Displaced Beachbums

On Saturday, we took a mini-vacation here on Guam. Since FM was running in the 20K KoKo Race on Sunday and had a show time of 4 am, we decided to cut out the 30-45 minute drive to the start so we stayed at the Outrigger on Tumon Bay. This allowed FG and I to sleep in an extra 1.5 hours 🙂

When we checked in and the Front Desk agent said “you’re on the 19th Floor”, my heart skipped a beat. For some reason, being that high up sounded a little scary for me. As we were riding the elevator I mentioned to FM that it made me nervous in case there was an earthquake. I got the rolled eyes from both FG and FM who LOVED being so high up. I have to admit the view was great but I kept thinking about what would happen if there was an earthquake ~ which Guam is prone to and actually had a 7.2 magnitude quake as recently as April 2002.  There have been many more little earthquakes since then but usually are too small to be felt. As I was looking up the information on the most recent large earthquake, I saw there was a small earthquake of 4.0 located 50 miles south of Guam that hit this past Friday, October 13.  Didn’t feel it at all.

Anyway, I was so convinced that “something” was going to happen that I was fully dressed (shorts and a t-shirt) when I went to bed and had my shoes at the ready. All the while knowing that it didn’t really matter if I were dressed or not because in the time it takes for the earthquake to take place (a long one is about 25-30 seconds), I would still be trying to get FG ready and out the door.

I got my share of teasing from FG and FM about my reluctance to enjoy the 19th floor but I heard less from them the next day when we heard the news about the 6.6 earthquake that hit my old stomping grounds in Hawaii. My Mom’s family all live on the Big Island of Hawaii and thankfully, they are all OK. Shook-up, but OK.

Even though I was a little off on the location of the earthquake, I’m sure I will continue to listen to the warning whispers in my head and will have more nights going to bed fully dressed.  Or maybe I should keep a closer eye on Sport, lots of research supports the theory that animals can predict an earthquake.