God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, will not we fear though the earth be greatly shaken; and though a city water-main be broken;
Though the waters thereof roar and flood the streets; though many buildings be collapsed…
The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Well, the above is actually my own paraphrase of a couple of verses of Psalm 46. It seems my hometown that no one had ever heard of before recently became rather famous nationwide because of a very unlikely 6.0 earthquake. Though there are faults over Nevada, Wells was the least likely place for an earthquake, especially of that magnitude, to occur. That just goes to show that God is in absolute control of everything, even the laws of nature and it also shows the limit of man’s knowledge of those laws; no one would have predicted this earthquake. Because of God’s sovereignty we do not have to worry or fret about anything; not even earthquakes. Absolutely everything is under God’s sovereign control; whether it be natural disasters, the death of those we love, even final exams :o) But back to the earthquake.
It was early (around 6:15am) on Thursday morning (Feb. 21). I was still sound asleep since I had been up very late the night before (somewhat reminiscent of college days) because Matilda had twins the night before and one was very week and Daisy looked like she might give birth as well (I had to keep an eye on them). Suddenly my bed was shaking and I was awake and sat up; immediately realizing what it was I got out of bed since I sleep on the bottom bunk and I did not particularly relish the thought of the top bunk collapsing on me. Of course not being completely awake and of sound mind, I just sat on the floor next to the bed which was not really that much better since the bed could have just fell over on top of me… or Candice’s stuff that is on the top bunk could have fallen on me. Thankfully nothing really did. It was the craziest feeling. Since I was sitting directly on the floor I got the feeling of the ground moving more than just the house shaking; it felt like I was on a boat sailing on a swelling sea. My brother was sitting on his bed and he felt basically the same thing… when it was over, he being the smart-aleck he is said, “I didn’t know we bought a house-boat.” Mom was standing in the hall. Her story is a bit funnier. She didn’t realize what it was until it nearly over. She felt the house shaking and first she thought it was a train, but it couldn’t be; then a truck, but it couldn’t be that either; then she realized that it was an earthquake. Pepper (our little dog) couldn’t figure out what it was either. In the beginning I think she was rather too scared even to bark. Close to the end of it she started crying. And she hates the aftershocks almost worse. Our house suffered nothing from the shakeup. A few books and some knick-knacks and my brother’s small motorcycle models fell off shelves but that is pretty much it.
When the earthquake was over the phone rang and I said “that would be Dad calling to see if we felt the earthquake” (he was already at work since he has to be there at 6:00am). I was right. After I hung up with Dad our phoneline was busy pretty much the whole time. People from all over were calling. Not only people from our church in Elko who had felt it, but relatives in Kentucky, Northern Idaho, and Florida. We pretty much became instantly famous. Our next door neighbor who works for the school was on 3 or 4 news television stations. When we went to the farmshow in Twin Falls ID on Saturday, Mom happened to wear a shirt that said Wells on it and we were stopped by many people asking about the quake. And Pepper is now afraid of the washing machine because she thinks it is another quake… or aftershock.
Anyway, the quake was the biggest thing ever seen here. It was first reported as a 6.3 but was later changed to a 6.0; its original location was also incorrectly determined by a good 16 miles. While our house was far enough away from the epicenter to feel any real damages (we are 15 miles from Wells), Wells was not (the earthquakes epicenter was about 5 miles north of Wells and so about 20 miles from us). Old Front street is pretty much destroyed. I am not sure if any of it is restorable. Dad’s shop at the state yard is condemned. The Mormon church was declared structurally unsound though they intend to fix it and have it usable again in a month. The high school is unusable but they are not sure if any of it is salvageable. The Catholic and Presbyterian churches and the Laundromat are all condemned as well are several houses in town. Apparently in one two story office building the entire second floor fell to the first. Some buildings that were not rendered unusable by the earthquake were by the aftershocks… there were quite a few (we are still having them and they could last up to 3 years) and at least two were 5.0 and over and quite a few 3.0 and higher. Still more buildings have been declared to be dangerous and tagged with an orange flag that indicates you must use caution. Many, many houses in town lost their chimneys and one report stated that every building in town was in some way damaged by the quake even though it was not all necessarily structural damage. On Thursday the whole town was pretty much shutdown. Police officers were not letting anyone in to the town; gas stations and the store, library, bank, and even Burger King (among others) were all closed. Some areas of town had a loss of electricity; there was a major propane leak from a new gas station they are building and so the main road into Wells was closed for about an hour and a couple of city water-mains were broken.
The effects of the earthquake were far-reaching. The high school in Jackpot was damaged as well as an old building in Battle Mountain (more than 100 miles away). One newscaster said the tremors could be felt as far away as Japan (probably only on seismology meters). People in Idaho, Utah, and several other states could feel it as well. However, praise the Lord, no one was seriously injured and there were very few minor injuries!!! This is likely due to both the small size of the town as well as the early hour of the morning in which it occurred. One newspaper article stated that if this earthquake had occurred in Elko or any other large city the destruction and casualty count would have been very large. A 6.0 earthquake is not something to be trifled with.
Even with all of this destruction, the news as of today is that Wells is not going to be getting any Federal Aid at all. This is very unfortunate as there is going to be a lot of damage that must be fixed and who knows how much more before all the aftershocks have finished.
Mom is a sub for the librarian in Wells and she was working Wednesday through Friday last week. The earthquake caused over half the books to fall off the shelves though thankfully no other damage was done and very few books were even injured and all those damaged are repairable. It took Mom and me all day Thursday and Friday to clean up the mess.
It was so strange to go into Wells on Thursday and to see all the emergency vehicles, not only from Wells but also from Jackpot and Wendover (probably from Elko too, I just didn’t see any) as well as to have to explain to the police officers why we were going into town and get permission to enter. Large-scale disasters are something you hear about on TV, but when they happen to you somehow it is different. Life goes on as normal with a few changes. You do what you have to do and somehow it is almost as if it is what you always do. Or perhaps it is only so with me. It is almost surreal; as though it didn’t really happen even though I can see all the damage it caused. Perhaps it is because I was still half-asleep when the earthquake actually occurred.
Such great loss and yet life continues on; with God there is no reason to fear, to worry, to fret. When my grandmother died it was the same, albeit a different kind of loss. Though I felt her loss very deeply and miss her still, life continues on and I can hope for the future because I have faith in my God; I cannot boycott cars in winter; I cannot refuse to budge from my home on Dec. 26; I cannot become superstitious; I must trust in God in all things. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God with passeth all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” He knows what He is doing, even though I do not always understand. He is doing what is best for all concerned, even when I cannot see how; "For we know that all things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose." He is bringing all things together for His purpose, even though I cannot fathom that purpose.
May God be glorified through this earthquake as He was through the death of my grandmother. And may my testimony give others cause to rejoice and to reflect on God’s greatness and mercy and above all be glorifying to God. In everything I must give thanks, therefore I thank God for the earthquake and what it will accomplish in His will… even though I don’t know just what that may be. Perhaps I never will, but it is enough to know that God is in control and He has a purpose in all things. May God draw me ever nearer to Himself and my I learn to trust Him more every day. To God be the glory, and the honor, and the power, and the glory, forever! Amen.
Therefore, will not we fear though the earth be greatly shaken; and though a city water-main be broken;
Though the waters thereof roar and flood the streets; though many buildings be collapsed…
The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Well, the above is actually my own paraphrase of a couple of verses of Psalm 46. It seems my hometown that no one had ever heard of before recently became rather famous nationwide because of a very unlikely 6.0 earthquake. Though there are faults over Nevada, Wells was the least likely place for an earthquake, especially of that magnitude, to occur. That just goes to show that God is in absolute control of everything, even the laws of nature and it also shows the limit of man’s knowledge of those laws; no one would have predicted this earthquake. Because of God’s sovereignty we do not have to worry or fret about anything; not even earthquakes. Absolutely everything is under God’s sovereign control; whether it be natural disasters, the death of those we love, even final exams :o) But back to the earthquake.
It was early (around 6:15am) on Thursday morning (Feb. 21). I was still sound asleep since I had been up very late the night before (somewhat reminiscent of college days) because Matilda had twins the night before and one was very week and Daisy looked like she might give birth as well (I had to keep an eye on them). Suddenly my bed was shaking and I was awake and sat up; immediately realizing what it was I got out of bed since I sleep on the bottom bunk and I did not particularly relish the thought of the top bunk collapsing on me. Of course not being completely awake and of sound mind, I just sat on the floor next to the bed which was not really that much better since the bed could have just fell over on top of me… or Candice’s stuff that is on the top bunk could have fallen on me. Thankfully nothing really did. It was the craziest feeling. Since I was sitting directly on the floor I got the feeling of the ground moving more than just the house shaking; it felt like I was on a boat sailing on a swelling sea. My brother was sitting on his bed and he felt basically the same thing… when it was over, he being the smart-aleck he is said, “I didn’t know we bought a house-boat.” Mom was standing in the hall. Her story is a bit funnier. She didn’t realize what it was until it nearly over. She felt the house shaking and first she thought it was a train, but it couldn’t be; then a truck, but it couldn’t be that either; then she realized that it was an earthquake. Pepper (our little dog) couldn’t figure out what it was either. In the beginning I think she was rather too scared even to bark. Close to the end of it she started crying. And she hates the aftershocks almost worse. Our house suffered nothing from the shakeup. A few books and some knick-knacks and my brother’s small motorcycle models fell off shelves but that is pretty much it.
When the earthquake was over the phone rang and I said “that would be Dad calling to see if we felt the earthquake” (he was already at work since he has to be there at 6:00am). I was right. After I hung up with Dad our phoneline was busy pretty much the whole time. People from all over were calling. Not only people from our church in Elko who had felt it, but relatives in Kentucky, Northern Idaho, and Florida. We pretty much became instantly famous. Our next door neighbor who works for the school was on 3 or 4 news television stations. When we went to the farmshow in Twin Falls ID on Saturday, Mom happened to wear a shirt that said Wells on it and we were stopped by many people asking about the quake. And Pepper is now afraid of the washing machine because she thinks it is another quake… or aftershock.
Anyway, the quake was the biggest thing ever seen here. It was first reported as a 6.3 but was later changed to a 6.0; its original location was also incorrectly determined by a good 16 miles. While our house was far enough away from the epicenter to feel any real damages (we are 15 miles from Wells), Wells was not (the earthquakes epicenter was about 5 miles north of Wells and so about 20 miles from us). Old Front street is pretty much destroyed. I am not sure if any of it is restorable. Dad’s shop at the state yard is condemned. The Mormon church was declared structurally unsound though they intend to fix it and have it usable again in a month. The high school is unusable but they are not sure if any of it is salvageable. The Catholic and Presbyterian churches and the Laundromat are all condemned as well are several houses in town. Apparently in one two story office building the entire second floor fell to the first. Some buildings that were not rendered unusable by the earthquake were by the aftershocks… there were quite a few (we are still having them and they could last up to 3 years) and at least two were 5.0 and over and quite a few 3.0 and higher. Still more buildings have been declared to be dangerous and tagged with an orange flag that indicates you must use caution. Many, many houses in town lost their chimneys and one report stated that every building in town was in some way damaged by the quake even though it was not all necessarily structural damage. On Thursday the whole town was pretty much shutdown. Police officers were not letting anyone in to the town; gas stations and the store, library, bank, and even Burger King (among others) were all closed. Some areas of town had a loss of electricity; there was a major propane leak from a new gas station they are building and so the main road into Wells was closed for about an hour and a couple of city water-mains were broken.
The effects of the earthquake were far-reaching. The high school in Jackpot was damaged as well as an old building in Battle Mountain (more than 100 miles away). One newscaster said the tremors could be felt as far away as Japan (probably only on seismology meters). People in Idaho, Utah, and several other states could feel it as well. However, praise the Lord, no one was seriously injured and there were very few minor injuries!!! This is likely due to both the small size of the town as well as the early hour of the morning in which it occurred. One newspaper article stated that if this earthquake had occurred in Elko or any other large city the destruction and casualty count would have been very large. A 6.0 earthquake is not something to be trifled with.
Even with all of this destruction, the news as of today is that Wells is not going to be getting any Federal Aid at all. This is very unfortunate as there is going to be a lot of damage that must be fixed and who knows how much more before all the aftershocks have finished.
Mom is a sub for the librarian in Wells and she was working Wednesday through Friday last week. The earthquake caused over half the books to fall off the shelves though thankfully no other damage was done and very few books were even injured and all those damaged are repairable. It took Mom and me all day Thursday and Friday to clean up the mess.
It was so strange to go into Wells on Thursday and to see all the emergency vehicles, not only from Wells but also from Jackpot and Wendover (probably from Elko too, I just didn’t see any) as well as to have to explain to the police officers why we were going into town and get permission to enter. Large-scale disasters are something you hear about on TV, but when they happen to you somehow it is different. Life goes on as normal with a few changes. You do what you have to do and somehow it is almost as if it is what you always do. Or perhaps it is only so with me. It is almost surreal; as though it didn’t really happen even though I can see all the damage it caused. Perhaps it is because I was still half-asleep when the earthquake actually occurred.
Such great loss and yet life continues on; with God there is no reason to fear, to worry, to fret. When my grandmother died it was the same, albeit a different kind of loss. Though I felt her loss very deeply and miss her still, life continues on and I can hope for the future because I have faith in my God; I cannot boycott cars in winter; I cannot refuse to budge from my home on Dec. 26; I cannot become superstitious; I must trust in God in all things. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God with passeth all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” He knows what He is doing, even though I do not always understand. He is doing what is best for all concerned, even when I cannot see how; "For we know that all things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose." He is bringing all things together for His purpose, even though I cannot fathom that purpose.
May God be glorified through this earthquake as He was through the death of my grandmother. And may my testimony give others cause to rejoice and to reflect on God’s greatness and mercy and above all be glorifying to God. In everything I must give thanks, therefore I thank God for the earthquake and what it will accomplish in His will… even though I don’t know just what that may be. Perhaps I never will, but it is enough to know that God is in control and He has a purpose in all things. May God draw me ever nearer to Himself and my I learn to trust Him more every day. To God be the glory, and the honor, and the power, and the glory, forever! Amen.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.Selah.
