Halloween Scare: and Earthquake hits Tinian!

Lots of fun/scary stuff going on in Tinian! Of course, yesterday was Halloween, a day well known for scary events—so it was appropriate to have an honest to goodness earthquake on Tinian! Unlike many of the earthquakes reported in the area lately—which all go unnoticed by anyone, as no one feels anything—this one was large enough for buildings to sway, and for many (like Terri) to head out the door to make sure the building wasn’t going to fall on them! It happened at 1:30 pm and was quite exciting.

The paper called it a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The specific location of the earth quake was 18.9 N 145.4 E at 235 km deep. Tinian is 14.59 N 145.37 E…close enough! The earthquake duration was 22 minutes, but was felt on the island for about 10 seconds. There were two shocks: the first a mild one, getting you to wonder what it was (just local construction, or something), then the second hit, and there was no question what it was, at the building was swaying, the things in the room were moving, and for some (like Terri) a sense of vertigo set in.

Actually Terri has been rather amusing lately about her sense of vertigo. While walking into the waves of the ocean, the movements of the water under her feet give her vertigo, as she has a feeling of moving (she thinks she is moving rather than the water at her feet). The same thing happened during the earthquake—the sense that it wasn’t the building or ground moving, it was her!

This surprised me because both Terri and I love to go on carnaval rides and roller coasters--we will try almost anything, and never get sick--but there is one thing Terri will not go on: the tea-cup ride, or tilt-a-whirl, where you go around and around. I find this totally amusing! On the one hand, Terri had no problem riding the tallest roller coaster in the world (at the time) in Ohio, and death-drop rides that put your stomach into your mouth...but get her near a little child's tea-cup ride, and she goes pale!

We knew that Tinian would be a nice place to live...but who knew it would be so fun! If the earthquakes continue, they will have to start charging fees for the ride!