Talking about Earthquakes

This morning the radio station I was listening to were talking about earthquakes. Asking who's been through an earthquake. I've been through a few. First one happened about 40 years ago. We had no idea what was going on but it wasn't a big one. Just shook the house for a few seconds. Then it was over. Not too bad. About two years later, same time of year (New Year's) we had another one. This one was bigger!! We were watching TV and there was a bomb that exploded and we decided that the show wasn't that interesting and decided to go to bed. So my aunt and her kids were here visiting. My brothers and cousin, Vincent were in the bedroom playing around and would throw each other against the wall. I was already in bed and soon thought my sister was kicking my bed. My mom was standing in the hallway, ready to turn off the light and go to bed. My aunt was in the living room sleeping. That's when the house was shaking. It lasted longer than the one before. My mom thought she was dizzy, my sister and I thought the other was kicking the bed, by brothers thought it was because of them hitting the walls. My dad, well, he slept through the whole thing. My aunt had no idea what was going on. When it stopped she looked out the window to see if all was ok. By the time it stopped we all ran in the hallway wondering what was going on. We turned on the TV and radio but nothing was said about what's going on. Pretty soon we heard there was a mild earthquake. We ran outside to see if there were cracks in the street or sidewalk. None that we could see. It was dark, the middle of the night. We went back inside and went to sleep. Next morning it was all over the news. People near the mountains had it stronger. They had broken dishes, windows, etc. But not too much damage. That was the last time we experienced something like that here in the city.
There was another time that I had gotten home from work. Was getting ready for bed. Finally got into bed and was watching Benson before I go to sleep. Suddenly the antenna was shaking back and forth and I wondered what was going on. I could barely feel the bed shake and I thought EARTHQUAKE!! But it stopped before I could say anything. Hmmm, wonder if it was down in Socorro. It seems there's more quakes that start in that area. You don't really feel anything here in the city. So the next morning I watched the news and sure enough there was a quake centered in Socorro. And many people felt it here. No one else in the family felt it or were awakened!! My brothers said to wake them up next time there's one!
So that brings me to one more story about an earthquake. This time I was up in Provo, Utah, at BYU. My roommate, Sharon, had just left for Southern California with the Lamanite Generation for a tour. They were gone for 2 weeks. When she got back we told her of the earthquake that hit Provo. She was so mad because she thought they would experience one when they were in California!! She said, "AWWWW, I missed it??? OMG, I missed it!!!" She's pretty funny. Anyway, this happened about 3 AM. I was getting up at 4 but was awaken by my bed shaking and I could hear the beds in the other rooms hitting the walls. I had to hold on to the mattress so I wouldn't fall out of bed! I was waiting to hear if anyone got up but all I could hear was the beds hitting the walls. I don't remember how long it lasted but it was at least a minute. Then it all stopped and there was silence. Then I went back to sleep because I had to get up in an hour. I got up at 4, got ready for work and left a note on the mirror for my roommates asking if they felt the earthquake. I was listening to the radio as I got ready and they did say there was an earthquake in the Provo area. Registered around 5.0 or so. Can't remember. Anyway, I met my friend downstairs and asked if she felt it and she said NO. I told her what happened and she said none of them woke up. She wasn't sure if I was telling the truth. She heard about it once we got on campus. It was all around campus by the time classes started. Later I got home and my roommates told me I should have waken them up. How could I when I wasn't even sure why the beds were shaking and was pretty scared to get out of bed, I might have fallen down. Here we are on the third floor!! We also found out that the girls in the other building, next to us, had more damage than we did. Most of them were thrown out of bed, dishes were falling out of the cabinets, etc. I was glad I was where I was. I don't know what I would have done if I were over there. I guess few people had damage done to their homes. Sharon comes home and hears all this. After that, no earthquakes. I don't know if she's been in one since.
Here in Albuquerque, you can feel the shakes, lightly, when there's an earthquake down in Socorro area.
Another time I was in California with my friend and we stayed at her friend's house in Santa Barbara one night. I felt the floor move when I was asleep. I woke up and heard nothing but silence. I thought I would hear someone get up and ask if somehing just happened. Nothing. Next morning while eating breakfast, we heard on the news there was another aftershock (there was an earthquake earlier that week). I said "I wasn't sure if that was what I felt during the night!" Everyone looked at me and said "Why didn't you wake us up?" I told them that it was over before I realized what it was. And it wasn't that big of a aftershock. It was enough to wake me up. Me? I'm a light sleeper. They said next time wake us up even if it's over. Well, we didn't stay there after that. Haven't been back there, either.
Those are the ones I remember going on. I hope those in Japan today are ok. It's sad to hear how many lives were lost, to see all the damage done. We can just pray for them and everyone else on earth.