I Survived An Earthquake

In fact, I slept right through it.   But it woke my wife up at about four in the morning today, and she woke me up.  She asked me if I had felt anything, but I said no.  "I think it was an earthquake," she said.  "It really made the room kind of rattle".  I had gone to bed later than my wife had, and I wear a CPAP machine to treat my sleep apnea, so that may have been the reason it didn't disturb me enough to wake me.  

At first I thought she might be mistaken about it really being an earthquake.  We live near Chicago, an area where earthquakes are not common.  We took a look out of the bedroom window, but saw nothing that would explain vibration or shaking of the house.  Since all was quiet, I went back to bed for awhile.  But she woke me up later to tell me that she'd been listening to the news, and that it HAD been an earthquake.  We took a quick look around the house, but nothing seemed to be broken, no pictures had fallen off the wall, and nothing had fallen off of a shelf or out of a  cabinet.  As I walked down a hall I halted for a moment.  What was that?  Did I smell a gas leak?  But then I realized it was just an incense stick my wife was burning, as she normally does every morning.

A couple of hours later, which was still fairly early, I gave my mom and dad a call, just to forestall any worries they might feel if they heard the quake mentioned in the news.  They live in Missouri, and hadn't felt anything there.  While I was talking with them on the phone, I could hear the news on their TV playing in the background, and eventually the quake was briefly mentioned by their local news.  But by that time I'd already told them about it, and that all was fine.  

The only reason I mention this experience with a mild quake, which is nothing at all compared to the terror and tragedy of the recent quake in Haiti, is to report that it made me think.  My wife and I had made a donation soon after the Haiti quake.  I sympathized and empathized with the people of Haiti, I thought-- but I found that after this tiny local quake I sympathized more.  I empathized more deeply.  This morning we happened to be in the middle of a fairly heavy snow storm.  Temperatures were low.  It was sobering to think how the weather conditions could make a really serious earthquake even worse.  Trying to imagine how ice- and snow-covered roads could slow down rescue efforts, I was reminded forcibly of all the logistical complications that have made aid delivery to Haiti slow and difficult.  

If there's one thing I would have a reader take from this Hub, it's this:

Beware the leaven of the Rush Limbaughs of this world.

Despite what Limbaugh might have us think, there is still much to be done to alleviate suffering in Haiti and the rest of the world--even after we've paid our taxes.  Taxes are, of course, an important way to fund relief and rescue services and to deliver altruism in a tangible form.  For example, military branches are funded by taxes, and militaries serve a vital role in providing relief and rescue during natural disasters and the aftermath.  The photos I've included in this Hub were actually taken after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  After the San Francisco quake, among other things, the Army built more than 5,000 houses to provide shelter for about 20,000 people left homeless by the quake and by the devastating fires that swept through the city as ruptured gas mains ignited.

However, in addition to tax-provided relief, other funds, food, and aid poured in to 1906 San Francisco from all over the rest of the United States and from the rest of the world as well.  Railroads brought in food cooked and baked by citizens living in other states.  Insurance claims were paid, mainly on fire damages, even though many insurance companies went bankrupt in the process.  It is interesting that, after the 1906 quake, it was considered to change fire insurance policies so that fires caused by earthquakes would not be covered.  But there was a VERY strong outcry against this by "common ordinary citizens" in the United States.  They were outraged at the idea of withholding insurance benefits from people left destitute by a terrible natural disaster.  I wonder how things would have turned out differently for the relief and restoration, not just of San Francisco, but of the human individuals affected by the San Francisco quake, if Rush Limbaugh had been time-transported back to 1906 and the people back then had really listened to him and taken his brand of "enlightenment" to heart?  But I think people back then were made of sterner stuff, than to have their heads and hearts turned by the type of twaddle peddled by Limbaugh.  And it seems that even these days, most people are also proof to being convinced by Rush's polemic against, well, against listening to the better promptings of their hearts--- the still, small voice inside that urges us to try to live up to the example set by the Good Samaritan.

So let us think of, speak of, and write of, the things we can do, not just to alleviate suffering, but to prevent it.  And let us act upon our ideas.  Let us respond quickly when others cry out in distress.  What MORE can we do?  This is the question that needs to be asked.  The road will not be smooth, but we owe it to others and ourselves to travel down it.

if you know of another Hub or other link worth reading on helping Haiti after the earthquake there, or that's about disaster relief/prevention in general, please feel free to paste the link in your comment.  I know that such links are often considered to trespass against "non-self-promotion" etiquette on Hubpages, but I think for a topic like this there are larger things to consider.  I tried to include a sampling of other related Hubs in my links above, but I've likely left out a lot of other excellent Hubs.