“Why Was She Smiling?” — TikTokers Question Co-worker’s Reaction to Seeing Employee Hit by Earthquake

TikTok user @ThatBritGuy was in the right place at the right time ... well, right for a viral video. Not so much for someone who would rather avoid the fear of experiencing a sizable earthquake.

Which is exactly what he ended up coming face to face with during an online conference call. The meeting was thankfully recorded and has been uploaded to @ThatBritGuy's account for everyone to enjoy. Thankfully, no one was harmed in his clip.

The TikTok begins with a recording of a Microsoft Teams meeting. One of the employees is talking about "methodology" changes. Suddenly, one person on the call can be seen shaking in place.

The worker can be seen instantly jumping up from his chair and running off-screen. After a few seconds, he sits back down in his office chair in front of the webcam. "We're good," he tells the other employees on the call.

The affected worker is visibly stunned by what just happened. He puts his hand over his heart at one point, remarking that it's "pounding." The other folks on the call confirm that they're recording the meeting and that they want to show him the exact moment the earthquake occurred.

The L.A. earthquake the TikToker experienced was a 4.4 magnitude one that this scientist warned is a sign of more to come. Others have also captured footage of the earthquake in action, like the footage on this surveillance video.

Then there was this podcaster who was in the middle of a recording session when her screen can be seen shaking. She immediately pops up out of her chair and begins saying, "Earthquake! Earthquake!" as she runs off-camera and ducks lower to the ground. The video then transitions to her popping up onto her chair once the coast is clear.

After being settled she looks to someone else off-camera and exclaims that they've got their "clip" to help bring in views.

Then there was this local news anchor who was in the studio when the earthquake hit. She looks directly into the camera, a consummate professional, pleasantly narrating how "strongly" she's feeling the tremors inside the building.

This ABC 7 news clip features of montage of different home security systems cameras. Interestingly enough, in the first part of the video, one of the dogs seems to sense that the earthquake is going to occur seconds before it hits.

Another pooch's befuddled reaction to experiencing the earthquake isn't for the faint of heart. It's not that anything physically happens to the dog, but seeing them pop up and looking scared is enough to make you want to jump into the video and comfort them.

According to CBS News, 2024 was "the most seismically active year since 1988," for the state of California. The outlet consulted with Dr. Lucy Jones from the California Institute of Technology, who said that a recent quake could potentially be very, very dangerous to its location on the Puente Hills thrust fault system.

"They are considered the set of faults capable of producing probably the most damage of any earthquake in SoCal because of the location. Because they run under old structures and densely inhabited areas," Jones told the outlet.

Numerous TikTokers who responded to the video were intrigued by the variety of responses issued by the employees on the call.

Others just couldn't seem to believe that the man would return to the meeting after such a scary incident. "I would log off right after. Like give me a moment. Please," one person said.

Another wrote: "I think she said 'mute him' because of privacy in case he said something they shouldn’t be listening to? Anyway, I watch this over and over just to see everyone’s reaction LOL."

Have you ever experienced an earthquake? How did you react?