Shaking on Easter Sunday.....! 7.2 on the Richter Scale is pretty wild !

Well, I now know what a 7.2 earthquake feels like! That was some ride. I was sitting at my dining room table working on a stamp collection a guy at church didn't want any more and so he gave it to me when a rumbling sound that was increasing in volume came from behind me (which would be south). Bam. Everything started shaking. Big jolt, then wave after wave. Couldn't surf those waves though. Loudest quake I've ever heard. My wife had been in kitchen, she followed our youngest under the dining room table (duck and cover....we do that here in California schools). Older son was in his room, reading. I got up to be sure TV was turned off, hollered at oldest son if he was ok. Lots of noise from stuff breaking in the kitchen and falling out of the pantries adjacent the dining room. Then it stopped. Buzzing from computer power backup device..... waded into the study to turn computer off and the computer power backup device. Buzzing ended with push of a button.

We are fine, house ok, there are a couple of cracks in the stucco walls. (Here in southern California, we don't build from brick.....cement slab, wooden or steel frame, stucco exterior walls, plasterboard (drywall) interior walls). Our study is a mess with books, games, teaching stuff, paper for computer and stamp collection stuff that was jolted off shelves and desk. Kitchen was a big mess with some broken dishes, a couple broken bottles of wine and brandy (which nobody here drinks anyway), a few random spices that tumbled from spice cabinet and broke....a little parsley with brandy, anyone? Not enough dishes broken to warrant my buying wife new dishes... And our TV fell out of the entertainment center and seems to be broken. I did plan to watch BosSox beat NYY Sunday night,(Baseball is starting YEAH !) then watch Sharpe dally about in India and then watch baseball most of the day Monday. Oh well; the Padres will be on the radio. Power was out (for this area of town) about six hours. Water service never interrupted, but there are some issues with the city water storage tanks. We do have a number of bottles of water on hand if ever need be.

Local Emergency Broadcast System did not work. The one English language radio station here was off the air. Congressional reps will hear about this from me. A neighbor did pick up some news from a San Diego radio station, but they really had no local details.

Easter dinner was just a bit of Costco ham that was in the oven when the shaking started. We ate some, then cut up the bulk of it and distributed it to the neighbors. Next door neighbor bemoaning loss of three bottles of "GOOD" tequila. Most local businesses closed Monday; I can imagine what Costco, WalMart, Lowes, etc. look like. But, we are all safe and almost ignoring the aftershocks.


I heard our classrooms were a mess. I'll find out next Monday. I don't need to go in during Spring Break unless principal or district official calls and needs me to do something in my classroom. Probably have my students start Monday with writing a personal story of their experiences in the earthquake.

Aftershocks were bugging us somewhat Sunday and Monday.....several in the 5.0+ range. We were awaken twice Sunday night by good shakes aftershocks.

So, any natural disasters for you the past week? If so, please share them with us !

Oh, I don't know about the commenting here at blogspot, so, if you'd like to leave a comment, please email it to me at this email address: DKE1959 at sbgglobal dot net

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