Earthquake (by sarah)
Last night at 0:57 according to my alarm clock there was an earthquake. It woke me up - at first I thought my back was spasming but there was a marked abscense of pain so I thought the cat must be cleaning herself vigourously on the bed next to me except something didn't seem quiet right with that either.
Then I realised it was the building shaking, it was like being inside a bell, ting ting ting, high pitched and full of harmonics - all the vases and trinket boxes not to mention the glass door cabernates where resonating, chinking and ringing with a sort of strange music. Perplexed I still lay in my bed scrabling for my glasses, then the light switch clicked but alas the shaking had dimished so that I could not rate it on the ....... scale. The motion had been decidedly sideways and I had heared no plane or anything plus the motion was... sustained.
However I know sufficiently large explosions can cuase tremors so I phoned AL to make sure he was ok and too try and convince him to twitter and blog the event but he wouldn't. I phoned my mum whilst doing the rounds to check that Jean etc... was ok - no one else had awoken and I begian to doubt myself especially when Mum said 'you sure you didn't have a dizzy spell.' I answered that no it couldnt have been as there was the sounds I had heared.
Al had asked if there was any other sound and this was a hard question for me to answer as due to having spent my early years almost completely deaf (untill 4 when I had an op) I 'hear' sound with motion such as thumping floor boards - the reason I loved my dads heavy metal initially and not the more melodic sweet music of my mum - I could feel the music. To me the undulation motion was a sort of noise but I don't think there was an actual audiable noise.
Alaric was suprised I was so excited but I was like - its a geological phonominon and I never thought I'd experience my first earthquake in a bed in Gloucestershire! I had sort of assumed that that honour would occure when we finially got to visit places like Japan!
On the news this morning they reported the quake to be 5 on the rictor scale and occuring at 1 in the morning - did anyone else feel this? Which fualt? What depth etc.... more info greatly appricieted!
Building Maintenance, Domestic, Sarah | sarah | 
Wed 27th Feb 2008 2:13 pm
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By sarah, Wed 27th Feb 2008 @ 2:51 pm
I have been poking about a bit and discovered that the British geological survey have a questionaire about the earthquake - so if you could please fill it in as it will help with their research.
http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/index.html
Oh and if anyone can remember that scale for earthquakes where you looked at the 'damage done' rather than anything quantable then could you tell me as you may have noticed there is a gap in the post waiting for its name but I have failed to find it on the 'tinternet!
Thanks
By Angie (Mum), Wed 27th Feb 2008 @ 10:54 pm
Well Sarah, I am not a geologist, just a geologist's Mum! According to the news tonight it was a very deep quake which has minimised the damage, the fault line is the one that runs to the east as far as Turkey and in the west out into the Atlantic ocean. Apparently, as you would probably know, it is not usual to have a quake of this magnitude in the centre of the fault, but more likely the edge of the plate, giving the 'hum dingers' that Turkey have had.
As they said on the news a smaller magnitude, for example, the 4.2 on the richter scale that Folkstone suffered last year, did a lot more damage because it was nearer to the surface.
Sorry not too much technical speak, but my understanding after from a layman's eye.
Mum (Angie)
By Liz Coutts, Fri 29th Feb 2008 @ 3:43 am
I too felt the earthquake - I actually thought I was unwell! It made me feel very nauseous. I was shutting down the 'pooter' and suddenly it felt like the chair was being shaken very rapidly, but I was also swaying, slowly, and I think it upset my equilibrium (big word!). At the time I didn't realise it was an earthquake, all I knew was that it made me feel extremely ill. My first thought was that it was a gravel train, or even one of the nuclear flask train that no one likes to acknowledge that goes through on the Fenchurch Street/Southend line, as they go through at around 1.15 a.m. I stopped and listened but couldn't hear anything, and the movement was wrong for that also - I went to bed very confused until all became clear when I spoke to your Mum the following morning and she said about the earthquake.
Phew!! Not a 'turn' after all - I had only had a couple of glasses of wine so couldn't even put it down to that (mores the pity!).
Aunty Liz