Things That go Bump in the Night

As you may have seen in the news, we had a bit of a rumble last night… a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. It was only a few miles from my house, so I really felt it. It was the strongest quake I have ever felt, and it lasted quite a while. I could hear the house flexing a bit during the main quake, and the chandelier was swinging madly afterwards. According to the news on the radio this morning, this was the strongest quake in the area since the Loma Prieta quake in 1989 that did so much damage up in San Francisco (before my time). That said, there was no damage that I could find to the house; and apart from a knocked-over web cam and some shifted papers at work, I saw no evidence anything had happened at all. Still, I take this as a warning I need to be a little more diligent about earthquake safety around the house… too many things can slide around the place for my comfort.