Sunday, October 12, 2008

I felt the earth move

On Saturday (oct. 11) I was sitting on the couch finishing my second cup of coffee before heading to my 7 AM hair appointment, when the couch started to tremble. Hmmm, I thought to myself, that's kind of odd. As the couch started to shake so did the table and the phone and other items through out the house. I felt the earth move under my feet, and as soon as I stopped singing the Carole King song, I realize we were having an earthquake. The earthquake happened on 6:40 AM and registered 6.1 (Richter scale) and it was felt through out the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well. This was the worse earthquake to strike Puerto Rico in years.

Did you know we had earthquakes? (bet ya didn't) We have earthquakes because we are near the Puerto Rico trench. The trench being the deepest part of the Atlantic ocean. The trench region posses significant seismic and tsunami hazards to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I am not at all clear on why the trench has this "shaking ability" but it has something to do with being the most negative free-air gravity anomaly on Earth as well as having large landslide escarpments, trench axis and left lateral strike slip motion. Frankly, the why we have earth quakes in P.R. doesn't really matter, point is, I felt the earth move under feet.

Four strong earthquakes have affected Puerto Rico since it's colonization. The first one was in 1670 and the magnitude was not determined. On May 2, 1787 an earthquake registered 8.0 and cause significant structural damage through out the island. On November 18, 1867 a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit followed by a tsunami that ran in land 490 feet, then on October 11, 1918 it was a 7.5 quake accompanied by a tsunami that was 19.5 feet high.

There have been numerous tremors through out the years but with this weekend's quake, the island was all abuzz about what could happen or might have happened or will happen should a "big one hit". A lot of people were afraid. As for me, well lets face it, this year has sucked mightily so far and I just don't care to think about the "big one". (unless of course it has to do with male genitalia) So I am just walking around doing what I got to do, singing or humming "I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down, I feel my heart start to trembling, whenever your around ". Damn I can't get that song out of my head ...

11 comments:

Kofi said...

Glad you made it through okay.

LIT said...

Wow, you have done some bodacious Googling, haven't you? Or, tell me it's not true, you carry an enormous number of Trivial Pursuit facts around in your head clouding your judgment. My regret is that you didn't have an enormous romantic moment coinciding with this event.

One reason I have never felt a burning desire to visit California is my fear of earthquakes. I did spend about six hours in LAX airport many years ago, and the only threat during that time was a bomb scare which sealed off that part of the airport where my daughter's only wedding pictures were in a locker waiting for me to pick them up and continue my trip. I guess we always fear most that which we haven't experienced. Once we've been there, done that . . . .

"I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down, . . . ." Now how am I ever going to sleep tonight?

Tera said...

Whew...I'm glad you made it through Es!!!

LMAO @ "the big one!!!"

Thanks for putting that song in my head also...argh!

Anonymous said...

I think the earthquake was a sign that your wings are getting ready to unfurl.

I am glad you are OK.

Peace : )

Cas

EsLocura said...

Kofi, hope you are singing along.

Lit, this brain pan is full of useless trivia ... am glad you are singing along even if you can't sleep because of it.

Tera, I knew you'd like the "big one" and yes, misery love company so keep singing ...I feel the earth move under my feet ...lalalala

Cas, gracias for the peace and the email.

Wng, I missed ya, glad you are back and yeah I want everyone to have that damn song stuck in their head, since I can't get it out of mine.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

This wasn't even reported here, as far as I know. Of course, I live in Lala Land, aka California.

I'm so glad you're ok. That's a pretty big one. I suppose the Caribbean gets both earthquakes and hurricanes as the price for being such incredibly beautiful places to live.

Quidado, por favor, si?

heather said...

holy cow! i stop in to say hey, i've been reading. just not commenting so much lately and there's lit in the comments getting all racy! it's like a whole nother world i've been missing here in commentland. the posts don't even tell half the story anymore do they? this blogging thing is just a front for a great big huge chat community isn't it?

i know things have been tough your way lately and you've been in my thoughts and prayers. it's good to hear that you've been having some up days too.
even if it does take an earthquake to move you these days. :)

LIT said...

Our weather guy said tonight that there's another big blow headed your way, so I'll be tracking that. In the meantime try to catch these two videos. They take about 30 min. each, but everyone needs to take heed. Sometimes nature isn't the biggest threat.

The End of America: http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=aW9PulYpjGs

Give me Liberty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI

If they don't come up as links, copy and paste into your browser. It's really important.

lyre said...

I know this sounds weird, but I've always wanted to experience an earthquake. Tornado too. But that is jsut me wanting to do everything and say I survived it. weird I know.

NoRegrets said...

I read this but never commented. Guess I had a lot going on... Like Lyre I wanted to experience one too and was so pissed when there was a big one in LA when I lived there but was home for Christmas.

Hope you are doing ok. I could use a big one.

Amadeo said...

I only like the earth to move metaphorically.

 
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