© NaimaLett.com/blog
©CityTour
3:26 AM
Labor Day morning, I’m jolted from sleep by a crash.
“It couldn’t be…,” I think.
I had explained to a friend just last week how we’d been quake-free since our move to the Hills a couple of years ago. When we lived closer to the ocean, we felt one every 6 months or so; but gone were those days. Or so I thought.
“You heard that?” I ask my husband… as if he could miss it.
“Earthquake,” he calms. “We’re still moving. You feel that?” he asks… as if I could miss it.
“Sounded like a crash from above,” I’m still disoriented.
“No. That was below.”
“Sounded like above.”
“No, that was definitely below. Foundation.”
You know you’ve assimilated to California culture when you’re jerked awake by a quake and you begin to debate the whereabouts of sound.
3:28 AM
I scope my big-number clock, then grope for my phone to google “earthquake los angeles”. Where is my phone? Neither of us turns on a light or moves toward the door frame. If this was a drill, would we have failed? I still don’t want to believe there are quakes in the Hills. So, I continue my denial.
“You sure that wasn’t above us?”
“No, it was below.”
I find my phone. Light pierces the room.
“What are you doing?” Kevin wants to know.
“Looking for news. Found it.”
Earthquake.usgs.gov confirms magnitude 3.2, epicenter 34.068°N, 118.391°W, BHills 03:26:55AM.
“3.2,” I sigh. Thank God it wasn’t worse.
I find a second headline from the LA Times: ‘Earthquake: 3.2 Quake Strikes Near Beverly Hills’.
Well, that settles it. There ARE quakes in the Hills.
And apparently we’re close to a fault called the West Beverly Hills Lineament, the northern part of the Newport-Inglewood Fault System, which is pretty active. Who knew?! Scientists (whom I’m convinced don’t live in the city) are “excited” to discover more about the fault since last year when LA sought to build a subway through the community. It’s been a huge political fight.
Makes no sense to me. Why would anyone want to build an underground subway in LA with as many active faults as we have? That’s like when I see huge houses built hanging off of hills. I think, “Don’t you know we have earthquakes and mudslides?” To each his own, I suppose.
Later that day, I’ll discover that quakes are so unusual in this area that residents started calling the Police Department. Folks are, for lack of a better word, shaken. So, I’m not the only one shocked.
3:32 AM
“Do we need to be concerned about this fan?”
For the first time, I think about something falling on my head. Nobody hangs pictures above headboards in LA, but ceiling fans abound.
“No, it’s bolted into the beam,” Kevin assures.
I scurry through the dark to check our rooms, especially the paintings that had been my mom’s. Nothing’s broken. Nothing’s busted.
“Thank you, Lord,” I whisper and climb back into bed.
I’m reminded of PSALM 46:1-3:
1 Therefore God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
I’m grateful the Lord is our refuge and we don’t have to fear when the earth shakes and hills quake; but honestly, this is way too much excitement for the start of a leisurely vacation day.
3:36 AM
“You sure nothing crashed above us?” I ask one last time.
“No,” my husband turns over to go back to sleep. “It was below.”
“Well, Lord, please keep that fan in the ceiling” I pray, and then I too turn over to go back to bed.
________
Hi Fam,
This really happened to us yesterday. We love LaLa Land, but we’ve had to get use to the phenomenon called earthquakes. Most days are a beautiful 80 degrees with a breeze, hardly no rain, no snow, no ice storms, no hurricanes, no tornadoes. Most days are perfect. And then every now and then, the earth moves and I’m reminded no place is perfect but heaven. :=)
Have you experienced an earthquake before? If you’re in LA, did you feel the one yesterday?
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OMG! I had no idea about the earthquake until I read about it late last night on someone’s facebook. Are you guys ok? I guess it goes to show that anything can happen these days. Hope you eventually got to get some rest the other night!
Avril, girllll… you didn’t feel it? That’s actually good. What kind of hospitable way would that be to welcome you to LA?! LOL!
We’re fine. Thanks for asking. We’ve experienced them enough now that we’ve gotten “use to it”, as much as a person can.
Your first one will be the strangest. After that, it gets better. My first, I sat up straight in the bed and almost bolted out my house! But now you see, it’s a little less dramatic. And this was a baby one too, 3.2. Those 6 and ups are no joke. I pray for the Lord’s grace to keep those at bay… :=)