"This is an earthquake"

So Seattle is in earthquake country. It's not like Northern California with tons of active plates and the "fall into the ocean" scenario but since I've lived here there have been small quakes up and down the coast. Not the kind that you notice or would wake you up if you were asleep but still quakes nonetheless. A few years back, in 2001 I believe, there was a pretty serious quake called the Nisqually earthquake, which was nearly a 7.0 on the scale, which is getting pretty far on the shaking and banging scale and it did some serious damage.

I'm not scared though. My building just had it's annual earthquake simulation at work. I work on the 13th floor of a 80 story building that reaches nearly 1000ft up so practicing for various emergencies truly makes sense... but I'm not sure this test was the best example. The intercom starts clicking and goes static-y for a second which is weird because the intercom is never used, so something is up. A creepy voice comes over the air stating,

"This is an earthquake. The building has just started shaking, you realize what is happening and you crawl under your desk or find a doorway if you are away from your desk. BANG! A book has fallen of a shelf and crashed onto the floor. Eeeeeeeekk! People are screaming. CRASH! Someone's monitor just fell over a smashed the glass. Dust is everywhere AND the building is still shaking. Pause for a few seconds. It has only been 20 seconds and the average earthquake lasts 30 seconds, can you handle the stress for that long? 5 second left. 3 seconds left. The earthquake is over. In the event of a real earthquake, you should find your floor captain and begin to evacuate the building in an orderly fashion. Thank you participating in our annual earthquake preparedness test."

Nothing like dialog to simulate an earthquake. I know they have to do it that way but people didn't follow any of the guidelines AND when people were "screaming" people started screaming in jest on our floor, well, actually I started running around screaming "it's an earthquake, the rapture is upon us, repent sinners, we're all going to perish." I enjoyed this way more than everybody else in the office I think.