I could hardly pass up the opportunity to comment on the earthquake we had this morning! It woke us at about 3:40am... noise, shaking, then nothing. My wife said 'Earthquake' and I grunted in acknowledgement... and we went back to sleep. It's not that uncommon in Basel. Cool risk.

The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1356. Actually, what caused most damage and loss of life was the fire that followed the quake. This is what happened in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906... it was the fire that was more devastating than falling buildings.

My first experience of an earthquake was in Belgium. My wife woke me excitedly, saying there had been an earthquake. I grunted. (That's what I do in the middle of the night.) But she persisted. I was forced to wake myself a little more... and talk. I persuaded her that she had imagined it and we both settled down again. At that point, our two sons rushed into the bedroom, exclaiming about the earthquake! I still wasn't convinced. It was only in the morning, when I found pictures fallen off the wall, that I realised I had indeed slept through an earthquake.