Monday, January 15, 2007

Tremor in the Wee Hours

There is no picture to go with this story, but I wanted to share an unusual experience we had overnight.

We had felt a few very minor tremors in the weeks we've been here, but they were almost unnoticable. Just after three this morning, however, we were all wakened by the apartment shaking quite noticeably. An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale (3 on the Japanese 7-point scale) was the culprit.

The epicenter was off to the southwest, so we didn't get the full brunt of the shaking. Nothing was broken in our home. But we don't feel cheated; as far as I'm concerned, I hope this eerie event turns out to be the most serious earthquake we ever experience.

3 comments:

Rosemary said...

Wow! That's scary! I'm glad that you're all okay and that nothing broke. Had any of you been in one before? Love you!

Unknown said...

Hey Tom...that was a wake up call! BTW, can you drop into the mail the Japanese donation slip and envelope? thanks, steve (515 Lakeview, 08071)

TD said...

Other than minor rumblings here, and in Arequipa, Peru, when I was a missionary there, I have only felt an earthquake once before. That was out in the desert of California. It woke me up, too, but was not as strong as the one from this post.

I remember a false alarm once. I was a kid, and we were sitting around my folks' dining room table, when the light fixture above the table began to shake, and we felt a slight tremor. It turned out to be a major explosion at the Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia.