The Shake

It was a morning much like every other morning where I am up early to put on a pot of coffee, check my finances and email on my laptop and prepare for a short workout before heading off to work. It is usual for me to write a short post in my blog because it is the silent time of the day for me and the time that my mind seems to be at it’s sharpest. Little did I know that this would be the first morning of a 30 day ride through the world of survival.

It was around 4:30 AM while reading a few posts from my favorite writers that felt the tremble of civilization. Although I lived in Oregon City, being on the outskirts seemed more like suburban to me rather than urban. I know plenty of folks who live near downtown and are crammed in so tight that it is a challenge to find a parking space when they come home from work. The house started to feel like it was tilting in the first mili-second of the the event to be quickly followed by the feeling of being shaken violently. I managed to not fall my seat as I grabbed the island section of my kitchen counter and sat and watched as items slowly started slipping and sliding and eventually crashing to the floor from the tables that they sat upon. This lasted about a minute before the the lights went out during the same time that I grabbed my LED flashlight and ran upstairs to find my wife screaming in bed. She looked at me and asked, “What is going on”? My reply to her was “I really don’t know, but I can only imagine that we are having an earthquake.”

After another few minutes the shaking subsided and we both dressed and went downstairs to try to find out what was going on. We found ourselves walking around the house with flashlights trying to not trip over the pictures frames and lamps that had fallen. As we shined our lights around us to check for additional damage we noticed that everything appeared OK. The kitchen cabinets did not shake off of the walls and no windows were broken.

At first we thought that we had just had a simple event but this didn’t last long. I found my emergency hand crank radio as it was obvious that their was no TV to get our news from. What we listened to over next few hours was heart wrenching. Nearby Portland was reporting buildings that had collapsed, broken water mains flooding out area’s of the City along with broken gas mains which had already caught fire and sending large flames in every direction imaginable. Meanwhile on the outskirts of the big City many other urban area’s were reporting the same devastation. In the background of a few of these reports you could here people yelling and screaming in the background.

It wasn’t long before we felt the house shake once again and then again during this first morning. Each event felt a little less than the one before.

I decided to take a walk on this brisk January morning to see what was going on around the neighborhood. Most of the homes looked it tact however I noticed that there were several tree’s down and blocking the roads. In our little neighborhood there are only 2 ways in and out from the main road and they are both blocked. I met with several neighbors who were already discussing ways to cut up the fallen tree’s and move them out of the way. There is one thing that is very unique to the Pacific Northwest and that is tree’s.

So here the story begins and although it is only made up inside my mind I will enjoy sharing my thoughts and idea’s on how to prepare for an event of this magnitude. As I describe individual scenario’s and my thoughts on each I would love to hear your input as it will be valuable to all that are reading these posts. You input could one day be responsible for saving lives.