Students at The Way of Life Bible Institute in Richmond, Virginia compared notes about where they were and what they were doing during those 30 seconds of the Louisa, Virginia earthquake on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 1:51 p.m.
The earthquake impacted people in 22 states. And let's not forget about the animals. We have seen videos of dogs barking on the internet seconds before the earthquake hit. It seems as though animals can detect impending danger minutes before it actually happens.
Watch the VIDEO on the left to see how different animals responded.
NBC's Tom Costello reports on how some of the animals at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., were able to foretell the earthquake that took the East Coast by surprise. None of the animals were hurt, but it is amazing how animals responded. For example, all the flamingos gathered in a group. The monkeys grabbed their young and went up a tree. Snakes started slithering across the ground.
How did the animals know the earthquake was coming? Scientists seem to think animals have a sixth sense.
Tsunami of 2004
In the Sri Lanka tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004, very few animals were killed. Scientists believe they had a sixth sense to know danger was approaching. When the fish in the sea became restless, they triggered the reaction of the birds. The other animals responded in a like manner. It is reported that the elephants started a panic and broke free from their chains (something they had never done before). Just five minutes after they left for higher ground, the very spot where they had been standing was destroyed.
Some believe wild and domestic animals possess a sixth sense and know in advance when the earth is going to shake.
According to National Geographis News shortly after the tsunami, wildlife experts believe animals' more acute hearing and other senses might enable them to hear or feel the earth's vibration, tipping them off to approaching disaster long before humans realize what's going on.
The giant waves rolled through the Indian Ocean, killing more than 150,000 people in a dozen countries. However, there were few reports of animals being killed.
There might be two reasons for animals' behavior before an earthquake:
- Animals are more attuned to nature than humans are.
- Animals take cues from other animals.
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