And Now Eathquakes!

I know this is Japan and earthquakes are part of life but not where we live!
I always said that the biggest problem here was the weather, extreme heat and humidity,
typhoons and incredible thunderstorms!  But no earthquakes!  Until a few years ago when
we had the Kumamotto earthquakes! But even that wasn't very close, the epi center was
about 2 hours drive from here!  Last night I got woken up at 2:40, the house moved, made
an awful noise.  I came down and checked the TV, earthquake but just a 1 here!  But the
center was the next prefecture!  Then again at 4am, this time bigger jolt, about a 3 here!
That woke up Hannah.  I tried to sleep but couldn't!  Checked the morning news, the
center is right next to our city!  Not happy about that but I guess no choice!  I am really
hoping that it is a one off thing and not something that is going to happen a lot!  I feel very sorry
for the people who are coping with the floods, this is just another stress!
Talking about stress, I realized that I over react to these things.  In my mind I know that
there is nothing that I can really do!  I follow advice on safety but if earthquakes are
going to happen I can't stop them!  In my mind I know this is true, more people died
in the floods and landslides over the weekend than the last big earthquake in Osaka!  But
my body just responds, racing heart, short of breath, dizziness.  I try to breath deeply and
calm down but I have mini panic attacks.  Not nice and not helpful!