Friday, April 18, 2008

Rivers Burn and then Run Backwards

It was 5:37am. I was awake but in bed, planning and scheming through my next move. "Do I take a shower now or lay in the dark for another 10 minutes."

I wasn't going to get up with the bed shaking.

Turns out, it was a 5.2 quake centered near West Salem, Illinois.

CNN will tell you all about it, I'm sure.

I immediately thought New Madrid, which made me think "New Madrid", but I'm told it was the Wabash Valley fault line, separate from New Madrid. Still, Mr Browning to the contrary, the Midwest is still somewhat tectonically unstable, albeit not remotely like the San Andreas. A friend rightly noted that a 5.2 in San Fran wouldn't even make the evening news.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

5.2 is moderate... it'll move things around. Call me when they reach the mid to high 6's that's when the fun begins

Dave Jacob said...

Yup. And an 8'll move the Mississippi for you.