By not being aware of it?

Hong Kong experienced a tremor last night close to 8pm. Worried families ran out from their homes. Skyscrapers trembled. Books wobbled on their swaying shelves. Office workers were talking about it. Even the regulars frequenting the tiny cafe downstairs temporarily deserted their usual conversations about the new casino in Macau.

For all of three seconds, Hong Kong was shaken and stirred by an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale (RS). The epicentre of the quake was determined to be in the sea about 36km southeast of Hong Kong, around Danga Island. However, no property damage or injuries were reported.

According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the tectonic setting of Hong Kong greatly reduces the chances of the country experiencing a major local quake.

Most earthquakes of the world occur along the boundaries of crustal plates. Hong Kong lies within the Eurasian Plate and is located far away, about 600 km, from the nearest boundary with the Pacific Plate on the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt that runs through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Therefore, the chance of a major local tremor is very small.

Apparently, the strongest quake felt by Hong Kong was in 1918 but it was actually centred in Guangdong in China. That measured 7.3 on the RS and caused minor building damage.

I didn’t ignore the earthquake. I just didn’t feel it. Perhaps being on your feet and preoccupied with tasks tends to distract you from earth-shaking events. I didn’t actually experience any of the other tremors occurring in KL last year, either.