EARTHQUAKE!!!?

No worries - I'm safe and sound! But, yes, we had an Earthquake here in Thailand! It was crazy - I've never been in one before. I guess in hindsight it wasn't so bad, but at the time - i had no idea what happened!? Now, I know you're thinking, "how did you NOT know?"

Well, I was in bed, watching an episode of Scrubs Season 1 (shout out to my brutha and Sally!) and i heard a very loud thunder of sorts. It wasn't raining so i thought that was weird...all of a sudden, my bed starts shaking!! Literally - i thought it was possessed! seriously, i actually thought for a second, 'am i crazy? am i about to levitate?' and the house started to shake too! it stopped, i ran out into the hallway and looked outside - no rain - no lightning - no thunder...no ones lights frantically turning on afterwards...what the heck was happening?!!? i thought i was crazy and then it happened again! not so bad, but the house was shaking - not rocking or breaking things, but shaking like it wanted to move a few inches over.... CRAZY!

later on, a couple more light aftershocks and i fell asleep (no problem!) It was pretty rad! :) I found out the next day that it was a 5.1 on the Richter scale! that's pretty high! and one of the universities buildings down the street from work cracked down the side! i talked with people that day and some of my coworkers didn't even feel it!? below are some more 'accurate' details recorded locally:

Earthquake Details
Magnitude
4.7 (Light)
Date-Time
· Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 17:02:29 (UTC)= Coordinated Universal Time
· Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 12:02:29 AM = local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
18.910°N, 98.933°E
Depth
8.5 km (5.3 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region
THAILAND
Distances
15 km (10 miles) NNW of Chiang Mai, Thailand145 km (90 miles) SW of Chiang Rai, Thailand375 km (235 miles) NE of YANGON (Rangoon), Myanmar595 km (370 miles) NNW of BANGKOK, Thailand
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 18.5 km (11.5 miles); depth +/- 9.5 km (5.9 miles)
Parameters
Nst= 14, Nph= 14, Dmin=11.1 km, Rmss=0.88 sec, Gp=126°,M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=Q
Source
USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID
usweaw
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

69 aftershocks had been recorded.

"It has sent a signal that more earthquakes may hit Mae Rim and San Sai districts," Suparerk said.This morning's earthquake measured 5.1 on the Richter scale and occurred immediately after midnight. Its epicentre was in Mae Rim district. The earthquake was about 33 kilometres deep."It's the first time an earthquake has occurred so close to the Chiang Mai city," Suparerk added. It's likely this will happen again in the near future.