-- Stephen L., Newcastle earthquake, Australia, 1989
“It was like a helicopter landing on the roof…”
-- Claire O., Newcastle earthquake, Australia, 1989
“…I thought my sister was jumping on the bed, but the rumbling completely woke me up…”
-- Melanie C., Northridge earthquake, California, USA, January 1994
“…the first earthquake I was terrified, and dove under the table, although like nothing happened…the second and third ones I was asleep, and just woke up, went “huh?” then rolled over and went back to sleep…”
-- Nick D., various earthquakes, California, USA, 1990, 1992, and 1997
“The earth started shaking and the walls rattled…The whole hotel started swaying back and forth. It was very scary.”
-- Philip D., Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
“It just goes to show that no matter where you are or what you’re doing or what time it is, you’re never really 100% safe from anything, especially nature…”
-- Stephen M., Newcastle earthquake, Australia, 1989
“It is a bitter and humiliating thing to see works, which have cost men so much time and labour, overthrown in one minute; yet compassion for the inhabitants is almost instantly forgotten, from the interest excited in finding that state of things produced in a moment of time, which one is accustomed to attribute to a succession of ages.”
-- Charles Darwin, March 1835 (reporting the ruin of Concepción in Chile, by an earthquake)
Forces of Nature: ThinkQuest 2000 (Team #C003603)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/earthquakes/quotations.shtml
“…they thought a truck plowed into the house…”