Has there been an earthquake in Ottawa?” asked the young FM talent who entered the control room.


“I’m getting loads of tweets.”


Tweets from Twitter.


The fastest of the fast.

•••

The Canadian Press published an alert a few seconds later.


5.0-magnitude earthquake in central Canada — not too serious on the Richter Scale.


My first thought was tsunami.


Whether the quake would have created a giant tidal wave on the fake lake set up in downtown Toronto to give the G20 a taste of rural Canada.


But there was nary a ripple on the $57,000 wading pool.


That wasn’t the case with the Senate of Canada.


Which was apparently awoken from its slumber.


Couldn't resist.


Fabian Manning, who was in a meeting on Parliament Hill, called into Backtalk to say the quake, which lasted less than a minute, felt a lot longer when he was trying to find an exit.


I can’t imagine.

•••

Starting this Monday, June 28th, I’ll be filling in for Backtalk host Bill Rowe, who’s off for five weeks to put the final touches on his latest book, a recounting of his political experiences as NL’s one-time rep in Ottawa.


Which might have a political type or two quaking in their boots.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Too bad it couldn't shack some common sence into the powers that be.

I fear that it would take far more then a 5.5 to accomplish that ???

" Republic Of "
June 24, 2010 at 10:54 PM
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