Quake Anniversary - 16 Years Later - Advice on Earthquakes

Today marks 16 years since the first of the destructive earthquakes that have forever changed my hometown:  Christchurch, New Zealand.

This makes it a timely day to repost some thoughts I posted a few weeks ago in response to someone feeling disappointed they didn't feel some of the earthquake activity that had been happening recently around the country.

 

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I've learned several things during my time on this planet:
1) Any time you hear about a big earthquake happening nearby-ish, and you don't end up feeling it, you should be counting your blessings!

2) You really don't want to be in the vicinity of an aftershock sequence OR a swarm.  *Especially* one that strikes in the middle of the night!  😖

The news reports you hear from elsewhere never remotely give you any decent sense of the terrifying uncertainty, unpredictability, frequency, and paralysing dread they bring. That and the noise... The Noise!!!

3) Never ever say or think: "I've got everything I need to be able to work from anywhere at anytime" 

I've had to learn this one the hard way!  When your house is randomly being shaken, and you don't know if that zipping tremor is gonna just be a 1 sec high speed buzzer or escalate into full blown chaos 5 seconds later... or if you're stuck in "jello bowl" mode for the next minute or two listening to everything falling over and breaking, and knowing you might then be without power and water for the next few hours... Yeah nah... there's no way you're working through that! Not a chance! 

Remember Kids:  ALWAYS respect nature, and realise that ultimately, there are many times when there are things out of your control...

(/me Apologises to the heavens for having to type that out again... Please don't smite us again anytime soon 🙏🙏🙏)