Rumble at 6am

I was just thinking as I went to bed last night, that we haven’t had our 4+M earthquake this week. Although it’s fair to say that earthquakes are generally always on my mind and especially at night when I’m trying to go to sleep. Well this morning we got our 4.1 for the week as a short, sharp jolt at 6am.

Something I have found very useful in dealing with my earthquake stress is twitter. I’ve had a twitter account for a number of years and used it intermittently on and off but never really got into it. After each aftershock I go straight to twitter and am immediately connected with fellow Cantabrians who are going through the same earthquake hell. It’s nice to see what other people’s experiences have been and to sometimes laugh. Someone tweeted this morning “6am shake-up call”.

It’s also possible to guess the earthquake epicentre on the basis of people’s tweets. For instance, a 3.5 the other night was felt widely in Brighton and surrounds but no-where else. The 4.1 this morning was felt strongly in the Southern suburbs and even caused power outages in Lyttleton and the Heathcote Valley. Not where we are though. Another person tweeted that this morning’s shake got his kids out of bed and they don’t usually move for anything less than a 5M these days. A Mount Pleasant resident tweeted “power back on in Munt Pleasant”.