shaky business

Firstly, earthquakes. I live in Wellington, New Zealand. We live in an area that has earthquake faults etc... we have been having a lot of earthquakes lately. The first 'set' of them was about a month ago when we had a 5.7 on a Friday, a 5.6 on the Sunday morning and a 6.5 on Sunday evening at about 5:30pm. The Friday quake I was at work. I work on level 16 of a pretty big building in the Wellington CBD. That building swayed pretty good, but I never felt panicked, and I know that they say you should get under your desk, and I was in the position to, I never did actually get there, it never felt that severe. The Sunday morning quake I was in bed, and while the house moved a bit, I just stayed in bed. I figure my house is made of wood, the worst that could happen when I'm home is that I could fall through the floor and/or the ceiling could fall on me. Either way it's just wood and unlikely to kill me. The Sunday evening quake, the biggest, I was at the ASB Sports Stadium watching NZ Futsal lose to Australia.  Middle of the game the whole place started shaking. I have no idea what the players did, but I know that about half of the spectators thought it would be smart to run off the stands and try to get outside. The ASB Stadium is BRAND NEW. Probably one of the safest places in Wellington as long as there's no tsunami (which there wasn't). So I just sat there and told all my friends to just stay put. There was a lot of movement and quite a few aftershocks but the game eventually restarted and everyone just got on with life.

Today, we had another uh, set?, of earthquakes. Sitting at work, writing an email to some guy who wants to know about deepwater crabs, we start feeling the earthquake motion. Level 16 gets a pretty good sway on in even moderate quakes. This one swayed for a bit and then it was almost like 'kabloom', a completely massive shudder that had EVERYONE under their desks instantly. The adrenaline rush probably was more that what you would get from base-jumping or any of those things since you have no idea what's actually going on and you know that at almost any moment the ground could just give up, or shift by a couple of metres... I've felt a fair number of quakes in my time, there was the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Fran, another big one when I was in Berkeley at the rec centre (those buildings on rollers are safe, but man, they move a lot in a quake!), and then there have been a lot since I came to Wellington. We've had a few smallish ones, but these last few weeks have been pretty intense. I mean, I'd only just stopped feeling 'fake-quakes', where my sense of motion feels a quake that isn't happening. And of course, it'll start again now.

At the end of the day, everyone is safe, my house is ok, everyone I know is ok, there isn't really much to complain about. I think my thoughts on the various reactions to earthquakes may require an entirely separate post at some point, as reactions are varied and can make for very interesting 'people studies'. I don't get that upset by them, by most things really, but I will say that today I sat under my desk thinking that it would be good protection WHEN (not if) the ceiling panels started falling (they didn't) and realising that if the building collapsed the desk over my head was completely useless.

Earthquakes make us think about what is important to us. Everyone around me called or was called by those that are important to them. I emailed my parents, just in case we managed to make the US news...otherwise I was pretty much on my own. In my own head I had people that I cared about, but I knew that they were more concerned about others. I mean, in all honesty (and not to be emo or sound depressing), but if an earthquake, if I was to be squashed...other than my parents, who would really notice? or care? Scotty asked if the cat was ok (how the fuck should i know...), my work colleagues were all there so they knew I was ok... and one other person texted to ask if I was ok, a couple hours after it. I mean, I get it. Nobody really loves me in the way that they would be automaticaly thinking about me in an emergency, that's fine. It's still a bit lonely. And if I was to be honest, it's the regular aftershocks and the constant 'fake-quake' feeling that gets me the most.

Earthquake rant over.