Apparently there was a 5.1 earthquake in North-Central Oklahoma today. Having lived through several earthquakes measuring about 5 on the Richter Scale, that's a significant roller. Plates can get broken. Masonry and windows can crack. If it happens in a 3rd World country you would expect to see people buried under shabbily-constructed buildings.
But earthquakes in Oklahoma were not a regular thing until recently. They began in earnest after old oil wells were revived by fracking, starting in 2008 and really picking up steam (get it?) in 2012. Now Oklahoma actually has more significant shakers than California does.
There's a lot of controversy about fracking, but there's very little question that it does cause earthquakes. And here in earthquake country that would be making a bad situation worse. Nonetheless, we regularly have to fight off oil companies who want to frack in areas here in California where there was once easy oil, but now it's harder to get to and process. Unless, of course, you frack.
When you see things like this happen often enough you become convinced that most corporate entities care little about environmental or even socio-economic damage done when increased profit margins are tantalizingly close.
But you don't have to be Einstein to figure out that some things must be opposed, even when it's going to 1) bring in more jobs, 2) bring more revenue into state coffers, or 3) "stimulate" the economy. Those are often listed as good reasons to do damaging things, which is all well and good....until your walls begin to crack and your windows break. Or Grandma gets buried under the rubble that was once the back porch.
And even if you live in a well-made building that only suffers "minor" damage -- meaning Grandma is OK and so is most of your porch -- earthquake insurance (if you have it; many choose not to) typically comes with a hefty deductible -- usually 10 to 20 percent of the total cost of your property, so for most, it won't help with actual damage, just complete destruction, should that happen.
I wonder how Oklahomans are feeling about their decision to frack in light of the ground under their feet literally rebelling against the intrusion.
Mother Nature always, I repeat, always, gets the last word. You would think that in 160 million years of living on this planet, our species would have figured that out by now.
Sitting here with my morning coffee and just got hit with a small earthquake. Scared me a little, scared the dog. For me it was because we still have not attached the earthquake straps to this heavy library furniture, thereby securing it to the wall so it doesn't crash down on us if the shaking gets serious. We went outside to the safety of the back yard for awhile.
Hopefully not a foreshock of something bigger, and just a little reminder that Mother Nature is still large and in charge around here -- well, everywhere, really.
From an industry standpoint, this is a huge loss for each winery affected. And I can't help but think that if this had just been on a fault nearby us instead of them, we'd be the ones cleaning up today. Again, the injuries and loss of human and animal life is so much more important than this, but it's terrible to see this kind of destruction.
It also makes me very conscious of exactly where I do and do not want to be in an earthquake.
Thinking of our friends and fellow wine industry folks in Napa this morning, as news of the 6.0 earthquake that jolted them awake early this morning is coming through.
Right now it doesn't sound as though there have been fatalities, which is a blessing. There have been injuries, however, which is never good. But I also hope the wineries around the area are not too damaged and have not lost valuable wines and other stock. And of course hoping that clean up is relatively easy and not too expensive for everyone, whether in the tasting room, the barrel room, or at home.
Thoughts going out to everyone involved today.
It was a waxing moon, about half-full, so the moon was up but not overly bright. I had gone to bed about 10 pm, loathing daylight savings time and the fact that I wasn't really tired yet. About 15 minutes later, I noticed a couple of things: First, the house seemed to creak in several places at once, although I felt nothing unusual. Second, every bird in the countryside started singing. It was the Dawn Chorus at night. They were so loud, and it was so unusual, that I went and got Big Ag, who had been watching television in another part of the house, and brought him to the back door so he could hear it too.
This went on for an hour or two, and then, just like that, it stopped. And the night was as quiet as it normally is.
This morning I awoke to see this:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-northern-california-earthquake-20140310,0,1233717.story#axzz2vZNmFWYq
Yes, the shaking apparently started at about 10:15 pm last night. Guess our neighborhood songbirds know more than you'd think.
