At 7 o'clock last Tuesday morning, February 12, I was awakened by what I first thought was a strong wind causing the wooden door of my apartment to rattle and bang against its jamb. But then, when my bed began to sway slightly from side to side, I realized I was feeling an earthquake.

I don’t do my best thinking when I first wake up, so I continued to lie in bed instead of getting up and making for the door. And it turned out that the earthquake’s epicenter, which registered 6.4 on the Richter scale, was located far away in the state of Chiapas, so there was no danger or damage done here in the center of the state of Veracruz. I heard the door rattling for about 30 seconds and felt the swaying for about 20 seconds--and then it was over.