Where were you on March 25, 1993, at 5:34 a.m.?

Here's a hint: if you were in Corvallis - or virtually anywhere in northwestern Oregon - you were probably getting a pretty good shaking.

It was the precise moment of one of Oregon's most powerful recent earthquakes. In a scant few seconds, the Earth shifted hard enough to do a great deal of damage throughout the area, not least to the Capitol Building in Salem.

Like most of us, I was in bed, finishing a restful night's sleep.

The onset of the earthquake shook me lightly, a not-unpleasant feeling.

But then I awakened enough to remember that earthquakes often make things fall down - things like my house.

I levitated out of bed and noticed that the gentle shaking was not nearly so pleasant when I was on my feet and fully awake.

I hustled into my son's room - my wife and daughter were out of state - and found him sleeping peacefully.

I woke him and ran for the chimney. Chimneys are vulnerable to earthquakes and if they collapse while a fire is burning the potential for catastrophic loss is high.

A close check revealed no problems, but it occurred to me during my inspection that I had no fire extinguisher.

That's OK, I told myself. If necessary, I'll just squirt water from a hose.

Right.

It was not until later that I realized the depth of my stupidity, not just because I didn't have a fire extinguisher in my home (I now have two), but because I was so woefully unprepared in other ways for disaster.

My attention was well and truly gotten.

I began making changes in our family's preparations, and continue to this day.

We started with the assumptions that we will have a large earthquake in the near future, that services will be disrupted and that we will need to survive without help for a month or more.

Those thoughts lent a sense of immediacy to our preparations.

We've continued to heat our house with wood, and even ordered a new wood stove recently.

Wood stoves, unlike furnaces and pellet stoves, need no electricity to function.

We've slowly stocked our pantry with canned goods. We are not yet up to the Mormon standard of a year's supply, but we are getting there.

We put a hand pump on one of the two wells on our property. Because we are not on city water, we require electricity to pump the water from our well. But now, in the event of a long-term lack of electricity, we will have clean water for the price of a little elbow grease.

We built an industrial-strength first aid kit. In the event of real trouble, it is unrealistic to expect rapid response (or perhaps any response) from fire, police or medical teams. We have to be ready to take care of ourselves.

We keep our camping gear ready and our propane tanks full. If necessary, we can move into our tent and cook with propane for a long time.

There are dozens of other things remaining to be done - including buying a good generator.

But I feel reasonably good about our situation. I hope you are at least as well prepared.

If not, now's the time. The next earthquake is coming soon. I can feel it.

A good place to start is the city of Corvallis Web site (go to www.ci.corvallis.or.us and then select the Flood and Earthquake tab).

After all your preparations are complete, there is one thing left to do. Make sure you have an up-to-date and adequate earthquake rider on your homeowner's or renter's policy.

Earthquake insurance is expensive, no question, but not having it in this part of the world is even more foolish than not having storm and flood insurance on the Gulf Coast.

Pat Wray is a free-lance writer and longtime local resident. His general-interest columns can be found in this section on alternating Fridays. He can be reached at patwray@comcast.net.