When you live in a country that doesn't have seismic faults, but rather is one big seismic fault, you can expect to get tremors every now and again. Since we have been here, we've heard reports of others' feeling small tremors twice (and Eleanor actually felt them once, but I don't know about the others).
Last night was different. Last night was big. Last night was bad. And that's from OUR perspective ... 60 miles west from the epicenter of a 6.0 earthquake that flattened Accumoli.
At about 3:30 in the morning, I thought Michael was having a seizure in bed next to me. So I reached out to check on him, but he was just fine...apart from the fact that the entire house was billowing. I felt drunk or like I was in a funny house. Of course, we did everything wrong: to increase your chances of survival, you are supposed to stay in bed with a pillow over your head. Nope. We got up, got dressed, checked on the kids, and looked outside, all the while feeling as though we'd downed a fifth of whiskey.
Once it had stopped, of course, we were wide awake. It's not exactly easy waiting for aftershocks, is it? And sure enough, one did come about maybe half an hour later, and it wasn't much weaker but was mercifully shorter.
The news this morning says that the town of Castelluccio di Norcia (where we went for the flowers in July, again, again, again, and again) has suffered heavy damage, Norcia itself (site of a Fiat 500 rally and the singing monks Tricia and I visited this past spring), and several other towns in the vicinity. The quake was felt as far away as Naples, 180 miles distant.
Yes, we are shaken, but most importantly our love and sympathy go to the nearby towns' inhabitants who have seen disaster.
Love,
Alexandra
Last night was different. Last night was big. Last night was bad. And that's from OUR perspective ... 60 miles west from the epicenter of a 6.0 earthquake that flattened Accumoli.
At about 3:30 in the morning, I thought Michael was having a seizure in bed next to me. So I reached out to check on him, but he was just fine...apart from the fact that the entire house was billowing. I felt drunk or like I was in a funny house. Of course, we did everything wrong: to increase your chances of survival, you are supposed to stay in bed with a pillow over your head. Nope. We got up, got dressed, checked on the kids, and looked outside, all the while feeling as though we'd downed a fifth of whiskey.
Once it had stopped, of course, we were wide awake. It's not exactly easy waiting for aftershocks, is it? And sure enough, one did come about maybe half an hour later, and it wasn't much weaker but was mercifully shorter.
The news this morning says that the town of Castelluccio di Norcia (where we went for the flowers in July, again, again, again, and again) has suffered heavy damage, Norcia itself (site of a Fiat 500 rally and the singing monks Tricia and I visited this past spring), and several other towns in the vicinity. The quake was felt as far away as Naples, 180 miles distant.
Yes, we are shaken, but most importantly our love and sympathy go to the nearby towns' inhabitants who have seen disaster.
Love,
Alexandra
Glad to hear you are all okay. I've been in two small ones. The first one was like you described. I was trying to go down some stairs. Not a good thing to do. Lance
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