Shake, Rattle and Roll

So, it's almost a week ago that we San Diegans felt the Easter Sunday 7.2 earthquake, granted the epicenter was in Baja Mexico, but large enough to be felt as far North as Santa Barbara, and out to Arizona. Now, in the almost seven years I've lived in SoCal, I've experienced quite a few earthquakes, though certainly not of that magnitude. I felt my first significant one my first year living here, and probably a half dozen since, but this one was different.

So the earthquake itself was more of a wave (45 sec) rather than the shaking people think. We had just sat down to dinner, and I looked across the dining room table to my niece Ali, as it felt a bit like being out in the ocean in a rowboat. We realized what it was at once, spoke it outloud, looked up and saw the dining room chandelier swinging back and forth, and not one of us thought about moving to a safer spot, until my other niece Kate spoke up. Instead, Ali logged on to the USGS site, and my brother Harry checked his iPhone for the seismic activity. By that point the initial 45 seconds were over, but it left me with a sort of dizzy, vertigo-like feeling. It's been a wild week, I didn't sleep much all week, in part I believe because I was scared of aftershocks, so in some (very, very) small way I emphasize with the victims of Haiti and Chile, although the damages here were minor in comparison because of the proximity and stricter engineering standards.

For those of you who like science, or are just curious, take a look at the USGS site, from the 7.2 on Sunday, there have been over 200 aftershocks, and on the map it looks a bit like a swarm of locusts. Hence the lack of sleep. Of the aftershocks, I've felt (that I realize) possibly 6-7 of them, the worst being the ones in my office building, which due to engineering sits on a series of rollers, so once the earthquake stops, the building continues to rock for quite awhile, sometimes the 18th floor has its drawbacks. Nausea anyone? My friend Ofelia, who experienced her first earthquake in our office, suggested that air sick bags should be distributed when they hire you.... ha!

What is interesting is that my entire office was "a buzz" all week, each person talking about where they were, if they felt it, and how it felt. There was also a permeable "anticipation," as though we were all waiting for another "big one," and beyond that, the most amusing thing is how we have all become the reporters in our own stories. Feel the earthquake, "Tweet" it or put the latest into your FB status. Forgetting of course, that we should be ducking for cover... I'm certainly guilty of that myself.

I'll leave you with this...now, almost a week later, I remember that earlier that day at the dog park there were no birds anywhere, odd as usually they are flying back and forth over the park teasing and taunting canines. I commented to another fellow dog owner, but really thought nothing of it. Then wham, later that afternoon, 7.2. So people, take note, it's birds, not dogs and cats that you should look to for more accurate earthquake detection.

Your "shaky" reporter...