I had just hung up the phone after speaking with my lovely bride, picked up my book (The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman) and got about halfway in to the first sentence of the chapter when it hit. The house started shaking, the dogs starting barking, and the cats fled for cover. Last night was the first decent sized earthquake we’ve had in a while.
How can you describe what being in an earthquake is like? The ground shakes, the house vibrates, knickknacks rattle, glass clinks and things sway. That’s the physical part but it doesn’t describe what’s in your gut. You can feel that the quake is pretty big but you don’t know how long it will last. You don’t know if it’s going to fade away or hit you with a sudden, big jolt. Things are a bit out of your control at this point.
After about 10 or 12 seconds of rumbling I was considering getting off of the couch and moving to a doorway. For those who don’t live in an area where earthquakes happen, under a heavy table or braced in a doorway are the safest places to be inside a building. If the building starts to crumble, those areas offer your best protection. One of the worst things you can do is to run outside while the quake is tossing things around because you stand a good chance of something landing on you.
As I was thinking about moving to a more protected area, the earthquake stopped. I calmed the dogs down, gave up looking for the cats, and checked out the house. Absolutely no damage. Nothing fell off shelves, nothing broke, nothing fell over. The only impact at my house was a brief adrenaline rush.
I sat down to continue my book and Nala jumped on my lap. That little cat was glued to me for the next hour. Boo finally showed up as well. I expected her to be in hiding for days since she’s a bit of a fraidy cat, but she was a real trooper. The dogs calmed down pretty quickly as well.
You can read more about the quake here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/31/MNCAT3RA1.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/31/MN7FOGO71.DTL
Stumble it!