Here in So Cal we've been through several, the main one being Northridge -- man, THAT was an earthquake. Earthquakes always seem to happen down here in the wee mornings of the hour, like they did with Northridge. My father used to take charge in these situations and would end up running down the hall in his boxers yelling, "GOD IS GREAT", "GOD IS GREAT" in arabic or pushto, whichever language the earthquake happened to trigger. He'd wake us the hell up and start running outside. The man was under the impression that it is much safer to be outside then inside...because the house might colapse. This was always very confusing to me as a child, because in California schools they always had earthquake drills where they'd tell you the only safe place to be was under a desk or in a doorway -- the doorway concept is something i still have trouble understanding.

So we'd be outside, cold and half naked while the ground beneath our feet was shaking. Even though the epicenter of the quake was quite a ways from us, we totally felt it's effects. The creepiest thing was watching the electric/telephone poles swaying this way and that... and then watching the lines snap apart. That is what caused most of the damage in our neighboorhood, down wires causing all sorts of fires.

Ahhh earthquakes. Now that i think about it, we really havn't had a significant one recently and i think we're about due. crap.