The Laughing Wolf

Earthquakes and Other Alarums

"What ARE the neighbors doing?"

That was my first thought this morning when, shortly after 0400 local time, the earth shook. I woke up because things on the dressers and bedside tables were vibrating, and the noise bothered me. I also learned that the special foam in the pillow-top mattress does a surprisingly good job of vibration isolation. Having been through earthquakes before in California and Japan, it did not take me long to realize what was happening.

It was and was not surprising. The Southeast experiences earthquakes quite frequently. The Brevard Fault in Georgia is reported to be responsible for hundreds of microquakes each year, and there are a number of ancient fault systems in the region. The one everyone watches, of course, is the New Madrid fault over along the Mississippi. The last time it got truly cranky, portions of the Mississippi flowed backwards for a time, Reelfoot Lake was created, cemeteries came up and towns went down in the liquifaction, and all was felt as far away as New York.

This all flashed through my head fairly quickly, and I listend for any sounds of major trauma in the area. If this was the New Madrid or some such, there was little I could do and would get called soon enough. There being no immediate danger or problem in my area, I followed training and ancient dictum and went back to sleep to sleep while I could.

The good news is that while seven states were shaken, nothing was terribly stirred. The epicenter was in Mentone, Alabama, and the event was 4.9. Not terribly big, but exciting in a region that in a region used to microquakes that are never even felt.

This event, along with the disturbing Reuter's story yesterday, have caused me to revamp some of my plans. I am posting today the first in a series of essays on rational preparedness. It will try to teach some basics, and a better way of looking at emergency preparations. May it be useful food for thought, and never have to be used.