A Tale of Two Earthquakes

On Monday I was strolling through the park (literally, with a stroller) listening to the life story of Steve Martin when suddenly my legs began to quiver. Normally I can hear the earthquake first, so I took my headphones off to confirm that the ground was once again seething with energy. I was standing alongside a row of massive sequoia, cedar and redwood trees and was startled to see that they were swaying like giant Ents on parade in Middle Earth. They groaned and creaked and their nearby deciduous cousins were shedding abnormal amounts of colorful fall leaves. The odd part is that the leaves came straight down rather than blowing off sideways in a breeze. Anyway, had to be there. A kid on a bike in front of me panicked and bolted around a gravel path, only to slam on his brakes and glance around quickly. I told him to stay calm but he didn't hear me and quickly sped off in another direction. The shaking only lasted about 10 - 15 seconds and as I stood there, heart pounding in my chest, I wondered about far reaching effects. It was a strong shake, I guessed high 5's (it turned out later to be a 5.7).

An hour or so after this I made my way back to the car and drove over to mom's work where I parked across from the old college; a series of beautiful Gothic stone buildings surrounded by bracing and fences as a result of previous earthquake damage. With Logan in my arms, I had a quick chat with the local barista and started walking down the street. Then a loud booming and the ground resumed its tremor, this time with even greater strength. Reflexively I jumped towards the middle of the street and widened my stance to maintain balance. Time seemed to slow as I looked up to see the overhead tram wires bouncing like jump ropes. Behind them a large triangle shaped chunk of brickwork tipped off a second story pinnacle and exploded on the cafe patio below. Astonished, I quickly turned towards the Cathedral (centerpiece of the city square and also severely damaged in February) in clear view a few blocks away. As the shaking continued the giant circular "rose" window suddenly crumbled and disappeared in a massive pall of dust. The 6.3 lasted almost 30 seconds. Little Logan stayed cool as a cucumber, oblivious to the inner workings of subductive plate tectonics and strike-slip faultlines. Mom was safe too under a table somewhere, though a bit more scared this time around. Can't blame her.

before

after