REMEMBERING THE SEATTLE QUAKE IN LIGHT OF TODAY'S EVENTS

In February of 2001, I was having a bad morning. I didn't know it yet, but my well had gone dry. I had lost my water, but I was awaiting the final diagnosis. I thought my water pump was messed up. The well wasn't all that old, so it should not have happened. All of the homes in the area were on wells at the time, and one doesn't have to go too far, usually, to hit water. The water had gone the day before, and I'd had to go to work without showering. Just call me stinky and don't stand too close.
So, there I was...just gotten off work. It was an unsesonably nice day for that time of year. I had worked the night shift, and I was sleeping upstairs on a camping mattress. Suddenly, something woke me up. My hips were smashing against the tile floor. I had been bounced off the foam mattress onto the hard surface. What the??? I could feel the ground moving up and down in waves and instantly knew that it was an earth quake. I'd been through them before. As a child, I had once woken up at night to my mother running into the bedroom. Something had fallen off the wall, and I recall her yelling "Earthquake" in Swedish as she ran into my room. On another occasion, I had been laying on the couch, watching television, when I heard an odd rumble. Nothing moved, but the sound was bizarre.
There was no mistaking this. I stood up and could still feel the movement. I opened the door and went into my loft. My lights were swinging back and forth. My cats, even as round as their eyes always are, looked like cartoon cats. They were absolutely freaked. One of them I only located a day later, firmly encased in a safe place under the bed. Cats seem to feel that the place under the bed provides protection from all things evil and all angry owners. They looked at me as though I could give them an answer. After the shaking stopped, it took a while for the lights to finally stop moving.
This came to be known as the "Seattle Earthquake", and it registered 6.8. As it was fairly deep within the ground, it did not kill people.
Interestingly enough, this being a small town, I found out later that many people had had their wells run dry at the same time mine did. Or, so the gossip went. Coincidence, or had the water tables somehow shifted? The water was totally gone from the well.
Right now, nobody knows how many people have died in the quake in Japan. There had just been the horrid one in New Zealand. At this moment, all I can do is think of them, and their families. My experience was only a small one. We keep getting told that we are well overdue for the "big one" on the west coast. There are many wonderful Japanese people in the area where I live. One was actually in Kyoto when the last quake hit, and told me what it was like. Let's hope that the fires, still burning, get contained, and there is luck in finding those trapped.