Earthquakes Rock!

I've felt my first earthquake here! I was sleeping soundly in my bed this morning when all of a sudden both Dugs and I were awoken by a loud rumble, then a jolt. Still in my sleep-induced fog, and never having felt an earthquake before, I had no idea what it was - in fact it kind of reminded me of when we lived in Texas and felt the sonic boom of the space shuttle Challenger exploding. Dugald told me he thought it was an earthquake so this morning we checked and sure enough it was! It was a 4 on the scale and about 20 km's away (12 miles).

Being the worrier that I am I spent the rest of the night wondering what we would do if we were ever in a big quake - I had images of the bunk beds collapsing on the children, the bookshelves toppling and squishing them, being out in the car - or, worst of all, being separated from each other when it happened. It didn't help my fearful heart at all that the recent headline on the front of the "Wellingtonian" paper was about the city's lack of preparedness for a tsunami which, since we are situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, is a distinct possibility. I had to keep reminding myself that my God is Sovereign and He is in control of our lives, so I spent the next few hours going over Scriptures to that effect in my head. I don't imagine we'll get through this life without suffering, but I hope I remember the comfort of my Savior when in the midst of it. As with anything, I think the anticipation of the "what could happens" and the unknown brings far more fear and lack of peace than anything I may walk through with the Lord. I don't want to be tested on that though.

After the event Dugald just rolled over and went back to sleep! He's been raised with such goings-on and was completely unfazed. I will say though that he is a bit wary of moving to Florida, land of the hurricanes, and that he also never had to live through a tornado in Texas. So, we all have our natural disaster issues I suppose. . .


New Zealand Earthquake Report - May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST)
Magnitude 4.0, Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST), 10 km west of Porirua.
Quake Details
Information about this earthquake:
Reference Number
2902957/G
Universal Time
May 2 2008 at 15:12
NZ Standard Time
Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am
Latitude, Longitude
41.12°S, 174.70°E
Focal Depth
30 km
Richter magnitude
4.0
Region
Wellington
Location
10 km west of Porirua
20 km north of Wellington
Felt in and around Wellington.