Indiana Quake Shakes Things Up!
Lying in bed this morning contemplating my day, I was surprised by a bang and to be suddenly shaken. The 5.2 quake centered near Bellmont, IL was definitely felt here in Indianapolis. I’ll admit that at first I thought my roommate, who sleeps in the room directly above mine, fell out of bed. This makes the second time in the last 25 years that I have been surprised by an earthquake in Indiana. Growing up while I had heard all about the New Madrid fault and the great earthquake of 1811 that rang bells and broke windows as far away as Philadelphia, but I knew no one that had ever felt an actual quake in Indiana.
Just a few minutes ago, as I was sitting at my desk working on a new project, thinking all of the excitement for the day was over, I was again surprised when the desk started wiggling. Seems another quake just hit at 4.5 near the same town in southern Illinois.
In California where quakes are a much more frequent occurrence, designing for interiors that get bumped around is commonplace. Not so true here in the Midwest! The frequency is so rare that the way things are arranged on shelves or hung on walls isn’t really done with any thought that the building might bounce! Additionally, designing the storage and cabinets to hold things securely in place will keep the office from becoming a mess when Mother Nature decides to shake us up a bit.
Nothing like an early morning jolt to remind us that good design takes into consideration the rarities as well as the everyday.
