Experiencing An Earthquake

"Hold on! It's an Earthquake!" were the words I heard from my husband as we were violently shaken awake that fateful morning, a morning that will be etched in my memory for a long time to come.

Have you ever been in or experienced an Earthquake? I've felt a few minor quakes over the years, the ones where you say to whoever's near you, "oh did you feel that?" or the ones where you happen to observation the light bulb that hangs from the ceiling is swaying. Then you listen with a slight interest to the news of the day to find out where the quake was centred and what it measured on the Richter scale.

Earthquake & Tsunami In Japan

Well a few short weeks ago, on September 4th 2010 to be exact, my caress of earthquakes suddenly changed forever. On that deftly still, coal-black, moonless morning at 4.35am, in the middle of other commonplace night's sleep, the most dreadful event of my life began to unfold as the 7.1 magnitude quake began its unearthly assent to the face of our city.

My husband's instincts were to throw his arm over me to hold and protect me as the violent shaking & pitching tossed us & our bed in every manner of direction. The house conducted a cacophony of deafening noises as nails and joists departed company, each creek manufacture it all the more frightening, dreadful would be more strict actually.

Our ears were assaulted by an unbelievably thunderous train like roar as huge fissures opened up allowing gasses from deep in the earth to escape and the ground spewed up its contents, a porridge of wet silty grey sand which I now know is called liquefaction. The noise prolonged and changed into shattering, breaking and crashing as doors slid violently back and forth on their runners, as house timbers twisted and bricks fell, as concrete & road seal began cracking & distorting, as windows creaked & cracked threatening to smash into thousands of fragments. I am sure the whole earth prolonged to rattle and shake for what seemed an eternity, for what in reality was other 45 seconds or so, yet in that small time frame, the earth changed the scenery in a way thousands of men working together could not perform and the look and feel of our city changed forever.

Then, just as suddenly and every bit as frighteningly, the noises stopped and the whole world was still, eerily still. One could not wait for the noise to stop, yet the after-quietness was every bit as terrifying, like that occasion in a bad dream movie, just before, well, you know. My husband held me in his strong arms and we just sat there waiting, wondering, what next?

Since this caress there has been much intuit as to the acceptable policy of immediate activity to take for self-preservation in the arrival of earthquakes. We have always been advised to get under something solid such as a door frame or table, to protect our heads from falling objects. I have spoken to some friends who managed to stumble to a door frame but said that with the greatest violent lurching of their houses the doors were a hazard in themselves as they swung wildly, threatening to crush fingers and bruise body parts.

Tables give overhead security from small falling objects but depending on the building of the building you happen to be in a table can well be crushed flat, with you under it, as the weight of heavy concrete walls or ceilings crash down on them. If however you opt for the area called the 'Triangle of Life' you have a best opening of survival. The Triangle of Life is the area created if you were to lie down Beside something solid for example your bed, and that if a large object were to fall over you a triangular space is always created between the edge of the bed, or a solid object, and the floor thus retention you safe from being crushed.

I have made a point of looking for areas in my home that would create a Triangle of Life should our house want such at any time. I hope the need never arises but given our up-to-date earthquake encounter it doesn't hurt to be aware because one just never knows what's around the corner.

Experiencing An Earthquake