Can't escape the big one

A 6.5 quake like the one yesterday in northern California is pretty significant, in my experience, and I have had my share of shaky ones. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, I was in my office and on the telephone speaking to a client back east. I was looking out the window on the third floor of our office next door to Manhattan Beach Country Club when I saw what looked like a dust storm coming our way at a rapid rate. In a few seconds, the office felt like it was moving and I heard creaking noises as the windows vibrated. Just as quickly, it was gone and there was silence. People usually stop talking for a few minutes afterward, and then they chatter.

I did not stop my business conversation and a colleague wrote the observation in the company newsletter describing that I continued without interruption.  I didn’t know what it was. It had a magnitude of about 5.1, they said, and I concluded that this is survivable.

What struck me, though, is how inescapable earthquakes are. You cannot outrun them. If the world is about to open and swallow you up, you cannot avoid it. But, what are the odds?

Another time, living in Hermosa Beach in a modern condo, I was awakened early in the morning by a jolt so strong that I fell off the edge of the bed. I ran to the doorway where down the hall my daughter had beaten me to it. We both stood in the doorframe as that was our drill. “Where’s mom,” she asked?

I looked across the room and she was in the center of the bed, sound asleep. She heard us talking and asked what had happened. When she heard, “earthquake,” she jumped up too.

We looked out the window a few minutes later and saw arcing at the local power plant, that is, flashes of lightening like electricity around the plant’s infrastructure. Then, the hall light went out due to power failure that would take a couple of days to restore.

This quake was said to be around 6.9 or greater. It caused bridges to collapse and other physical damage to buildings throughout the area with a few lives lost to accidents. Your frame of reference begins with what has happened where you live: books off shelves, electricity off, things falling out of cupboards, and worse.

Afterward you learn of things like, the foundation of your house has cracked completely and must be replaced. What!?

I always felt lucky driving around California and not being stuck in traffic under an overpass. Dear God, get me through this bridge.