Earthquake Ripples Through Town

Just before 2 pm today, I felt the whole house shake. I went outside to see if a tree had hit the roof or something, and all I saw was a couple of very upset squirrels leaping from the roof to the trees, yelling their own complaints.

A quick check of CNN showed Sara Sidner reporting live outside the Gadhafi Compound at risk of apparent immediate harm from live rounds being fired. They broke away at 1:56 pm to report a 5.8 earthquake in Washington, DC. Within a half hour, the report changed to a 5.9 quake reported by the USGS as originating from 3.7 miles deep under Mineral, VA. Pat felt the quake in New York City.

 The US is really getting pounded by natural disasters this year. I've just gotten another e-mail alert to be prepared for a local flooding disaster response resulting from whatever Hurricane Irene is likely to dish out. Our local counties have already been saturated with enough water, and substantial rainfall has the Red Cross chapter in Tinton Falls calling for disaster volunteers to call in their response readiness.

 I suppose now is as good a time as any to provide links to disaster preparedness lists:

 1. Hurricane Safety checklist
 2. Thunderstorm Safety checklist
 3. Flood/flashflood Safety checklist
 4. Earthquake Preparedness Safety checklist
 5. Red Cross Preparedness Facts / Other Safety files

You could also contact, and offer your services as an American Red Cross volunteer.  Should you never deploy to a national disaster, you would still be very well trained in disaster preparedness.  The Jersey Coast Chapter covers Monmouth and Ocean Counties and is always looking for applicants.