Sunday, October 15, 2006

I Feel the Earth Move

I feel the earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down
I feel my heart start to trembling
Whenever you're around















Mother Earth is alive and kicking today on Maui. We had a 6.3 to 6.5 earth quake at 7:07 am this morning while I was sitting where I sit so often. It was the strongest quake I have ever felt here. Normally they are very mild in the 3 to 5 range and I read about them in the paper more often than I feel them. The power went out for about three hours and now I am waiting patiently for it to please please rain which may cause the power to go out again.

Lack of Power may just produce enough of a spark for me to attend to neglected chores.

7 comments:

chuck b. said...

Yeah, a six will definitely grab your attention. Glad there's no damage... We have those same clouds over San Francisco right now.

Christopher C. NC said...

The Pineapple Express is what they call it in California isn't it? A lot of times these fronts stretch from Hawaii all the way to you.

christin m p in massachusetts said...

The first seconds after I turned the TV on to watch the nightly news, I heard the words "earthquake" and "Governor Linda Lingle", and my heart sank into my stomach. I was still thinking about what you said the other day about "Mother Death". Then when they said nobody was hurt and that most of the damage occurred on the northwestern side of the Big Island, I breathed a sigh of relief. We've had earthquakes here in Massachusetts, but none anywhere near that magnitude so far.

Annie in Austin said...

Hi,
I just went to the news site, and realized my family was in the quake area a few years ago. We went to the Big Island in 2002, stayed in Kailua Kona, then drove around the island to the East side to visit Volcanoes Park. It's stupid, I know, but having been in a place does make you feel connected, no matter how tenuous the connection.

Christopher, I'm glad you're okay.

Annie

Christopher C. NC said...

Just another day in Paradise. Now please rain!

Still it seems there was a lot of minor damage on the Big Island in the Kona area. Two local channels are still off the air, most likely from loss of power on Oahu, so I couldn't watch 60 minutes or Nature on PBS. ABC is on total quake coverage and they have about 20 minutes before they cancel Desperate Housewives. That would be a disaster.

deb said...

Glad to see that you are fine and that your power and internet are working. I've heard that cats sometimes have strange behaviors after earthquakes...how is yours doing?

I'm curious how so many islands shook. Did they shake at the same time? Are they all hooked together under the ocean? I've never seen the big picture of what makes up Hawaii geologically...but I'm guessing that someone out there will have a simulated video of the earthquake.

Christopher C. NC said...

I was up before the quake and the first chore of the day is to check on the kitties food bowl. They were both outside on the deck. Greyman was on the deck and Darkie was on the railing. After the quake Darkie was still on the railing which surprised me since he is the clumsiest most uncoordinated cat I have ever seen in my life and I have seen him fall off the railing when the earth is still. Greyman was no where to be seen. He had to have run off the deck. There was nothing unusual about their behavior before or after the quake.

The Hawaiian islands are a volcanic chain of mountains. The islands are just the top of the mountains above sea level. They all sit on the same piece of the earth's crust, so like any other quake the seismic waves just move through the earth's crust and can be felt when big enough on all the islands.