Earthquake Preparedness

"Sun of my life" is turning out to be my earthquake preparedness plan.  He has felt several tremors since we've been in Santa Cruz, and I've either slept right through them or been so focused on my writing that I haven't noticed them.  It's kinda weird.  There was a 4.0 earthquake that happened just a moment ago, and I DIDN'T FEEL ANYTHING!  My partner, sitting right here with me, felt it and is the only reason I know about it.

But yeah, let's talk about this whole earthquake business.  It's totally freaky, and I do repeat the routine in my head often: "move to an uncluttered location and stand under something sturdy."  Or, in other words, just run as fast as I can out of the building.  

Santa Cruz is right smack dab on the San Andreas Fault.  There is no way to predict an earthquake.  In some literature I've heard scientists call earthquake studies a "data-poor field"....  It's not that reassuring.  I do much better with long and belabored freak outs about hurricanes that the government is still somehow never prepared to deal with no matter how far in advance a storm is predicted.  In fact, I'm thinking a lot about all of my east coast friends preparing for Frankenstorm right now!

I did find this "13 Crazy Earthquake Facts" article that seems to have eased my mind in the short term.  I mean, seriously, southern California registers 10,000 earthquakes a year?!  I have felt tremors a few times since I've been here, but my brain is still not connecting those vibrations to earthquakes...it's like I assume that I'm near construction or something like that.  Hopefully, my routinized brain will catch up to this new environment soon.