Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas!
Usually a Christmas email isn't justified because nothing much exciting happens here in St. Vincent, and you can read about what does happen on my St. Vincent blog at [http://svgb.karleklund.net]. But this year is an exception.
On the morning of November 29th I was sitting watching the TV with a cup of coffee and I had a strange feeling. As it got stronger I saw the whole house was rocking and rolling and it kept doing that for about 30 seconds. I heard a small crash, which turned out to be a pile of books destined to be a donation to the local library. Sally and Veronica (our household helper) were in different places in the house and when they could let go of what they were holding on to, they rushed into the living room. We decided it was clearly an earthquake, but was it La Soufrier, our volcano?
I rushed to the computer and eventually found it was a 7.4 earthquake 18km below the sea between Martinique and Domenica, where some noticeable damage was done on both islands. The attached picture is the cathedral on Dominica. The earthquake was the strongest recorded since the 1700s, but the shocks weren't sharp and sudden so it didn't do a lot of damage. But it was interesting--on the east coast of the US we don't get very many serious earthquakes and I had never felt anything like that.
Oh, and our volcano is still quiet.
Otherwise, we did our usual doctor visits this summer and we continue to be in reasonable health for the old f#rts we are.
So have a Merry Christmas and we'll all hope for another Good Year.
With love,
Sally & Karl Eklund
Usually a Christmas email isn't justified because nothing much exciting happens here in St. Vincent, and you can read about what does happen on my St. Vincent blog at [http://svgb.karleklund.net]. But this year is an exception.
On the morning of November 29th I was sitting watching the TV with a cup of coffee and I had a strange feeling. As it got stronger I saw the whole house was rocking and rolling and it kept doing that for about 30 seconds. I heard a small crash, which turned out to be a pile of books destined to be a donation to the local library. Sally and Veronica (our household helper) were in different places in the house and when they could let go of what they were holding on to, they rushed into the living room. We decided it was clearly an earthquake, but was it La Soufrier, our volcano?
I rushed to the computer and eventually found it was a 7.4 earthquake 18km below the sea between Martinique and Domenica, where some noticeable damage was done on both islands. The attached picture is the cathedral on Dominica. The earthquake was the strongest recorded since the 1700s, but the shocks weren't sharp and sudden so it didn't do a lot of damage. But it was interesting--on the east coast of the US we don't get very many serious earthquakes and I had never felt anything like that.
Oh, and our volcano is still quiet.
Otherwise, we did our usual doctor visits this summer and we continue to be in reasonable health for the old f#rts we are.
So have a Merry Christmas and we'll all hope for another Good Year.
With love,
Sally & Karl Eklund
# posted by Karl Eklund @ 9:27 AM 
