'At first, I just thought it was nothing.' People share experiences during Friday's earthquake

The University of New Haven hosted a planned mass casualty incident drill Friday, which included a mock car crash into a building.

Tom Krosnowski and Rose Shannon

Apr 5, 2024, 6:08 PM

Updated 25 days ago

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People across the state tell News 12 Connecticut say there will not forget Friday's earthquake anytime soon.
The University of New Haven hosted a planned mass casualty incident drill Friday, which included a mock car crash into a building.
Participants say the earthquake proved to be the best example of expecting the unexpected.
"If we had buildings that were collapsed, we'd have a danger of people trapped in the building, you would have the problem of potential gas lines that would have to be secured, you could have fire. All of those require a disaster response. And that's the kind of thing we're training on today here," says Kenneth Gray.
Staff inside campus buildings thought the shaking they heard was from the drill, not an earthquake.
"At first, I just thought it was nothing. I blamed it on the mass casualty trial that they're doing today," says Madison Sinoway, assistant director of undergraduate admissions.
"When everyone else was like, 'Hmm,' we were like, 'OK, something was happening,'" says Lex Vuillemot, assistant director of undergraduate admissions.
Business in nearby Milford also felt the earthquake.
"I was standing back there, and I saw the rack shaking, and I thought it was our bread slicer. And then I said, 'That's weird, because I'm up front.' And yeah, that was it. Then a customer said, 'We just had an earthquake,"" says Bridget Boechelmaier, from Scratch Baking.
Jimmy Azhari, the manger of Milford Pharmacy, says he assumed a car was driving by too fast before he learned about the earthquake.
Others thought they heard a familiar sound.
"I thought it was the helicopter from the Sikorsky Bridge, because we live up in north Milford so we usually feel that," say Ella Franzman, of Milford.


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