Everything in our life happens for the first time. On Sunday morning, Daniel experienced an earthquake for the first time.
It was something.. We were sitting on the couch, petting the dog. Our dog, Crackle, doesn’t know or forgets that he is a dog, and often demands to be petted like a cat. Here we are sitting on the couch, the Crackle’s front legs are also on the couch. He makes funny sounds, probably meaning non-stop petting.
And suddenly the house began to shake, the walls, the floor, the sofa with us on it. Somewhere something rattled. It only lasted a few seconds, but seemed as forever. We froze in shock, and so did our brains.
When it stopped, Daniel rushed down to the basement to check our heating. I ran into the street. Because the screeching sound was as if a huge truck had snagged our garage and dragged it down the street. The garage was still there.
We met on the stairs to the basement. Dan said everything was fine there.
What about the chimney? I ran to the street – everything was fine with it.
We decided to call our neighbors to make sure that it’s not just us. They didn’t pick up the phone.
Daniel and I were discussing our feelings but couldn’t believe the earthquake.
.
Then the neighbor called back. It turned out that she and her husband were in the basement checking their heating when I called her.
I was relieved, so the problem wasn’t in our house.
And then the messenger and the entire Internet exploded.
It was an earthquake!
The earthquake that on average happens 6 times in 1000 years in Massachusetts.
And it happened in 2020. Wasn’t this year crazy enough by now?
Dan was shocked, of course, and so was neighbor Steve. They had never experienced an earthquake in their lives.
As for me, I’ve already experienced an earthquake.
It was September 27, 2003 in Tomsk.
My kids and I were visiting a friend Olya.
Imagine the situation: five children, the oldest 12, the youngest-1 year old. They are all the boys. Olya and I were in the kitchen. I was trying to highlight her hair. Children jumped around.
Of course, I don’t remember how the highlight came out. But in a while we headed home.
On the way home, I was surprised by the large number of people on the street. People were standing in groups and anxiously talking about something. Evenings at the end of September are not the warmest time to be outside.
The end of September, the evening is not the warmest time to be outside.
Near our house, I met a neighbor who explained why people left their apartments. It was an earthquake! I couldn’t believe it. Earthquake in Siberia? How is that possible?
Later, the official authorities announced that the Tomsk earthquake of 3-4 points was an echo of the Altai earthquake. The epicenter was located in the Altai Republic, near the city of Biysk, the magnitude was 7-8 points.
In Tomsk, tremors were felt on the upper floors of buildings. Olya lived on the third floor and boys were running and screaming. No wonder we didn’t feel anything.
Repeated tremors were recorded at night, but they were not strong 1-2 points on the Richter scale. We didn’t run outside. But for about a week we listened to the sounds and sensations and watched the water in the aquarium.
The New Bedford earthquake brought back some memories and made the morning remarkable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biysk
