Earthquake.

I felt my first earthquake this evening, about half an hour ago, while sitting on the second floor of the library. The floor swayed under me; at first it was only a little, but pretty soon I could no longer pass it off as boiler rumbles. That's when I looked up and saw the ceiling lights, and the big decorative ceiling panels, swinging side to side.

It felt like maybe a Richter 3.5 to me: definitely noticeable, but not likely to cause any damage. I thought it was pretty cool. My first earthquake! Wow! Tectonics in action!

...and then I got home and read this. And this. And this. The gist of those reports is that that little quake was actually a major one on the other side of the island. Reports vary so far as to exactly how big it was, but the range -- 6.6 to 8.2 Richter -- definitely promises damage. Tsunami warnings have been preemptively issued.

We're fine here on the other side of the island, but -- oh, dear. I hope they're OK over in Te Anau.