Thursday, November 01, 2007

My First Earthquake Was Like A Phantasmagoria

About 20 hours ago, I experienced the first earthquake in my life.

The quake struck on October 30th 2007 at 8.04 PM, Pacific Time (Singapore Time: October 31st 2007, 11.04 AM).

I just left my house and was on my way to the Meyer Library, when things around me seemed to start shaking.

I had a cold that morning and so, I thought I was hallucinating. I thought I was dizzy.

So, I continued to walk to the library, dismissing the tremors as my personal phantasmagoria.

And when I arrived at the library, people’s reactions confirmed that it was an earthquake.

Things around me were really shaking.

This 30-second earthquake measured 5.6 on the Richter Scale. In other words, it was a moderate earthquake, with slight damage to buildings possible.

This is the largest earthquake since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which killed 62 people throughout Northern California, injured 3,800 people and left more than 12,000 people homeless.

We later found out that the epicenter of this quake was on the Calaveras Fault in the Diablo Range foothills nine miles northeast of San Jose, i.e., miles away from Stanford.

Even so, the quake still managed to rock the University and sent shock waves across campus.

More than three dozens aftershocks followed the quake, the largest registering magnitude 3.7, and only happened just a few minutes ago.

The University was quick to respond, reassuring students that the situation was under control. No reports of damage on the Stanford campus were documented. Neither were there reports of death and serious injuries throughout the bay area from San Francisco to San Jose.

This quake, to some people like my Cantonese professor, is a harbinger that might herald the arrival of a much larger earthquake, possibly quakes similar to that of those which struck in 1906 and 1989.

To others, yesterday’s quake is a reminder of so many faults lurking beneath a large population. To name a few famous faults, there are the San Andreas Fault and Hayward Fault - I’m sure you have seen these names in your Geography textbook.

The Hayward Fault is currently perceived to be the most dangerous in the San Francisco Bay Area. Scientists give the Hayward Fault a 27 percent chance of a magnitude - 6.7 or greater quake - higher odds than its storied neighbor and California’s best known fault, the San Andreas Fault.

And so, a big earthquake in the next year or so, or even the next minute, is not impossible.

And we are all prepared for it.

All new incoming students at Stanford are trained on what to do should an earthquake occur.

Oh well, this was a new experience, at least for me.

It still seemed a bit surreal…

~~~~~

(This was a post for OMY. Please go to http://blog.omy.sg/campusworld/ for the original post with pictures and video.)

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