The Gun Counter

Apparently we had a big earthquake here early this morning, epicenter was less than 150miles from my house. And I slept right through it. One of my colleagues says he woke up by the bed shaking.

Newspapers confirm it's the biggest earthquake in the country in 104 years, a 4.7.
For those of you in areas where earthquakes are common that might not be much, but here it's big news.

I almost slept through the Northridge quake in '94. That was a 6.7 (which means it was 200 times stronger than what you experienced). My mom woke me up though. A 4.7 might be harmful in areas where houses are not built to withstand earthquakes, but in those places where they are, a 4.7 is about as big a deal as a gust of wind.

The Northridge quake woke me up, but I was less than 50 miles from the epicenter. IIRC the aftershocks were in the 4s.

I've slept through a few hurricanes though.

I remember the 4.2 in Ignalina a few years ago, and a few smaller. Never experienced anything bigger than that. The 4.2 felt like someone was trying to bulldoze the concrete building I was in, the others like a train going by right outside the house. Not really a big deal, once you realize what it is. This isn't an earthquake area, so anything that can even be felt is noticed, and duly reported in the newspapers.

I don't think there is anything in the building code here about earthquakes, probably one of the very few things that isn't in it. But I haven't heard anything about any damages, so I guess houses built to handle the winters here are study enough. At least for a 4.7...

Guess I spoke too soon.
The epicenter was right under a small village, with an old church built in the 10th century. The roof of the church cracked, and part of it caved in. It's still standing though.

We had a small quake in Ireland back in the mid 80's while we were on holidays. Slept through that one.

I've either slept through or totally missed most of the tremors we've had since I moved to Indy. I did wake up during the one we had earlier this year, though later that same morning at work I was walking back to my cube when the big aftershock hit, and I didn't feel it, I just wondered why the doors to the offices were rattling.

Dub_James wrote:We had a small quake in Ireland back in the mid 80's while we were on holidays. Slept through that one.

I remember that one. I slept through it, but the shaking was enough to switch our washing machine on. When we woke up, we wondered why the empty machine was running.

Hehe, bet that was spooky. My Mother said my brothers' crib shuddered across the floor. With him in it We were at Mosney at the time.

Dub_James wrote:Hehe, bet that was spooky. My Mother said my brothers' crib shuddered across the floor. With him in it We were at Mosney at the time.

Mosney, now there's a name I haven't heard in ages! I still remember it as "Butlin's". We used to spend our family summers in Skerries, and a day trip to Butlin's / Mosney was always part of the programme.

Those were the days.