Conquering Vertigo

My fault

Living on the San Andreas fault line adds a piquant spice to life.

Look at the upper left quadrant of this NASA infra-something photo and you'll see the San Francisco Bay area. The main fault line passes directly under our house.

Mostly, I live more in the state of denial than of California. But sometimes we take our fault into consideration.

For one thing, we really have read the emergency preparation guidelines at www.72hours.org, The City's quake prep site. Between all of my camping and hiking equipment, and the Italian Stallion's natural sequestering of water, wine and pasta, hell, we're good for 144 hours!

For another, we're always aware of ground movements. Seismic activity goes on all the time, every day. The little needles are constantly quivering, reflecting the shifting plates beneath us. This is a good thing, because the little quakes we barely or never feel release pressure.

Another thing is the way you hang pictures or stack bookcases. A bookcase unanchored to the wall can release hundreds of flying hazards during a big quake.

I lived through a number of hurricanes, some of them passing over my house and doing bad things. Richard has lived through several quakes and he says quakes are much easier on the nerves, because you never know when they're coming. With hurricanes, weather people are discussing the possible paths and destructive forces for days before they ever hit. With an earthquake, boom! it just happens, and then you deal with it.

I don't have any desire to be here when The Big One strikes, but I do get his point.

Want another glass of red wine? We have pasta, too.

posted by Woman In Love @ 1:46 PM