I feel the earth move under my feet…
Saturday, December 27th, 2008That’s not a euphemism. I actually felt the earth move last night. We had an 3.4 earthquake at midnight last night, with an epicenter about 5 miles from my house. This is the second earthquake in this area that I’ve been able to feel in the last 15 years. The epicenter for the first one was about a 40-minute drive away, and it felt like a huge truck was driving past my window at about 60 miles an hour. The house rattled a bit. There was damage at the epicenter and surrounding area, but it didn’t cause any problems for me.
This one didn’t cause any damage anywhere, and was very different. There were at least three distinct “bangs.” The first two were reminiscent of one of my kids having fallen out of bed and knocking over something heavy on the way down – like a bowling ball that was on a pedestal. Then the big one hit. After that one, I got up out of my chair and actually looked out all of my windows to see if I could see the light from the fire that I assumed would be there from the tanker truck that must have just exploded down the street. In the back of my mind I wondered if it was an earthquake, but I had to look anyway. The rumble was so deep – not the sound so much but the vibration. It literally felt deep.
I was surprised at how quick and sharp it was, too. With the other one there were little aftershocks I felt like distant echoes. With this one, after those three rapid explosions it was over as if nothing had happened.
That 2 seconds, though, left me with a feeling of deep respect and fear, and the definite knowledge that if some larger earthquake were to occur here, there would be nothing to do but pray.
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