Today I was planning to write about happy things, wait for the CPI data to come in and was planning to ride the waves. A normal day I would say. Then three hours ago, out of the blue, my office chair started to move back and forth, again, just like it did yesterday. It was like when someone wass pushing and pulling your chair, you just could not see who it was or where the person was standing. You look around to see what's happening and see there's no one around to play pranks on you.
This happened yesterday in my country. An earthquake of 5.2 magnitude, categorized as intensity 5.
This is where it happened.
Then this happened 3 hours or so ago, at 15:16 EET. Another earthquake at the same place, but this time the magnitude was 5.7, which means intensity 6. Two small aftershocks followed, one of 3.4 magnitude and the last one was of 3.5 and then there was on of 4.1 at 17:24:29 EET .
I don't live in the vicinity of the events, but I was still able to feel both bigger ones, yesterday and today as well. It was only for a few seconds, like 10 seconds maybe, but trust me, you don't want to know how it feels like, or what can cause an earthquake like that.
According to the latest news, in Targu Jiu, the closest city to where the epicenter of the earthquake was, the chimneys of the city hall collapsed, damaged a few cars, shops in that area will need to rearrange shelves and clean up the floor, but so far no other major damage or casualty has been reported.
When the earthquake started, I knew exactly what it was. I'm not used to it (thank God), but I knew what was going on. Yet, I did nothing as I knew it can't be that bad as the seismic zone of the country is far from where I live. However, my first thought was what would I pack in 1 or 2 minutes. I know, in these cases you don't have 1 or 2 minutes, but still, this is how the human mind works I suppose.
After the scare was gone, I started thinking of how unpredictable life is. Last year I had the same thoughts, when the Russian - Ukrainian war started. I was thinking what would I take with me if I would be forced to leave home in a rush. That was when I started to seriously put my affairs in order.
This time I had my backpack in my room, by chance, but in case of an earthquake, you don't have much time though. If you're lucky, you can gather your savings, if you have any, your papers and a few things, but quite many don't have that luxury, if the first one is of a high magnitude. I'm not an expert, but I think the first one is the strongest, so if that does not kill you ... There's a possibility more is coming and if your building gets damaged by the first one, you may be safer outside, if you can make it.
I'm not the faint-hearted type, to be afraid of my own shadow and these events did not scare me, but made me think though. We live in constant uncertainty, one bad thing comes after another, you never know what's going to happen next. This is life, maybe it's been always like this, but somehow I feel like bad things are happening more often lately.
This makes me change the way I think and live. There's always something you can do to make your life better or to enjoy what life is offering you. Cut out the bad, focus on what is important, while you can.
Some of those who live in Turkey and Syria had no second chance. Some were lucky to be rescued, even after days, while others are still buried under heavy concrete. How many have died in the Russian - Ukrainian war and how many are displaced all over the world, without any hope for a normal life. And I haven't even mention covid yet.
What is normal? I think normal is redefined every day and if you can't see that, you have a problem, a big one. What's going to happen tomorrow? Will there be another earthquake? Will it be stronger than the one we had today? Can anyone answer these questions? I don't think so.
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