We needed a bit of excitement in our lives. :) Last night Melody and I were watching tv when we felt that the couch was "wobbling" a little bit. Actually it felt more like jelly. It was quite soft and lasted only a few seconds. We have a light fitting on the ceiling with 25 little globes- they shook a little. Everything was calm and quiet. No car alarms went off outside. In fact, the other day we were putting PJ in his sled, and he kicked the car next to him, it beeped at us a few times. PJ's kick was more devastating than this earth quake!
I figured out that it was an earth tremor, but also instantly knew it was far too small to be a worry to us. Within minutes though, people on facebook here in Krasnoyarsk were talking about it. We were able to figure out from someone's link that the earth quake had occurred in the eastern forest of Tuva, about 100 kilometres east of Kyzyl. If anybody should have been concerned it was them. The earthquake measured 6.5 on the richter scale and it was 10 kms below the ground. I was concerned that there was no structural damage in Kyzyl to high rise buildings, but I was confident nobody would be hurt.
I did become quite annoyed by all the news that came out though. Apparently people were evacuating their buildings. Even in cities further away than us people were on the streets afraid to go back inside. Frankly, they were in more danger of frost bite than they were of an earth quake. A number of people we know were panicking on their facebook.
What annoyed me the most about this reaction was that it was selfish. In the past twelve months there have been terrible earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. And every year there are bad earth quakes. It will take a long time for us to forget the tragedies of Haiti and Indonesia. To worry that our tiny tremor would do anything was an extreme over reaction. The Krasnoyarsk newspapers were reporting this as "an earthquake in Krasnoyarsk" which is entirely untrue. It was a tiny tremor felt in Krasnoyarsk from an earthquake in Tuva, hundreds of kilometres away, that caused no damage there.
I often feel that people here can be too paranoid about things. The slightest sniffle in a chid will cause parents to cancel a social engagement. When people have not known God in their society for a century or more, then fear reigns. Or perhaps it is that paganism is the dominant world view here, and people constantly live in fear. It of course annoys me even more then when Christians react in the same fear.
The authorities have come out later today and told people to stop worrying, that an earthquake always has its strongest shock first, followed by aftershocks later. Indeed there have been further tremors today, but all of them to small for us to even feel.
I figured out that it was an earth tremor, but also instantly knew it was far too small to be a worry to us. Within minutes though, people on facebook here in Krasnoyarsk were talking about it. We were able to figure out from someone's link that the earth quake had occurred in the eastern forest of Tuva, about 100 kilometres east of Kyzyl. If anybody should have been concerned it was them. The earthquake measured 6.5 on the richter scale and it was 10 kms below the ground. I was concerned that there was no structural damage in Kyzyl to high rise buildings, but I was confident nobody would be hurt.
I did become quite annoyed by all the news that came out though. Apparently people were evacuating their buildings. Even in cities further away than us people were on the streets afraid to go back inside. Frankly, they were in more danger of frost bite than they were of an earth quake. A number of people we know were panicking on their facebook.
What annoyed me the most about this reaction was that it was selfish. In the past twelve months there have been terrible earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand. And every year there are bad earth quakes. It will take a long time for us to forget the tragedies of Haiti and Indonesia. To worry that our tiny tremor would do anything was an extreme over reaction. The Krasnoyarsk newspapers were reporting this as "an earthquake in Krasnoyarsk" which is entirely untrue. It was a tiny tremor felt in Krasnoyarsk from an earthquake in Tuva, hundreds of kilometres away, that caused no damage there.
I often feel that people here can be too paranoid about things. The slightest sniffle in a chid will cause parents to cancel a social engagement. When people have not known God in their society for a century or more, then fear reigns. Or perhaps it is that paganism is the dominant world view here, and people constantly live in fear. It of course annoys me even more then when Christians react in the same fear.
The authorities have come out later today and told people to stop worrying, that an earthquake always has its strongest shock first, followed by aftershocks later. Indeed there have been further tremors today, but all of them to small for us to even feel.
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