Earthquakes

On Thursday, the new staff was told about earthquake procedures for the school, in the event there was one that lasted several seconds. However, we were told large earthquakes haven't happened that often, despite Peru being part of the Circum-Pacific seismic belt.

Early this afternoon, I was sending an email to a friend and felt a bit dizzy, then realized the room seemed to be shaking a bit. I sent my friend an email, saying it felt like an earthquake, but it only lasted a few seconds. Later that day, I checked the United States Geological Survey website (which I found after feeling an earthquake in Chicago a few years ago), and sure enough, it was an earthquake about 16 miles off the coast of Lima. 

I have to say, after visiting the coast of Japan this summer and seeing the devastation caused by the earthquake and following tsunami last March, and after visiting the town of Yungay in Peru a few years ago, where a city of 25,000 people was buried as a result of an earthquake and ensuing landslide, I'm a bit jittery when it comes to earthquakes. I hope that's all of them that I feel for a while!