Just a few more notes about the earthquake:

The time it struck was 4:35.

Straightening up the apartment, I noticed something rather odd and interesting: certain book-cases did not move at all and hardly any of the books were disturbed, while the cases in my front office toppled. Also, certain stacks of papers (yep, I have them!) and Cd’s shifted, while others sitting within a few feet of them were untouched. This leads me to believe that the quake went “through” our apartment complex at an angle.

According to Kevin Wood’s paper (the Yomiuri) for Sunday, July 24, 2005, the quake was a 6.0 on the Richter scale. According to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale With Magnitude Equivalents, that would have given us an intensity of a high 7 to low 8 and a description that ranges from: “Felt by all, many frightened and run outside. Some heavy furniture moved…” to “…Damage slight in specially designed structures, considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse….”

So far we haven’t felt any aftershocks.

There were a few minor injuries (thank God), and a few minor problems with buildings and outdoor structures, but most of the newer structures have been built to ride out lower-scale earthquakes.

The stag beetles are still scuffling in the hall.