Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Did you feel the Earthquake! (3 20 am)

I woke up with a little shriek. The bed shook. And continued to shake for a few seconds. It shook vigorously enough to wake me with a fright, from deep sleep, but not as much as 26 Jan 2001 in Delhi. (Bhuj)
The cat is awake, maybe my shriek woke him. Dog number one has opened her eyes.
I want to be sure it was an earthquake. Husband is away. Can't call someone at this hour. Don't want to wake up the kids, they were studying till late. So I switch on the TV on mute. There's news about cricket and Delhi blasts, I left the TV on and considered sleeping. But I want to be sure. So I decided to switch on the laptop. And then CNN IBN flashes 'News Flash. Minor tremors felt in Mumbai.'
Not so minor and not so short. I felt the tremors shook the bed for sometime, and were stronger then any I have felt for a while. Did you feel them? My kids and pets have zero instincts...all are fast asleep.
CNN IBN is the only channel that seems to have acknowledged these tremors. 'Restless at home. Minor tremors felt in Mumbai.' Restlessness is exactly what I feel.
Okay now it says, magnitude 4.8.
I guess now I better get some sleep!

Edited to add: Epicenter Satara, Maharashtra. Magnitude 4.8 (felt like 5.3 says the expert who it woke up i.e. me). I don't like the word 'minor' being used, it was strong and terrifying.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nay, I am a heavy sleeper so there was no way I could feel it. But my Mom did. Her experience was just like yours.

In such times you think: Damn, you were so close to destruction. If that earthquake were a bit more intense, everything in life would have just come crashing down.

Shucks! That's a scary thought :(

Aneela Z said...

ummm, I am BAD when it comes to ' feeling' the earth move...once I had complained to my mother why she didnt wake me up (so I could 'experience' anearthquake...yup morbid fasciantion) and she was pretty exasperated " Aneela if it doesnt take an eathquake to wake you up what CAN I do"!!

Priyanka said...

WOW, are you in Mumbai or Pune? I better call up my folks, Thanks for the news :)

Unmana said...

Oh, I slept through the night!

Corinne Rodrigues said...

Hi - it's crazy, but I went to bed with this awful feeling 'in my bones'. I kept telling my husband that I had a premonition that 'something' would happen. But I must confess I felt no earthquake in Bandra. Thank God we're all safe.

Take care

C

Anonymous said...

Hope its all fine there, in Mumbai. BTW, on a scale of 1-10 how much did you freak out?

Monika said...

i didnt feel a thing but then I am in blore :) :) hope all is well... I know how it feels I was in delhi when that bhuj thing happened and I was really scared

Monika said...

Glad it did not cause anyone harm.

D said...

I never miss an earthquake. A few weeks back, I was in my office with my husband and apparently there was a 'minor' earthquake that shook up the building. And I felt it alright - suddenly my chair started rocking but because there was no reaction from The Guy I thought it must be my imagination. I totally know what you mean by how 'minor' is such an understatement sometimes.

~nm said...

I did not even read it in the newspaper today. Glad all are ok!

Anonymous said...

I too felt it in pune

Anonymous said...

Thatz sacry IHM.Hope nothing went worng..Take care all of you..

Isn't it funny that it is easy to have our story "The end"-ed..What are we then fighting for???

Lol@Aneela...My mom too says the same..

Pinku said...

that's pucca scary...and in my house i am the one who wakes up first at the time tremors and rush to wake up everyone.

and yes 4.8 doesnt sound minor...

Pinku said...

that's pucca scary...and in my house i am the one who wakes up first at the time tremors and rush to wake up everyone.

and yes 4.8 doesnt sound minor...

Mampi said...

it IS terrifying.


btw why do most of the earthquakes happen after midnight?

my space said...

i slept through..though a lot of my friends said they felt it...By the grace of God no thing major..with all these calamities happening around us ,we can certainly do without another right now!

Aarti said...

Whoaaa.. just read about the quake on another blog!!
i have never ever experienced any quakes, but for one... hmmm, something must be wrong or am just on the move so much, i miss it!!!

take care !!:)

Anonymous said...

Didn't feel it at all as had a late night and was fast asleep when it happened!

How do we know said...

OMG! Glad ur fine.

Imp's Mom said...

OMG...scary!! Didn't hear any of it in the news...funny the media seems ot report every single stupid thing but misses this!

Glad to know you are ok...

Anonymous said...

i live in b'bay and i dint feel a thing...i think i sleep too soundly..dont even remember the last earthquake i felt...i think it was that massive one that rocked bhuj,gujarat.. cud feel the tremors clearly in delhi too..

Unknown said...

Never mind the scale - tremors are tremors _ I'm terrified of quakes.

Shilpa said...

There was an earthquake in Mumbai? A larger magnitude would probably do a a lot of damage to the city.
I remember the 2001 earthquake,.....scary.

I love to read your blog. I am linking to yous without permission!

Indian Home Maker said...

@Krishna Aradhi Nice to hear from you, all the political chaos is going on without any comments from you!

@Aneela Z I also have a 'morbid' fascination for such things. Took my camera with me when I had to go out just the day after the Ahmadabad blasts...

@Priyanka No damage was done Pritanka :)

@Unmana Lucky you!

@Corinne Rodrigues You had a premonition? Yes, thank God nothing happened.

@Chirag 4.8, felt like 5.3!

@Monika Bhuj was terrible, we were in Delhi, and windows were rattling, fans swinging, cups and saucers shaking....we had run downstairs.

@Monika,Ansh Yeah!!

@D Me too! In fact I never miss anything bad happening anywhere. I have been in the middle of some terrible things:(

@nm Yes all are ok:)


@Anonymous Did you also feel the bed was shaking vigorously?

@Nimmy yes that's the feeling you get...'Is this the end?'

@Pinku I am also like that, the first to notice such things. 4.8 was BAD!

@Mampi LOL it's just like why are all the babies born at night?


@My space I got the same feeling- 'with all these calamities happening around us...'

@Aaarti Oh my kids will tell you they same thing, they never feel an earthquake:)

@Nita :)

@How do we know Thanks:)

@Imp's Mom yeah just one CNN IBM, no other channel or Newspaper has even mentioned it.

@Mandira Nobody will forget Bhuj. It was bad.

@eve's lungs I started getting scared after Bhuj tremors, felt right upto Delhi.

@Shilpa it's such a horrible thought, knowing how our disaster management...we can only hope and pray it never happens.

1conoclast said...

I felt the latter half of it when I was woken up by my panicking wife. She felt pretty much what you did. We're in Pune which I guess was a trifle closer to the epicentre. It took her 2 days to get over the fear of tremors. I'm still thinking about them though... Phew!

Indian Home Maker said...

@1conoclast Isn't it amazing how some people immediately feel an earthquake and some just don't?