We've lived in California for over two years now and have never experiences any earthquakes worth mentioning. When we lived in our rental house, we often felt minor shaking, but since we've been in our house we haven't felt anything. We used to live closer to the fault lines and in a zone called a "liquification zone." Apparently if there was a major earthquake, the ground beneath us would likely turn to liquid.
I'm glad we moved.
Anyway . . . I was getting the girls ready for bed last night when everything started shaking. Everything on Jenna's walls was rattling and the entire house was shaking back and forth. I grabbed the girls and stood in the doorway, which is the safest place during an earthquake. It ended just as fast as it started-only lasting about 15 seconds. When it was over, all of our pictures were crooked, a few things were toppled over on our dresser, and the big light hanging in our doorway was swaying back and forth. The earthquake was a 5.6 and the biggest one since the Loma Prieta quake that collapsed the Bay Bridge in 1989.
Many of our neighbors were outside making sure everyone was okay. I called Nate, who was at a meeting at church, and he was so excited about what had just happened! The church sits directly on top of the Calaveras fault which, is the one that erupted last night. My friend, Julie said she swore that the top floor of her house was swaying and said that she had things broken in her kitchen while my boss, Arlene said she felt a strong jolt right before the rumbling. I didn't experience any of those things, which goes to show that everyone has a different experience based on where you are in relation to the epicenter.
We are thankful that the earthquake didn't do any damage to the house and wasn't too scary. Jenna keeps asking when we are going to have another earthquake!
But, we are official Californians now. We have experiences our first significant earthquake!
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