My First Earthquake! A nearby 5.6!

How exciting! This morning I experienced my first earthquake. (Apparently I did sleep through a small one when Ilsa was still with us.) Aña and I were in the kitchen making a carrot-mango-papaya-banana smoothie when things started shaking and rumbling. It seemed like there was a huge truck or train right out side our house. I went to the window and there was no truck, or train for that matter, on the street. My incorrect instinct was to run outside. Although this put me in a potentially more dangerous spot I was able to watch buildings vibrate and electrical lines sway.

I guess growing up in the mid-west didn't really prepare me for earthquake safety. I now know that it's better to get under a sturdy desk or table. According to the U.S.G.S. website most injuries happen when people try to move about during the quake. Being outside in a city also puts you at risk for falling walls or windows, and I'm guessing electrical lines as well.

The rumbling lasted only a few exciting minutes. I guess Aña hadn't even left the kitchen. So, we finished our smoothie before she had to go to work. Twenty minutes later I checked out the "official report" on the handy dandy United States Geological Survey (USGS) website. I learned that it was the tremor from a 5.6 magnitude earthquake. It struck the Guatemalan coast about 40 miles from here and about 40 miles deep. Twenty two people had already reported feeling it on the website, some from Guatemala City twice as far away as we are.

A big deal for me, but not for the earth. Four earthquakes with magnitudes over 5.0 have already occured today alone. Almost fifty have occured today with magnitudes between 2.5 and 4.5. The big earthquakes that have occured this year in China, Haiti, and the Baja along with the Iceland Volcano have sparked interesting conversations. A popular theme seems to be the "Mayan Prophecy" interpreted with an apocalyptic scenario. Statistically, however, the number of earthquakes and geological events is actually lower than most years. Just coincidental consciousness hype I'm afraid, so far.....

Earthquake Details
Magnitude 5.6
Date-Time

* Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 13:30:58 UTC
* Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 07:30:58 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 14.523°N, 92.014°W
Depth 64 km (39.8 miles) set by location program
Region GUATEMALA
Distances 50 km (30 miles) SE of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico
65 km (40 miles) WSW of Quezaltenango, Guatemala
160 km (100 miles) W of GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala
930 km (580 miles) SE of MEXICO CITY, D.F., Mexico
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 4.7 km (2.9 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST=233, Nph=233, Dmin=745.9 km, Rmss=0.92 sec, Gp= 79°,
M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7
Source

* USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Event ID us2010vfa9