The Day the Earth Moved in Ottawa, there were Tremors in Toronto. Earthquake!

Today we experienced tremors, 5.0 on the Richter scale.  I was in a second floor bedroom. My laptop suddenly slid toward me. The desk moved as if a large dog had suddenly stood up beneath it.  Earthquake? No, not possible.

The Billy bookshelves started to sway.  I realized how bad an idea it was to have perched boxes of family photos on top of the bookshelves, that were unsecured along the wall, contrary to the installation instructions. A bunch of artificial flowers I'd tossed on top, out of the way, began to tremble. Poltergeist activity? Was that more likely than an earthquake?

Years ago, I was in Los Angeles, staying in a ground-floor apartment off Wilshire, near La Cienaga. I was in the shower when the building started to shake. I remember wondering if there was a subway line running under the building. Maybe a convoy of heavy trucks was passing by? I got out of the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, opened the bathroom door, and watched as my host's glass-framed photos crashed from the wall to the floor. Then the tremors stopped.

Now, in Toronto years later, I realized that this was an earthquake on the same scale--if this one stopped. I ran downstairs, knowing it's better to run outside during an earthquake than be trapped under falling debris.

By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, the tremors ceased.  I tried to call my daughter in Ottawa, but the cell phone networks were jammed. When we later spoke, she told me that she'd been sitting outside on the grass, trying to get her new puppy to pee outside. When the tremors started, it frightened them both. She hoped this wouldn't have a negative effect on her puppy's house-training.

This hadn't been a real emergency, but it made me think. Where is the "Family Emergency Kit" we're supposed to have ready and waiting in the front hall closet "just in case"?  The back-pack I'd planned to use is somewhere on a shelf in my closet. The first-aid kit is in a bottom cabinet in the kitchen. There's an emergency sleeping bag  in the basement, under a spare bed. Not exactly convenient in case I ever did have to pick up and run.

I know where my passport is, but my husband's?  Our prescriptions pills are in different places. The flashlight is in the basement. I can't remember when I last checked the battery.

I "know" where everything I'd need in an emergency is, but in a real emergency, it would be a panic trying to get it all together. We might never have a tremor again, but other things could happen.

I'm thinking I should get serious about filling up a backpack with some essentials and clearing some winter boots out of the front hall cupboard to make space for it.

We  never expected we'd have an earthquake here--but weather and world situations are unpredictable. 
Check out how you can improve your family's chances of surviving a disaster at http://www.getprepared.ca/