Yes, it was an earthquake... and there's going to be another one at 5:00pm.

Of all of the interesting happenings to have graced me in my stay abroad, today was the first time when I was granted with anything that I had to fight not to laugh at. It was also the first experience which was purely human and had nothing at all to do with being in China versus being in America... I can very much imagine much of the same thing happening in Oklahoma while my home in California has been home to similarly foolish behavior during tsunami warnings.

Today, roughly about noon or so, my apartment building began to rock back and forth like a boat on a gentle sea. It was strong enough to rock the ship, but just sort of give it that peaceful motion that makes you feel a little uneasy until you work out the rhythm... that is, when it happens on the water. On land it presents something of a different sensation in most people. For me, I just found it odd because it felt too weak and too smooth to be an earthquake. In retrospect, I imagine that this quake was caused by a very different type of tectonic movement than San Andres creates, thus explaining the difference in feeling as it reached me here in LuoYang.

The real event was a 7.8 quake which was recorded in Sichuan province, I currently don't know more than that, but I also haven't gone looking. I'm waiting in part for the foreign news agencies to pick up the story so that I can read all of the available accounts and then put together the most likely version of the story based on the available information (being a literature major has had unforeseen side effects).

Here in LuoYang, the tremors were enough to be felt, but only enough to gently sway the ground, not even enough to disturb books on the shelves. Still all the people still at home had empties the buildings and were standing between the tall structures looking up at them and frantically dialing numbers on their cell phones. Local cell networks were busy for around two hours following the event as everyone in the city called about to find out if everyone was alright.

Two hours after the quake, my chinese boss got ahold of me by cell. "I was just calling to make sure everything was okay and that you didn't get hurt in the earthquake." She said with real concern, "Oh so it was a quake, it felt a little odd so I wasn't completely sure." I mentioned having entertained such ideas as high winds with a structural defect so far. "Yes, and you want to be careful there is going to be another one at 5pm. I hear its safer to be inside when it happens, but I don't know." "Don't worry Tracie, I'm a Californian... I know what to do in case of an earthquake."

The friend I was on the phone with through Skype began laughing at that point, only having been privy to my half of the conversation he was amused, but when I told him about the declaration of the still to come quake with the schedule ready time he was baffled. I'm still somewhat at a loss to explain why the news agencies here reported predictions (well, assertions is more the way of it) as to the times the aftershocks would strike at (or that we would feel them more than 24 hours by train away from the epicenter).

Still, it was the gathering of people between tall buildings, the flooding of the cellphone networks, and the confidence that once the ground had stopped shaking, all possible danger was passed, which left me very amused in the end.

I am sure a great many people did not derive any pleasure from the event that happened today, and I wish those actually harmed by the events all the best both now and in the times to come... but for those people who were panicking around me I had only one thought:

This is exactly what I will look like if I ever live in an area that gets Tsunamis, Volcanoes, or Tornadoes. I'd include Hurricanes... but those are a lot less likely with my current interests.