At 10:50pm last night I was just thinking about going to bed when there was bang and the house felt like it had jumped off its foundations. At first I thought there had been an explosion at the diesel power plant nearby but then in a split second it was obvious what had caused it as the house started to sway: this was an earthquake.
I'd experienced (and survived) a 7.8 earthquake in Taiwan and this certainly brought back feelings of deja-vu. It really is a scary experience. And I don't mean scary like watching a scary film, this is proper scary. It wasn't until Taiwan that I fully understood why people slept outside following a big earthquake. It's only when you get caught up in an earthquake that you really begin to understand the vast energy involved and that's being released.
In the morning I checked and it was only a 4.5 but more significantly, the epicentre was just a few miles out of town so essentially we were right on top of it.
However, there have been no reports of any damage, which is surprising considering the quality of the building work here.
Lets hope that that this little one isn't the prelude to something much bigger as I read that the Big-One is overdue for this region.
Another sleepless night spent wondering if the earth will move for you eh Mark :)
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