First Earthquake!

Well, that was exciting. By which I mean kind of scary. Tornado warnings? Uncommon but not unknown. Hurricanes? A little more used to that. Blizzards? I can deal with those as long as the power isn't out too long. Heat waves are old hat. But earthquakes? No I don't think so.

I didn't even know what it was at first. I thought a truck had crashed into a building or something had exploded because that is far more likely, but it went on too long. I moved to a doorway because I remembered hearing that was what you're supposed to do. Plaster was falling off the ceiling and everything was shaking like the building was about to take off. Nothing fell over at work but when I got back home several things had fallen off my shelves. My dad said the dog had been startled but nothing was damaged.

The students all rushed out afterwards to call their families. I had to coax one woman out from under the study table. Like me, the majority of them are from areas that don't get earthquakes. Fortunately the Pharmacology exam was over and there weren't anymore classes. The school closed about quarter to five. We're back open today though, which the Anatomy and Physiology students are probably a little disappointed about. Their exam is at 10:00.

The thing that makes this so much more freaky to us here than, say, in California is the rarity of the occurrence. We don't have earthquakes. Some blowhards in the paper are saying, "People are stupid. Earthquakes are normal here and everyone should know how to deal with them." Sure, minor quakes that feel like a truck passing by, where people sleep through them happen here. I've never felt one. But they happen. This was on a different scale. This hasn't really happened in living memory. If you have no experience with something so unnerving and your teachers and elders don't either and so haven't taught you about it, you have no set way of dealing with it. There are many people who come to this area who can't properly deal with humidity. We try to help them because not being able to can be dangerous to their health. What would be useful is advice without the attendant snobbery.

Exciting things happen so rarely. Which is another part of why everyone is all abuzz about this. I sort of want it to happen again as long as nothing gets damaged.