Zagreb shook yesterday close to nine o’clock in the evening. The earthquake was neither here nor there in terms of magnitude. Various sources go from 2.6 to 3.1 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was a few kilometers west of the city and a few kilometers under the ground. Although it is located in a zone of high seismic activity, this is the first earthquake I have experienced in it. I was with my beloved in her apartment in the center. We were sitting in her livingroom and talking. The rumble lasted only a few seconds. I immediately got up and looked through the windows facing east and west to see whether there was any sign of an explosion somewhere near, for that was how it felt. I also opened the apartment door to see whether there was any smoke in the stairwell. Everything was in perfect order, and so we concluded that it must have been an earthquake. But the greatest surprise last evening was that no-one in the apartment building or the street on which it stands reacted to the rumble. I was the only one in the neighborhood looking around and trying to figure out what was going on. Either everyone is used to seismic activity, or there are not too many people left in the center of Zagreb. Earthquake, what earthquake?

Addendum (November 30, 2016)

Have there been any major earthquakes in Zagreb in the past? A strong one struck the city between seven and eight o’clock in the morning on November 9, 1880. The estimated magnitude was 6.3 on the Richter scale. Although only one person was killed, close to one-thousand and eight-hundred buildings were destroyed or damaged. After the earthquake, the Zagreb Cathedral underwent a thorough reconstruction. Ever since, there has been not a single major earthquake in the city. The seismologists cannot predict the next one, but Zagreb is far from safe. Sooner or later, another earthquake will strike. Why am I checking the record, though? I am concerned about my beloved, of course. And I would wish to be close to her if and when an earthquake strikes again. Reading this piece, which I have come across entirely by chance, I cannot but feel a surge of affection for the greatest love of my life.