We had a few quiet drinks last night over dinner. When I went to bed, I felt fine. A small meal and a decent day’s exercise, and I fully expected a sound sleep.
So why did I wake up at about 4 a.m. this morning with my bed vibrating and shaking? As I lay there thinking what could have happened, the bed continued to shake, and the outside sliding door of our hotel room started banging. That was strange as well. I locked that door last night. Also, sliding glass doors shouldn’t really bang, should they? Why were the dogs barking outside?
It was stifling hot. The Air Conditioner was not working optimally, and I needed to check the settings in the morning. Waves were going to be small, but I needed to get another surf in, as the water was still sitting at around 28 degrees, and the air temperature forecast for the day was 32 degrees.
My mind wandered off a bit. It was, after all, in the 4’s part of the morning, and at that time of day, thoughts sometimes fail to coalesce.
Then it dawned on me. Bed spinning, sliding door banging. Dogs barking. Had something more serious happened?
I grabbed my phone and hit Mrs Google with a quick ‘earthquake Bali’ ping.
Reuters, of all people, came back to me with a concise
‘Earthquake of magnitude 7.1 strikes Bali Sea, Indonesia. 3.55 a.m.’
I was now wide awake. We are here on the coast in Bali, with easy access to the sea and the surf. We are on top of the Bali Cliffs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there would be no danger from a tsunami.
I started scouring the sites and the US GOV earthquake and tsunami.gov sites.
The news was coming through. Full on 7.1 on the Charles F. Richter scale, in the Bali Sea. That’s a decent hit for an earthquake. Common sense always sets off a klaxon when the scale goes north of seven.
By the time it reached us, however, the force of the quake had lessened to what could be described as a slight shaking of the earth’s surface. The earthquake happened so deep (514km depth) that there were no tsunami warnings. I haven’t been outside yet as it is still dark, but the Bali night is silent and still.
My mind drifted to Ernest Hemingway for some reason. Did you know the great writer survived two plane crashes in two days?
With a bed vibrating and shaking a little and a sliding door banging, we would be fine.
The Editor
https://7news.com.au/weather/earthquakes/indonesia-rocked-by-71-magnitude-earthquake-c-11734600
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