Earthquakes I have known

News reports have been full of coverage of yesterday's earthquakes in Chile and Argentina.  Of the two countries, Chile had much the worse of it, with an 8.8 magnitude quake recorded.  There were also several significant aftershocks.  One of the aftershocks was recorded at 6.9.  The quake in Argentina, on the other hand, was recorded at 6.3.  Here is one of the many photos showing just what a force nature can be.

Earthquakes are not at all infrequent.  For example, one chart shows that 358,214 epicenters were recorded between 1963 and 1998.  Occasionally, it is not even the earthquakes themselves that cause tremendous damage and loss of life.  Often they are accompanied by tsunamis or landslides resulting from the shock of the earthquake and its aftershocks.  The effect of tsunamis was perhaps most tragically illustrated in recent years by the 2004 earthquake in the Indian Ocean and its resulting series of tsunamis, where nearly 230,000 people in 14 countries were killed.  Much of the loss of life there was also attributed to the lack of tsunami warning systems in the area affected.

Tsunamis following this recent quake in Chile were also a major concern.  Fortunately for other regions, so far, the death and destruction have not been widespread except to areas near Chile.   Tsunami watches in California and Hawaii have been discontinued, although nations on the Asian side of the Pacific Rim are still bracing themselves.

Although I have spent much of my life in areas within or surrounded by mountains, I have had the very good fortune never to have experienced first-hand an earthquake epicenter.   I experienced several small earthquakes when I lived in Montana, many of them merely gentle shakes.  I even slept through an earthquake that occurred in Tangier, Morocco when I lived there in the late 1960s.  We were astonished to find out that it had made international headlines.  The tremors were significant enough to cause several individuals to spend the night on the beach, but we didn't even have bad dreams that night.

The most recent experience that I have consciously had consisted of tremors from an earthquake with an epicenter near Besançon in France in February 2004.  The earthquake registered 5.5, and we felt the tremors in Geneva.  I was still at work, as was my colleague in the adjoining office.  Most others had left.  Both of us were concentrating so hard on our work that when the building began to shake, neither of us quite believed what was happening.   By the time we realized it was an earthquake, the tremors had ceased.  Interestingly, HWMBO and I had already planned to make a weekend visit to Besançon shortly thereafter.  Happily, the quake had not caused much damage and certainly no loss to life.  We did not change our plans, visited the city and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

But the earthquake that I will never forget occurred when I was still living with my family on the high plains of north-central Montana, about 40 miles from the Canadian border.  The quake occurred some 300 or more miles to the south of us, near Yellowstone Park in August 1959.  The quake measured 7.6 (as later revised upwards from 7.3) and was the largest known earthquake for the state of Montana in recorded history.  OK ... our recorded earthquake history in Montana isn't THAT long.  But still ... .

The quake caused a 70 million ton landslide that ultimately formed a landslide dam on the Madison River.  The landslide travelled down the south side of a mountain killing 28 people who were camped in a nearby campground and further downstream along the Madison River.  The quake also caused several geysers in Yellowstone Park to erupt and muddied several hot springs there.  In addition to creating what is now known as Quake Lake, the landslide destroyed those homes and cabins in its path.  Had Montana been a more densely populated area (the population for the state in July 2008, several years later, stood at 967,440) or had the campground been as full as it would have been earlier in the summer, the death toll would have been much worse.

What I remember about that event is that it was late at night and my brother and I were playing chess in the kitchen, with family members, especially my mother, offering much more help to my brother than they were to me.  It is fair to say that my brother was five years younger than I, so that help was definitely more fair to him, even though I didn't think so at the time.   It is also correct to say that he became a much better chess player later on than I ever would be.  I also remember that my mother had just helped my brother with a particularly brilliant move, which miffed me no end, and it was my turn.  I was trying to plan my strategy to get out of a very tight spot -- without much success -- when suddenly the table began shaking.  Chess pieces flew all over the place.  My first thought was that someone had deliberately shaken the table to spoil my next move.  Then I realized that no one other than my brother was close enough to the table to shake it.  My brother was too young to make it move like that.  As I raised my head in a dazed fashion, we all realized that we were experiencing an earthquake.  Dad quickly turned on the radio and we all learned about the earthquake.  At that time, we had no idea that it had had such far-reaching consequences.  It was only the next day that we heard about all the poor souls who had died.  For Montana, it was a tragedy of breathtaking consequence, just as any tragedy must always be for all those who lose loved ones, livelihood or property.      

My thoughts are with those who are suffering in Chile now, as they are with those who are still suffering in Haiti today ... as they are with all those who suffer any and everywhere in this world ... because of disasters, whether natural or man-made.   There, but for the grace of all the Powers That Be, we ourselves could be now.