“Why’s the kitchen shaking, Papa??”
Of course, by the time Sofi got that thought into and out of her head she was in my arms in the guest bedroom door-frame and Natalie was in Mama’s arms in our bathroom door-frame, and just like that both girls survived their first earthquake - no worse for wear.
According to the USGS:
A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:04:54 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 30, 2007.
The magnitude 5.6 event occurred 8 km (5 miles) NNE of Alum Rock, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 9 km ( 6 miles).
From our perspective, it felt to me as though the house was rolling a little bit, but it was over pretty quickly. I’d say from start to finish less than five seconds, but the aftershock (our excitement at the event) in our house was much longer than that. The girls weren’t afraid so much as reacting to our reaction, which was of concern, perhaps a little fear, and to some extent excitement as well. Fortunately, at the end of the day, everyone is fine. The house is fine. We’re no worse for wear. A Charlie Brown’s Halloween Special is on the television and there’s special popcorn. Would be interested to know who else felt the earthquake; post in the comments and let us know your thoughts.
Papa
