On the Edge

The 3.1 aftershock was reported 5 minutes later.

The preoccupations of the day were set aside on 11:42 a.m. when the house rocked briefly but noticeably. Nothing fell, and the TV stayed on.

The initial jolt is usually the worst, followed by one or two aftershocks, but occasionally the first quake is a precursor to a bigger one. Nerves were calmed when a smaller 3.1 aftershock followed the 5.1 quake five minutes later, and all was quiet thereafter.

The San Jose earthquake (by the way, the Earthquakes are San Jose's soccer team) was produced by the Calaveras fault in the East Bay. Scientists tell us that there's less than a 1% probability of a bigger quake in the coming week.

For about 15 minutes just before noon there was a chance that our lives would be completely upended. The odds were high that the worst wouldn't happen, but the possibility existed.

Over the past several years I have had friends and relatives whose priorities changed instantaneously for health reasons. They were unprepared for such disruption, and today's earthquake reminded us that disruption can come from a direction that's not foremost in our mind.