There was an earthquake today, epicenter in Chino Hills, CA. I am sure that most people who read this blog felt it so this is not news to them. I was meeting my mom for lunch and was just getting out of the car when I felt the ground roll. I thought a truck had driven by but then I saw a lot of people including my mom coming out to the sidewalk. We went to eat lunch and watched the news. A 5.8 earthquake, pretty good size and the biggest one that we have had in a long time. Hopefully, it fills our earthquake quota for a long time to come. Apparently cell phone service is a bust after an earthquake. Hello, phone companies get it together that's when people actually need and want to call people! All is well though!
Today's earthquake got me thinking about memories from past ones.
I think I was 5 when the Whittier earthquake hit. My sister and I were watching tv and my mom was getting us ready for school. I remember Vickie and I were watching "Jem and the Holograms" and the tv fell forward toward us. Luckily we moved fast enough and my mom got us all in one of the doorways. After that I remember my mom, Vickie, and I walking next door to our neighbor's house and my mom and her hugging. I think the 3 of us spent the rest of the day there, with my mom and Kristy (our neighbor) hanging out and Vickie and me sitting under Kristy's dining room table.
The next earthquake that I remember was the Sierra Madre earthquake (I think that was what it was called). My mom was driving Vickie and me to my aunt's house (so I am thinking that it was summertime) and we felt the road shaking but didn't know how big the earthquake was until we got to my aunt's house. I remember being really scared and my mom took us home. I was really worried about the cats and it took a really long time to find Caliope. She had gone under the tv console. That's pretty much all I remember about this one besides hanging out at home and watching the news all day.
Then there was the Northridge earthquake, which I remember as being the scariest (maybe because I was older so I remember it more clearly or maybe just because it was a huge earthquake). It was the middle of the night and I think we had school off the next day anyway for Martin Luther King Jr Day. It started shaking and we all ran to our doorways from our beds. My dad was sleeping downstairs because he had just had back surgery and he ran upstairs, while the earthquake was still going on, to make sure we were all okay, probably not the smartest thing to do but I am sure it was instinct kicking in. We watched all of the news while it was still dark out and they showed all of the damages around the Northridge area. Our cat, Lucy, who was a kitten at the time ran and hid in a kitchen drawer and we figured she almost got hit by the blender that fell off of the refrigerator.
Today's earthquake gave my memory a little "jolt" to earthquakes past. The news, of course, over did it and showed the same picture of broken glass in a grocery store and my mom and I were watching when someone called the news from Disneyland to say that everyone was evacuated from the rides and they were all just walking around. Some hard-hitting news reporting there. I found a funny article about "earthquake reporting". Here is the link- http://www.flickr.com/photos/waveman216/2714134587/.
And of course no earthquake is complete without seeing and hearing from this lady-
1 comment:
Thank you for making me laugh since when it was going on I was crying and in the midst of a panic attack... Not fun. And the thing that I will remember the most about the Chino 2008 Quake... Grandma calling to ask if I could tell her when the last time that I had talked to Mom because she could not get a hold of her. Meanwhile, I am a wreck cause I cannot get through to anyone because when I really needed a cell phone it failed me.
Lame cell phones... But thank god for Grandma!
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