A First Hand Look at Living in Fear of the Next Earthquake in Nevada - Life on the Verdi/Mogul

When I decided to move my family to Reno, Nevada about 2 months ago I had no idea what we were in for. There had been nothing on the news, no one talking about earthquakes, and we were completely clueless. I felt on top of the world moving into my new place, I was finally living with the man of my dreams in our little castle. I spent the first week on princess status, my mind up on cloud nine somewhere. How could life possibly get any better for my family? We were truly happy and secure for the first time in a long time.

It didn't take long before that feeling of security became a feeling of constant fear, I had gone from a state of utter happiness to a state of mental anxiety. Moving from California I had been through a few quakes, I will even say that I was aware we were moving very near a fault line. I guess there just is no way anyone could have been prepared for the past months events, even Reno natives are in a state of shock.

I remember feeling the first one, it was small and nearly uneventful so once it was over we just thought of it as a somewhat isolated event and went on about our activities. By the end of that week we had realized that there was nothing normal about whatever was going on under the streets of the biggest little city in the world. One right after another we have endured earthquake after earthquake, numbers that at times this past month have exceeded 90 per day. There is no time to recover emotionally from the last event before the next one rattles your home and your mind. Friday night when the largest quake (so far) occurred it sent the whole town into a frenzy. We were shaken by a 4.7 quake that removed things from their placement on shelves and walls all across the city, sent boulders tumbling down hillsides, and created confusion and panic among everyone.

There wasn't even enough time to regain control of emotions and soak in what had happened before the aftershocks began and we have endured hundreds since then. It seems the thought most on everyone's mind at this point is, "what's next" ,or "when will we have the big one"? People have begun to either prepare their homes for the next shaker or have just given up and moved. Families forced out of the home that they once felt secure in, lives turned upside down. I have heard from so many people who don't live here, "a 4.7 isn't that bad", "just deal with it", "why are you so worried", or "earthquakes happen in Reno"... What most don't see is that there have been so many factors that have helped create the fear among us all. In my opinion, the 4.7 magnitude quake would have been much more widely tolerated if it weren't for the scores of "smaller" ones that have occurred here in such a short time.

We have seismologists telling us that they have no explanation for the strange events that are happening, they say that it is definitely not "normal" seismological activity. It is pretty standard to have quakes along the fault lines of California and Nevada, but it has never started out small and worked it's way up to "the big one" before. Normally there is the big quake, followed by a series of smaller aftershocks; this is what scientists as well as citizens have come to expect. What we have seen has been far from that protocol, we began with scores of "micro" quakes that occurred on a daily basis and they have been getting progressively worse.

Since there is no way to predict an earthquake we have been advised to prepare. ( Even as I write this we just felt another quake, my mind is consumed with this shaking.) We have centered our lives around trying to be prepared for the unknown, to the point that it doesn't much feel like home anymore. There are gallon jugs of water stowed away, we keep our cell phones and medications in a backpack when not in use. We have had to either strap down or pack away pictures, televisions, and computers in an attempt to save them from what seems inevitable. Screens have been removed from windows to ensure we have another way out, and everyone knows the "plan". Still I wonder, can any plan be perfect, is it even good enough?

Even though I know about disaster preparedness and have even helped educate others on the matter it doesn't ever feel like we are doing enough. I have never been in a position where I feel as though each day could truly be my last to make amends or express my love until now. Life is never guaranteed and no one can be sure they will be granted a tomorrow to do what they didn't do today, but I now feel as though I am flirting with disaster. It is such an awful feeling when you go to bed at night wondering if everyone knows just how much you love them. I guess at the same time it has also allowed us all an opportunity to reflect on all the things we regularly take for granted, and to realize that it truly can all be gone in an instant.

We have decided not to move away at this point, but are keeping the thought of retreating to a land less shaken at the front of our minds. For now we will do our best to stay prepared and to manage life in a house that is mostly packed away or disassembled. No matter where you go in the world there will be a chance for some disaster. You can't run away from all danger so sometimes it is best to learn to live with it and to enjoy every second of your life to the fullest extent. Life on the Verdi/Mogul goes on, shaken, but not stirred!