Shake that thing!
I was awakened by the noise of dogs of our neighbors. It seems it is one of those nights that something triggered one dog and it cascaded to the others. With that keen sense that dogs have, little things do get their attention.
I was awaken from a dream I think so being disturbed from sleep that way, there is confusion when you wake up. You don't know if you are dreaming or not. What was the dream all about? Where am I? Also, my partner had to work at their office last night so without my partner's beside me, something feels off. There is an unfamiliarity all around me.
When my senses have acclimatize to the surroundings, which took about some minutes, I then picked up my phone and checked the time.
1:5 a.m.
Then suddenly the earth shook for 1-2 seconds!
I checked online any news about it and one post said it was a 3.4 magnitude but it felt like stronger than that. I quickly messaged my partner and my partner told me that it was really strong. It is so for they are at the higher floor of the building so naturally the shaking is stronger as you go higher.
As a kid who experienced the strongest earthquake that hit our city back in 1990, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, that experience stayed with me throughout my life. It caused a lot of damage in property and killing many people in our city and the surrounding provinces. We haven't had a magnitude as strong as that. I think the strongest was 5+.
It was traumatizing. Earthquakes or any shaking will make my heart race, giving me anxiety.
Back when I was still teaching, I had South Koreans kids who I tutored back then. They haven't had experienced earthquake in their lifetime. The Philippines however experiences earthquakes often that are felt.
One time, while they were in school, there was an earthquake. The Filipino kids were terrified but the South Koreans were excited to experience such! Of course they were nervous and confused for they haven't felt anything like that before. My students told me that the nervousness and confusion was quickly replaced with excitement. Thankfully no one was harmed and no damage was caused by the earthquake. They were sent home early that day and they told me all about it when I went to tutor them that day. That was their first and last earthquake experience during their stay here in our country.
For me, there are more to be felt but hopefully no damage at all.
Earthquake is also one of the scariest natural cataclysms that I don't want to experience. However, we cant deny that our country is prone to earthquakes.