First, I thought it was the wind. The laminated plastic cover over the second story of the patio starts to blow and shake. I sit here writing and catching up on emails. The ground begins to quiver and then the strong concrete infrastructure of the house begins to sway. Then, it registered: an earthquake.
As I run down the alley and out to the street, the only thing I can think of is to get out of the way of the brick and concrete walls and ceiling that surround me. Even as I run, I can feel the walls trembling. Then, I get to the middle of street, look around and see that life goes on as usual. My neighbor pokes his head out of his second story window and says he thinks the shake-rattle-and-roll lasted seven minutes. I’m not sure it was that long, but this was a strong one, he says. He leaves to go call his son in Oaxaca. A man on a bicycle rides by, stops to talk, says it was very strong here, continues on down the road.
I’ll check back on the magnitude and let you know! I think it was at least 5.0 on the Richter scale.
Just in via Twitter: 7.6 magnitude on USGS Richter Scale.
I guess this is why they build houses here with deep rock foundations using giant boulders. The concrete walls (not fragile stick construction) seemed to withstand the temblor without a crack!
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