Quake

And the Earth trembles
Under the feet
Of the Cosmic Dancer...
--lmr

I was sitting in front of the computer monitor at work this afternoon when I started feeling dizzy, as if the building were swaying around me. I looked over at the windows and noticed the shade pulls swinging slightly. David and I exchanged glances.

"Earthquake..."

This was said in the calm but interested way that Alaskans have of reacting to earthquakes. I sat at the desk with an air of faint expectation--David never even took his feet down off the console. After what seemed like a minute, the building stopped moving, though the shade-pulls continued to sway gently for another minute.

Shortly thereafter, the usual bulletin from Palmer came across the computer, giving a preliminary magnitude of 7.5 and placing the quake under the Alaska Range southeast of Fairbanks.

Someone from Kenai AFSS called down to see if we had any damage.

"Well, I had to get up to answer the phone but aside from that..."

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