It was a Saturday night in December. I was about four years old. I wasn’t in kindergarten yet so I know I was no older than four. All of us, my brothers and sisters and parents, were sitting in the living room watching Godzilla. The lights were off in the room and we were scared. Godzilla was walking through the streets of Tokyo, destroying everything in sight. On TV, the ground was shaking. People were screaming.
Then, I realized that everything was shaking in our house. I looked up above onto the ceiling and realized that the light fixture was swinging from side to side. Just then, my mother realized it too and she screamed for us to go outside. We were having an earthquake!
Growing up in California, I grew up used to earthquakes. We have them all the time. After some time, you get to the point where you know the difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0 and if you really have one, you know when something is over 5.0. When we had the Whittier Narrows earthquake in southern California, I knew it had to be at least a 5.8 but bet it had been over 6.0. When all was said and done, it was reported as a 6.0 and eventually downgraded to a 5.9.
Then came the fateful morning of January 17, 1994. We were all awakened at 4:30 in the morning by the 6.7 magnitude earthquake. No one slept through that. At the time, I lived about 25 miles from the epicenter. That was the scariest natural disaster moment I have been through, even for a California girl, used to earthquakes. When all was said and done, over 50 people had died as a result of the earthquake and over 1200 were injured. Freeways and overpasses were damaged and closed to traffic until they could be repaired. In some instances, that took months.
Some of us are used to the quakes and have learned to live with them. They are not predictable, as are some storms. They just hit when they do. The best we can do is to have our supplies in order and be as prepared as we possibly can.
Scary. As I keep saying, I’m lucky living in the UK, where any earthquakes or other natural phenomena are so light.
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Since I was born and raised in California, that all sounds so familiar. Most of the time quakes are sort of fun – something that is very difficult to explain to those who have never lived with them. Then you get one that shows you just how much damage they can do and sorrow they can cause. Still: (1) major quake every 50 to 100 years vs. (2) Tornadoes or Hurricanes yearly. I think I’ll stick with the roller coaster on the Pacific rim.
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I’m a California girl too. Close to the bay area in Central California. You are right, we are always prepared for a quake. What Jamie said is right too. I would rather go through an earthquake than a tornado or hurricane. Earthquakes are a few seconds or a minute and tornadoes and hurricanes last much, much longer. Have a great MM. 🙂
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You were watching Godzilla? That is funny.
I was playing an pinball game called “Earthquake” during a small one once. I thought – what an excellent game! I know the kind of vulnerability that being involved in a natural disaster can evoke. I lived in San Francisco during the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. You don’t question the earth’s stability until it fails you…then where do you go for safety? Such a scary experience.
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(a pinball game)
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Wow, what a compelling and scary story! I’ve never experienced an earth quake, thank goodness. I hope to keep it that way!
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i have only been here 7 years,, and have only ever noticed two quakes.. three have been others,, but i either slept thru them,, or they weren’t felt in my area… at present i am living just this side of the fault that runs thru tomales bay… if it goes,, i go.. bottles of water are not gonna help…..
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I can’t imagine growing up with quakes — but I grew up with tornadoes, so I guess mother nature balances herself out, eh?
Thanks for participating in Manic Mondays!
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