Whilst we're talking about physical geography

On the evening of 14th September, I was putting the boys to bed and I heard some of the metal shelves rattling in the next room (playroom). I just thought something had fallen off the shelf. Went in to our room to change (to go to the gym would you believe?) and again I heard stuff banging against each other - thought nothing of it. THEN I (stupidly) went to the lift ... which, as usual, behaved erratically - but a bit more so. You, reader, can guess the plot - Mr Stupid here did not put the clues together. I bumped into a security guard -- sure enough, he asked me if I felt the earthquake.

DOH slap-to-forehead moment. Of course. I'd been in a small quake in San Francisco before -- but it just did not occur to me that they'd happen in HK. My Bro-in-Law warned me there are quakes in HK -- but I dismissed it.

This quake was 3.5 on the Richter Scale -- typically for me, this was the biggest quake in HK for 11 years. I say typically for me because stats like that are always happening to me e.g. when we moved to Crowthorne, we were worried about being so close to Broadmoor (the High Security Mental Institution) .... no one had escaped from there for over 12 years. Naturally enough, 3 people escaped in the first year we were living there (in Crowthorne, not Broadmoor).

Where was I? Oh yes, Quakes.

Found a great HK site (official Govt site -- they're pretty good at this kind of thing ... much clearer, or at least more accessible compared to the UK) which discusses quakes and Tsunamis and what is being done to a) monitor and b) protect against the likelihood. All very re-assuring.


RECORD OF TREMORS FELT IN HK

"Since 1874, a total of 6 tremors of Intensity V (5) or above have been felt in Hong Kong. The strongest of these occurred in 1918 arising from a Magnitude 7.3 earthquake at Shantou about 300 kilometres east-northeast of Hong Kong. The tremor caused only minor damages and cracks to buildings locally and its intensity was estimated to be VI to VII (6 to 7) on the Modified Mercalli Scale. From 1979 to present, a total of 52 locally felt tremors were reported, averaging two a year. Most of these tremors were of Intensity III to IV (3 to 4). There were five with Intensity II (2) and only one with a stronger Intensity V to VI (5 to 6).


Since 1979, there were altogether six locally felt tremors with epicentres located in Hong Kong, at Maipo (once in 1983) and near the east coast of Lantau Island (twice in 1982 and three times in 1995 respectively). All these tremors were below Intensities V (5)."