Earthquake
There was an earthquake here. 5.8 at source (some 200 km away from here and about 100 km deep). Not enough to do any serious damage as far as reports went so far, but enough to shake things up, knock some things over, crack walls in older buildings and create a lot of panic. There were smaller ones preceding it these days, so it wasn’t unexpected, but that didn’t stop the panic…
Just as it started I was with my girlfriend and her mother in the same room. We noticed the floor shaking under us, noticed it wasn’t a big one and just wanted to move on. But a few seconds later we got the harder part (the first one, there were two) and some things fell off shelves in two rooms, so we scattered to unplug things, turn off the gas and so on.
Then we had to figure out how to calm the cats. Two hid under a bed, the third was stunned on the hallway… Eventually, after the shockwave dissipated, one of the ones that was under the bed in the bedroom came and laid calmly belly up in the middle of the living room. The other got even further under the bed and only went out three hours later, still scared. And the third followed us everywhere and kept looking at the hallway trying to see what was that thing that scared it, thinking it came from there…
Just after the actual earthquake was over there was a loud sound, like steam (or something like it) coming out of somewhere. The initial assumption was that furnaces are being cleared in the industrial area. But it was way too loud to be that, considering the distance. What’s certain is that we have a fog outside that you could cut with a knife… If it’s fog and not smoke from who-knows-where.
After this my girlfriend and her mom sat down in front of the TV to see what’s being said about it and I started reading (keeping an ear open for the TV in case something interesting would be said). Anyway we were all wondering what our neighbours were thinking since they all flocked out and started talking panicked on the building hallway. If something is to fall first in such a case then the stairway is it…
I’m angry because my net access isn’t working. Wasn’t since before this, now I have even fewer hopes for it to be fixed tonight… I’m just writing this off-line and testing ways to record with my TV tuner.
