So, we felt our first earthquake in Chile. We and the city are perfectly fine, as we are more or less in a daily earthquake zone, but this recent one woke us up around 4AM. A 5.0 centered at the coast in Valparaiso, due west of here. And somewhat eerily, Ryan and I actually fell asleep last night talking about our earthquake plan and how we needed a meeting place, how we should re-fill and store those water bottles I keep taking to recycling. (Duh.) Did we sense it? But why my surprise? We expect for dogs to circle and horses to buck and cats to scurry in the hours leading up to an earthquake; why shouldn’t we humans anticipate?

We are both Northern Californians. Having an earthquake plan is second-nature because we grew up making them. It used to be so easy though, walk outside into open space at home in Portola Valley. Here, we are five stories up an 11-story building. Where should we go? Before anyone worries, I feel absolutely safe. Santiago was built to withstand the fault lines it capitalizes, yet another similarity to San Francisco. In fact, I feel safer here, nestled against mountains. Though I miss my morning beach walks something fierce, my old neighborhood’s mid-Tuesday tsunami warning signal is also a thing of the past. New terrain brings new adventure, surely, but also new conditions to prepare for and respect and understand the community impact of since parts of this country are still recovering from last year’s 8.8 megaquake.

And there’s yet another difference. Now, when things go bump in the night, I can reach over and feel that my husband is right there alongside me. Because even when you are perfectly safe, you just want to know that someone else felt it, too.

For anyone else interested in tracking earthquakes and volcanos (as we know we have those down here as well), check out SolarWatcher Channel‘s weekly report.