Thoughts on an earthquake
June 25th 2010 03:07
The shudder worked its way up from the floor to my knees. It felt like someone walking heavily, or possibly jumping (the office has a games room, where Mario Kart races have been known to get out of hand). But the shuddering continued, becoming stronger. I knew then that no one was making the floor shake. Tearing off my headphones, I peered at my co-workers, whose faces all failed to register even a hint of alarm. (In retrospect, I think some of them must have felt it, but didn't react because, earthquakes? In Toronto? They don't happen.)
Yesterday afternoon (June 23rd) we were hit with an earthquake of magnitude 5.0, which is a score of 'moderate' on the Richter scale. We don't have many earthquakes or other extreme conditions here in Ontario--unless you count blizzards, but Canadians are inured to snow--so the tremors were both vaguely scary and a bit thrilling. My sister even emailed me from a cruise ship to express her disappointment at having missed the earthquake. (To which I must say: You're on a cruise. Shut it.)
In the Toronto area, where I work, the quake consisted of two distinct tremors. Stronger than the initial shudder, there was no mistaking the second tremor. Abruptly, the building began to sway in a horrifying way. The Venetian blinds covering the windows started rattling, and for some reason, their metallic tinkling noise made me finally understand that this is an earthquake. Normally unflappable programmers got up from their chairs, agape. Support technicians stopped talking about sports, and were silent.
The quake lasted 30 seconds. It felt longer.
It wasn't a major earthquake--we could stand, if not walk--but some of us laughed afterward with a kind of relief. Then, there was a flurry of phone calls and emails--people checking on spouses, children, and pets. I wondered briefly if the Coke can tower that someone had erected in IT was still intact. Later I saw that it was standing, though I suspect only by effort of reconstruction.
But so ill-prepared for earthquakes are we that most of us living east of the Rocky Mountains probably wouldn't know what to do in the event of a serious one. I only just learned that we're no longer recommended to stand beneath door frames during an earthquake (instead, we should take cover under strong furniture). To us easterners, earthquakes are primarily a west coast phenomenon. Indeed, when the first tremor struck, some people thought it was a bomb going off. With the G8/G20 summit set for this weekend, such fears were not wholly unreasonable.
I attach no mystical significance to earthquakes and other cataclysms, but I'm amazed by what happened. If only for 30 seconds, I was utterly at the mercy of a force no human can control. Yet minutes later, I had drawn my headphones back on and returned to my work. How appallingly easy it is to adapt to the mundane!
But whether or not we can feel it, the earth does this sort of thing all the time. 16 earthquakes were recorded around the world yesterday. The day before, there were 23. Once in a while, an earthquake devastates, though usually it doesn't. Because we didn't suffer, I relish the memory of those 30 seconds. I'm not sure if that makes me perverse. But I feel lucky to have felt the earth move.
Epicentre of the earthquake
Yesterday afternoon (June 23rd) we were hit with an earthquake of magnitude 5.0, which is a score of 'moderate' on the Richter scale. We don't have many earthquakes or other extreme conditions here in Ontario--unless you count blizzards, but Canadians are inured to snow--so the tremors were both vaguely scary and a bit thrilling. My sister even emailed me from a cruise ship to express her disappointment at having missed the earthquake. (To which I must say: You're on a cruise. Shut it.)
In the Toronto area, where I work, the quake consisted of two distinct tremors. Stronger than the initial shudder, there was no mistaking the second tremor. Abruptly, the building began to sway in a horrifying way. The Venetian blinds covering the windows started rattling, and for some reason, their metallic tinkling noise made me finally understand that this is an earthquake. Normally unflappable programmers got up from their chairs, agape. Support technicians stopped talking about sports, and were silent.
The quake lasted 30 seconds. It felt longer.
It wasn't a major earthquake--we could stand, if not walk--but some of us laughed afterward with a kind of relief. Then, there was a flurry of phone calls and emails--people checking on spouses, children, and pets. I wondered briefly if the Coke can tower that someone had erected in IT was still intact. Later I saw that it was standing, though I suspect only by effort of reconstruction.
But so ill-prepared for earthquakes are we that most of us living east of the Rocky Mountains probably wouldn't know what to do in the event of a serious one. I only just learned that we're no longer recommended to stand beneath door frames during an earthquake (instead, we should take cover under strong furniture). To us easterners, earthquakes are primarily a west coast phenomenon. Indeed, when the first tremor struck, some people thought it was a bomb going off. With the G8/G20 summit set for this weekend, such fears were not wholly unreasonable.
I attach no mystical significance to earthquakes and other cataclysms, but I'm amazed by what happened. If only for 30 seconds, I was utterly at the mercy of a force no human can control. Yet minutes later, I had drawn my headphones back on and returned to my work. How appallingly easy it is to adapt to the mundane!
But whether or not we can feel it, the earth does this sort of thing all the time. 16 earthquakes were recorded around the world yesterday. The day before, there were 23. Once in a while, an earthquake devastates, though usually it doesn't. Because we didn't suffer, I relish the memory of those 30 seconds. I'm not sure if that makes me perverse. But I feel lucky to have felt the earth move.
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