This week there has been lots of moving and shaking in Nicaragua! I am sure it is all connected to the earthquakes in the South Pacific, we are all part of that "burning ring of fire".
Monday I came home from work and took a shower, a thunderstorm had started and I thought, I should get dressed right away instead of lounging around in my towel for awhile, just in case there is an earthquake. A few minutes later there was a 4.4 Richter scale tremor. It felt stronger than the first one I had felt here and seemed to last longer, only a couple of seconds. I think I had the little premonition because the first time I felt a quake here was in the afternoon, around the same time during a thunderstorm too.
Adrienn, friend and 6th grade science teacher, commented today during a rain storm, that earthquakes often happen at that time, when a drastic change in temperature happens. And it was really hot today! I don't know what temperature has to do with plate tectonics, but people have often said here that earthquakes happen when it is really hot, which to me it always seems really hot. Maybe it is an old wives tale, or maybe I know nothing about earthquakes, being a New England girl and all!
Tuesday night there were two small tremors, I didn't feel them, but Ivan felt one and my students were talking about it in class. Last night there was a noticeable one as well. I am told that lots of small tremors are good! Small releases of pressure instead of pressuring building up and resulting in a large earthquake. They say when there hasn't been tremors in awhile, they start getting nervous. This makes sense to me, but I also feel like small tremors are warnings to something more to come, like signs before a volcanic eruption.
Anyway, I have been checking up on the Nicaraguan Seismic Monitoring website and there have been quite a few tremors each day (25 yesterday!), many too small to feel. Most are originating from near Volcan Apoyeque, which is on Lake Managua, not far from the city. But the stronger ones we have felt, have been from near Puerto Sandino, which is closer to Leon on the coast.
I am wondering if there are similar movements happening further up the ring in San Francisco and Seattle...Ceilidh, Mom, Dad?
