As I was writing about half an hour ago the house began to shake. Now I like to think I’ve written powerful stuff before, but it never had that effect. Also, as a veteran of many years in California (and one in Tokyo), I thought I recognized the culprit. Sure enough:
Officials say at 3:59 p.m. Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale was reported.
Its epicenter was 30 miles west of Richmond. There is no word on the length of the tremors.
What do you mean, “There is no word…?” Here’s a word, from someone sitting on the side of a mountain about 75 miles west of Richmond: the tremors lasted over five but less than ten seconds.
If this becomes a habit, I may as well be back in California.
UPDATE – The house is still standing. The U.S. Geological Survey’s initial report can be found here.
UPDATE II – Do you think this might be an omen? I mean, Gore kisses Dean and the earth moves. Could this be what the London Telegraph meant when it said Gore “set off a political earthquake” with his endorsement of Dean? From where I sit (more nervously than before; the earth moving will do that to you), they coulda dropped the “political.”
I was living in Canoga Park, Calif., during the Northridge earthquake in January 1994, just a few miles down the road from the epicenter (which was actually in Reseda, but never mind; Columbine High School isn’t in Littleton, either). There were hundreds of aftershocks the rest of that year, including 8 of magnitude five or higher and 42 from 4 to 4.9. After the first day or so back at work (the L.A. Daily News building was closed for three days), people started running office pools on how big they were. It had to be done quickly, too, because the official declaration would come over the news wire in about 90 seconds.