Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Earthquake!

This really should have been the subject of yesterday's entry, but whatever.

So, for background info, my house is right on top of the Ramapo fault line, which I've known for years runs right through this area of northern NJ. We occasionally will get earthquakes- the last one I lived through, well, I slept through it; I think that was about a 3.5-ish. My MIL was awakened by one a few years ago.

So, yesterday morning, in the pre-dawn darkness, I sat down to eat my Cheerios and watch the news. In one of their promos, they showed a reporter live in my town, saying something about an earthquake the night before! Obviously this caught my attention, and I thought it had to be a mistake, because I'd felt nothing the night before.

It turned out the earthquake happened at 10:34pm EST, and the epicenter was roughly five miles as the crow flies from my house. Hubby slept through it as well. It did no damage here or anywhere else, and no one wa sinjured from it.

Pretty much no one else slept through it, though. Coworkers who all live nearby, as well as most of the students at Very Wealthy High School I work at all felt it, and all had a story to tell.

There's an Army base about two miles down the road from me, and during the day, they're always setting off something, so apprently a lot of people called police and asked what the Army base was doing at 10:30pm!

I'm kind of disappointed that I slept through an earthquake...for the second time. I don't need to experience The Big One; I'm just curious as to what it feels like to be in one.

Apparently having me around guarantees a smaller earthquake, though. ;)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone who lives in the area called to tell me about it. She said she felt nothing, but everyone else felt something, so she must not be earthquake susceptible!~Mary

Anisah said...

I didn't know NJ had any fault lines. What county do you live in?

Karin said...

I live in Morris County. The fault line goes through Morris and Passaic counties, and I think Bergen, too. It's a fairly small one, though, and not terribly active.

Anisah said...

I used to live in Passaic (the city, which is in Passaic county too of course).