Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Earthquake in Florida? What's the World Coming to?

I had to laugh. Never a dull moment around here.

I guess there is a first for everything. They say we had an earthquake this morning. It is true that I felt something, but I thought it was my aging body and not our aging earth.

The earthquake was category 6 on the Richter scale and it originated in the Gulf of Mexico off Tampa.

According to United States Geological Survey, the last great Florida quake took place near St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida, in 1879, January 12 with the intensity of cat. 6.

The way they describe it is:
"Plaster was shaken down and articles were thrown from shelves at St. Augustine and, to the south, at Daytona Beach. At Tampa, a trembling motion was preceded by a rumbling sound. Felt from a line joining Tallahassee, Florida, to Savannah, Georgia, on the north to a line joining Punta Rassa and Daytona Beach, Florida, on the south. Two shocks occurred, each lasting 30 seconds."

Today's quake was a bit more daring one, although there are no faults around Florida to the best of scientific knowledge.

Today's news says:
" The quake, with a magnitude of 6.0, came from about 6.2 miles (10km) below the Gulf surface, about 250 miles (405 km) south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida. The tremor hit at 10:56 a.m. EDT (1456 GMT) and was felt in parts of Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama. Media reports from Tampa, Florida, said residents reported feeling their buildings vibrate for up to 20 seconds.

USGS geophysicist Jessica Sigala said residents along the Gulf and as far north as northern Georgia reported feeling the ground shake but there were no reports of damage or casualties on land. Sigala said there also had been no reported damage to oil rigs in the Gulf.

The USGS said there was no danger of a tsunami.

Quakes in the Gulf are infrequent and Sunday's was the largest of more than a dozen shocks that have been recorded in the area in the past 30 years. Before the Sunday quake, the most recent in the area were a 5.2 tremor in February and a 4.4 in October 2003.

Sigala said the quake area is not located on a geological fault but rather in the middle of the North American plate. The quakes could be caused by the release of long-term stress under the plate, she said."

Oh well, we have to rival California in more ways than one, and not just with oranges.