Always Awake for the Earthquakes

Yet another earthquake that I wasn't asleep for. This was my third, and I was already awake at 4:30 am this morning, probably due to the first BART train waking me. This was the worst I've been in, actually. The one I was in in Boston just rocked my old dorm room back and forth gently, there was one I was in in Oakland that felt like a truck hit the building with a short sharp jolt, but this morning I was afraid that the bookcases were going to come down in my room.

The one in Boston I was awake for (it was very early on a Sunday morning) and that I wasn't really sure it was an earthquake was because I was... um... tired from the rather active evening before, let's say and couldn't sleep.

I suppose the strength of this earthquake due to being close to the epicenter here in Berkeley, unlike the other earthquakes. Ke garne. I was always terrified of an earthquake while in Kathmandu since the geology there is very similar to Mexico City: a valley of loose soil above a major fault. And the faults don't get any more major than when the Indian subcontinent rams into Eurasia. And given that KTM is due for its periodic 75 year quake, it seems inevitable sometime soon. Cinderblock buildings seem to have little chance against any earthquake of any size, the one international airport in KTM would probably be damaged, and the overpopulation and overbuilding in the KTM Valley in the past 10 years would all add a major catastrophe. It was the biggest fear of most long-term expats in KTM, not surprisingly, even after Jana Andolaan 2 in 2006.

Well! That's gloomy enough to begin this morning.