The Day The Earth Shook

The yellow dots on the map identify earthquake locations. Most earthquakes occur where the continental and oceanic plates collide with each other, so mapping earthquake locations identifies the plate boundaries.

While earth quakes are common in parts of the world like California, there are some of us who have never experienced one.

I live in the Mid-West where we rarely feel the "earth shake" so when it does happen, it's a little unnerving to the community. At 4:30ish this morning, I was awakened by my bed literally shaking. having not experienced an earth quake before, I was I bit startled and wondered what was going on. For a minute, I thought I was dreaming but as I lay there, the shaking lasted for what seemed like a while but turned out to be no more that a minute. I instantly got up to check to see if any of my children where up. All but one where still sleep. I asked the one that was up if she was ok and reassured her then went back to my bedroom to turn on the local news.

The news did indeed confirm it was an earth quake that registered at 5.2. I find it funny that depending on where we live, we tend to get used to the local occurrences that happen where we live, be it: tornado's (which I have never experienced either), hurricanes, torrential rains, snow and earth quakes. I am personally used to the unpredictable weather and snow here where I live, so it kinda tickles me to hear folks ooo and awww at the snow. I am sure those that are used to experiencing tremors are probably giggling at us and saying "aww... get over it!" None-the-less, it was something that I will never forget having been my very first official earth quake.

What are some of the local weather (etc) occurrences that happen where you live and have you ever experienced and earth quake?