Shaking at the Knees

So when I was younger (and much more naive), I said that I wanted to experience (and live through, of course!) every type of major natural disaster, just to say I had. This includes hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruption, and the like. Some of these events just don't happen in NC, so I was basically outta luck. Got the hurricane thing down to a science. They're really not that bad. Just a lot of rain and wind (don't drive in it). I missed the big flood at home (had just gone off to college a month earlier), and tornados happen, but very rarely so "Twister" will have to suffice.

Being in Dominica (which is essentially the top of a volcano), I get to have earthquakes now. Granted, they're pretty much tremors (lasting a second or two) and they haven't been huge (just rattled the house a couple of times), but nevertheless they are still unnerving. And apparently the shallower ones (the ones you hear but don't really feel) aren't tectonic, but magmatic (hehe, I just quoted "Dante's Peak"~ I know too many movie lines!). I hope you have seen the movie "Joe versus the Volcano" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (1980's movie, not great but entertaining). In this (disclaimer: from what I remember), Joe (Hanks) discovers he has an incurable disease and takes a trip to an island where he is to be the sacrifice. He's going to jump into the volcano on the island to appease the volcano gods, so it doesn't erupt and the island will continue to survive and prosper. On the way there, he and Meg Ryan happen to fall in love, and she obviously doesn't want him to go through with the sacrifice (I promise, you'll see where I'm going with this in a minute). So when Joe (and Meg, bc they're in love and obviously if one dies, they both have to) are jumping into the volcano it decides it's going to erupt and they get shot out of the top of it into the ocean. They watch as the island sinks and everyone is killed except them (they survive with some high tech luggage that floats, but anyway...). The point is, if Dominica decides to erupt, then I want to be that person that makes it off the island and is sitting there watching it sink (this is the only stipulation, dying isn't an option). The reason I'm getting all these earthquakes is apparently bc the side of the island I'm on is really close to a fault (it runs in the channel in between Dominica and Guadeloupe), and the north side of the mountain close to me (I'm on the south west side of it) is supposed to eventually fall off into the ocean and take out Guadeloupe with a tsunami (if that happens, maybe Dominica will actually make the nightly news and people will have heard of it!). So, I'll keep you posted on that situation. :) Until then, keep in mind that you might be in for a "rolling good time" if you come visit!