I Predict Earthquakes
by Adam Voith

SEATTLE, Feb. 28, 2001 — The report from the edge of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle regarding Wednesday's earthquake is as follows: Man, traffic is a bitch out there.

The line of cars on the street running in front of my house stretches further than I can see, up and over the hills in both directions. Honking. A few sirens. A cop on the loudspeaker: "DO NOT BLOCK THE INTERSECTION!"

It's 3:30 in the afternoon. Approximately four hours ago, the city shook for a minute, and shook pretty hard.

The phones are letting calls through in the same way my dial-up Internet access used to let info through. Little spurts. I get in touch briefly with my roommate at his work. I speak to my fiancé. All seems well. I can't reach my parents back in Indiana on the phone, but we're talking via instant messages. "You live too far away!" they type. "We don't like hearing about what's going on in your life on the news, but we're glad you're okay."

I was at work when the quake hit, and I was the first one out of my seat heading for a doorway to post up on.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

I announced it confidently. The building I work in has been surrounded by construction for over a year, so a shaking building doesn't necessarily mean earthquake, but I knew better.

Last night as I crawled into bed after a long day of work, I felt a minor wiggle. I thought for sure it was a quake, but due to the lack of more tremors and no concern coming from my roommate's bedroom, I decided it was only my cat fooling around at the foot of the bed. I drifted off, sleepily preparing my plan of action should the imagined quake materialize in the middle of the night.

People on the West Coast will tell you that they're prepared for these things. They'll tell you that they expect them. The buildings are constructed with the uncontrollable nasties in mind. But Seattle's a young city. There are a large number of newcomers like myself, transplanted from the lands of tornados and hurricanes. For lots of people out here, today's quake was a first.

But regardless, I was ready. That half-conscious jilt just before sleep last night stuck with me today. Apparently, I can predict earthquakes. There was no need to think about what to do when my monitor started shaking in front of my eyes.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

And I told everyone we should stay calm and take cover, just like I half-thought (half-dreamt) I would do last night.

After the rumbling was over, we were all milling around for a while, sharing stories about past quakes we'd experienced, trying to call loved ones, tuning in less-than-stable radio stations for updates. I took a walk out around the company grounds and listened as clusters of people said the same thing other clusters of people said. Where they were. What they did. What fell off the shelves. How blessed they are since they weren't in the Space Needle or up in the construction cranes nearby.

Back at my desk, frustrated with the phone lines, I decided to start e-mailing friends and family. The phone lines were gone, but e-mail survived! All hail the e-world, that great retrofitted highway that can survive ugly slaps from the hand of nature!

After electronically easing the fears of those who might be worried, I started checking out news websites. I was surprised to find that Seattle, and something I'd experienced, was dominating The Drudge Report. News of President Bush's address to Congress was washed away. Even an article in the very liberal New York Observer calling for Hillary's resignation was buried under the rubble of instant worldwide reporting concerning my neck of the woods. CNN.com had the quake story front and center. MSNBC.com, too. Reports were coming in that the thing rated anywhere from 6.2 - 7.0 on the shaker scale.

Things at the office calmed, and after a while, I headed home for the day. I'm a part-timer, a lucky stroke — the traffic thickened to a near standstill just after I pulled my car into the driveway as offices began deciding to let workers head home early.

It wasn't until I got off the roads and into my apartment that the whole ordeal started sinking in. My cat is planted under the bed, terrified with no plans of coming out of hiding anytime soon. The TV news stations are non-stop on the scene with shots of crumbled brick buildings, broken roads, and cars pummeled with debris. There is footage from a Microsoft news conference going on during the quake with reporters scrambling in every direction. Numerous on-the-fly documentaries of the event captured by unsuspecting and bored webcams show workers fleeing their desks as the earth, and everything sitting on top of it, began moving.

I quickly start to get the picture that this wasn't just a minute or two of unease. Any quake over 6.0 on the scale means business. While I escaped unscathed and injuries around the city seem minimal, members of Congress, the governor, police chiefs, mayors and citizens speak in terms of emergency. The real action lasted just a moment, but the aftermath and gravity of the situation are still coming in hours later. I'm receiving messages with subject lines like: "Are you alive?" and "The Earth: She Moves!"

There aren't many things to make you feel connected to an area like an earthquake. After it's passed, you're wholly in touch with everyone around you, knowing you've all got the same thing on your mind. When it first happened, I felt a sick little "Yes! An earthquake!" But that passed when I saw that there was actual damage. There are some people in the hospital. There are cars stuck in wild traffic.

This quake wasn't quite The Big One that's been predicted for years and years, but a big one nonetheless ... a big one I predicted last night. As I sit here looking out my window at this traffic, hearing these sirens, I can't help but feel a little guilty.

At 1:00 AM last night I was warned with a few twitches, apparently unnoticed by the rest of the region. Seattle, I've failed. And due to my failure, there you sit, stranded on a hill waiting for 20 or 30 rounds of green lights before you make any real progress. You want to check your roof for cracks. You want to get home and straighten your pictures hanging on the walls. To whom much is given, much is expected. I can predict earthquakes, and today I say: "Seattle, I've failed and I'm sorry."

E-mail Adam Voith at adam at tnibooks dot com.