Earthquake country

I've read quite a few blog posts lately in which some people visiting California go on about how they "just felt their first earthquake" (RE: the most reecent one in Southern California at the end of July) and how the way Californians react to earthquakes are "crazy."

Well, ya know what? I've lived in California long enough to know this: A LOT of earthquakes happen there. So hold on to your hat: You're in earthquake country now! And you know you are a California native when you don't freak out over it or act like the whole world must STOP. I mean, depending on the earthquake, most Californians just go on with their lives, ya know? (Just look at the way Will Smith's character reacts to the quake in the movie Independence Day. Yeah, that's a pretty typical thing. "Ah, it's just a small one. No big deal.")

Mind, that's not the way Californians react to EVERY earthquake. I had the pleasure of being in Northern California when that big 6.4 quake hit. My father and I were at a grocery store and it felt like the whole store was picked up then thrown back down. Trust me, we DID NOT go back to business as usual after that. In fact, my school was closed the next day and a lot of us were without power for a long time after that quake hit, during which we all experienced aftershocks.

A true Californian is used to the earthquakes that come with living on the West Coast. The fact that we react to it differently than someone from the Midwest or the Northeast doesn't make us "crazy" or weird. I'm sure if we experienced a tornado in Kentucky or a hurricane in Florida, we would think that the way the natives handle things like that with the greatest of ease has a screw loose, or something. (I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that people have parties when a hurricane strikes Florida.) It's just a regional thing, you know? But it doesn't make us crazy or weird. If we ALL freaked out when an earthquake struck California, THAT would make us crazy or weird!

Up here in the Northwest, the biggest threat is flooding. I experienced "flood season" during life in the desert, but I don't think I could handle something as big as what they say could happen to Oregon and Washington with the same nonchalance I've felt over an earthquake. Then again, maybe I just haven't lived here in the Northwest long enough.