Here’s the thing about experiencing an earthquake while scuba diving: Yes, it’s one of the scariest Mama Nature is pissed at my location in particular scenarios to find yourself in. But at least if you’re scuba diving and you’re (rightfully) frightened out of your mind by the ground suddenly shaking beneath you, you’ll only have to deal with an aura of warm water instead of the need for a new pair of pants. And if you’re thinking, “Pffft, I could handle an underwater earthquake no problem!” Well, make sure to watch this video of scuba divers experiencing exactly that before you decide to Aquaman up.
A GIF of the above footage was posted to Reddit recently by user KevlarYarmulke, but the fellow (one of a few, apparently) who actually managed to record himself caught between moving tectonic plates and an atmospherically dense place was Philippines Coast Guard member Jan Paul Rodriguez.
via KevlarYarmulke/Reddit
This particular earthquake measured in at 5.7 on the Richter scale, and was only one part of the Batangas earthquake swarm—”earthquake swarm” sounds like a Sandslash move—that hit the Philippines earlier this month. Luckily nobody was killed by the earthquake swarm, although it doubtlessly sent plenty of people’s heart rates skyrocketing. Read this brief passage from a first-hand account of a 2014 earthquake experienced under water off the coast of the Philippines by Jessica Read, written for The Guardian, for a sense of how harrowing this experience truly is:
“The vibration [of the quake] became so intense, I could feel it in my bones, and the sound turned into a deafening roar. I could see waterfalls of sand pouring over the coral, and on the sea floor, a few metres below us, cracks began forming and the sand was sucked down. That’s when I realised it was an earthquake. The noise was the sound of the Earth splintering open and grinding against itself.”
What do you think about this whole scuba-diving-while-Earth-opens-itself up thing? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: Gilda/Flickr
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