Thursday, July 27, 2006

did you feel it?

I love the USGS. Not only does my "uncle" Bruce work there (my third (?) cousin who flies to Hawaii on a regular basis), but they have a great website for earthquakes.

I come from the midwest where earthquakes are to be feared. They were predicted with apocalyptic consequencees and 99.9% inaccuracy. Give me a tornado any day; at least we had a basement in which to hide.

The best way I've learned to deal with earthquakes is to be hyper-aware of them. (I'm even one of the rare people in California who bought earthquake insurance on our house.) Now every time a large truck rumbles up the street, I run to check USGS to see if it was an earthquake. So far I've reported feeling two, taking my time to try to be accurate about whether or not picture frames rattled.

It's a cool idea--not just to make the site as accurate as possible in relaying information but also to include the interactive component of gathering information from readers.

4 Comments:

Blogger Balloon Pirate said...

In the two-plus decades that I've lived in my current town, there's been one earthquake. I didn't even notice it.

Lt. Trouble went to a Jesuit High School that had a seismometer in the basement. He got to watch the waves hit it from an earthquate in China in '99.

We're all connected.

Yeharr

9:51 AM  
Blogger Notsocranky Yankee said...

We had an earthquake in Tacoma WA when we lived there. Mary was only a few months old and was swinging in her swing. When the house started shaking, Cranky grabbed her and started running for the front door. I was very impressed with his protective reaction! (I was still trying to figure out what was going on!)

12:25 PM  
Blogger United We Lay said...

You know, it's VERY encouraging for me that you have time to blog a week after having a child! We've thought about moving to CA, but I feel like it's playing natural disaster roulette. If not the wildfires, mudslides, or earthquakes, it would be locusts.

4:26 PM  
Blogger Balloon Pirate said...

Personally, I can't see why anyone would choose to live in a place with such a high chance of natural disaster.

To me, things like eathquakes and tornadoes are God's way of saying DON'T LIVE HERE. THIS IS WHERE I JUMPROPE.

Yeharr

12:37 PM  

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