I Feel the Earth Shake Under My Feet!

I was sitting in my car in Campbell River, a mid east Vancouver Island town, on Thursday September 06, waiting for my friend. I felt my car shake, the same shake you feel when a bigger vehicle whizzes by you on the highway. A couple of seconds later I felt it again. My friend returned to the car and I promptly forgot about it.

When we returned to Quadra Island, the jungle drums were a buzzin' with reports of a 6.7 magnitude quake off of Port Alice earlier in the day.

Port Alice is located on the northern end of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Campbell River is 238 kilometers or 138 miles, away from Port Alice.

It was reported the quake was relatively shallow, 16.1 feet beneath the surface of the ocean bed and approximately 173 miles away from land..

No one is the town of Port Alice was injured or any property damaged but yikes! It really sends home the fact that it is about location, location, location, when it comes to the Earth shaking.

Having said that, we live along the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire, where up to 90% of the planet's earthquakes occur. An earthquake that size in a more densely populated area could be potentially devastating.

In the blink of an eye everything could have potentially collapsed.
If a quake of that magnitude had occurred under any one of the larger metropolises on the lower mainland of British Columbia there likely would have been major damage. There are reports of office workers in Burnaby, BC, about 410 kilometers, or 255 miles away, feeling the high rise buildings they were in swaying. Quite unsettling. I did not hear if any buildings were evacuated.

Earthquake Preparedness means something different to each one of us.

I understand the correct thing to do would be to gather medical supplies, food water, medications, all necessities one would need to keep themselves and their fellow companions, human and animal, alive for at least 72 hours until help could possibly arrive.

The fly in that ointment for me is what the heck do you do with all this stuff? Strap it onto your back?

All the preparations in the World aren't going to make a wit of difference unless you happen to be sitting on them when the quake hits. I am not suggesting one is not wise for being prepared, I just do not see the sense in it. Knowing you have a raincoat at home does not do you a bit of good if you are out hiking and get caught in a downpour..

If an earthquake or other disaster strikes I pray for a clear head, and knowledge of where my loved ones are. I pray there is not suffering on the level of suffering I have seen reported in the media, as a result of past catastrophies.

I am emotionally and mentally prepared to help where and if I can.

I used to be a worrier. Not anymore.

Now I spend my days in a naively optomistic state, believing that all is, and will stay, well.

Make it a great day.