5.5

7.56am I was paralysed in the corner of the bedroom looking at our not so sturdy kitset bookshelf swaying back and forward, photo frames toppling over, hearing other random crashes around the apartment as we were struck by the latest of a series of earthquakes. It was a 5.5 – the biggest yet. I was freaked. Upstairs in our apartment other photo frames fell down and chopping boards fell over and pictures were shaken crooked on the walls. I keep telling myself I have lived through a 6.3 quake, that being the Edgecumbe earthquake in 1987, but it doesn’t help that there’s recently been lots of earthquakes following the tsunami in Asia.

I guess at times like this it’s good not knowing a whole lot about how the earth works because I can latch on to the opinion that it’s better that the earth release pressure points and that after the deep sea earthquake that shifted coastlines and caused tsunamis that all techtonic plates are just gently readjusting … possibly a load of bullshit but it’s my way of calming down. Still, the only thing I’ve been able to do at work so far today is fill my water bottle and reorganise my pen pots.