(Light) entertainment on the Richter Scale
Tonight while I was typing away to a friend on Skype, a tectonic plate near Valparaiso decided to play us “Santiaguinos” a little tune with a Magnitude of 4.9! Apparently, that is considered “(Light)” entertainment by the US Geological Survey who also issued the following information:
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 02:14:08 (UTC)
= Coordinated Universal Time
Monday, June 19, 2006 at 10:14:08 PM
= local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 32.744°S, 71.490°W
Depth 38.4 km (23.9 miles) set by location program
Region OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
Distances
35 km (20 miles) NNE of Valparaiso, Chile
110 km (70 miles) NW of SANTIAGO, Chile
All I can say is that the earthquake didn’t feel 70 miles away! It seemed to get here really quickly! It abruptly shifted my keyboard 2 cm resulting in my mistyping a message! After the first big “bump” we had a few smaller wobbles as I explained to my confused Skype recipient that we just had an earthquake….
Then, as usual, comes the powercut. Something strange happens in our local area every time we have an earthquake and powercut. Perhaps its the anonymity of darkness? Or maybe it comes as an opportunity to scare your family? Or maybe its just the fun associated with watching your bookshelf/plate cupboard transform itself into a projectile gun during an earthquake?
Whatever the reason, every powercut I’ve experienced here seems to inspire one of our neighbours (two floors above) to stand on his balcony and holler with delight at the ensuing mixture of “what next?!” and “where did I put that candle and those matches?”!
“Wooo hooo!” I heard as I sat frozen with fear in front of the laptop screen, my only source of light. Light entertainment indeed. Normally we don’t even make it onto the USGS charts! This time, we’re a statistic and proud of it!