Earthquake!

I woke up early this morning to do some homework before class, and as I was sitting in my bed squinting, sleepy-eyed, into the morning sun that was streaming through my sliding glass doors, I noticed that Cairo was refusing to stay in one place. I put on my glasses and peered out, and everything was still shaking a bit, and then I felt the whole tower (I live on the 20th floor) swaying. For a moment, I thought perhaps it was the people who live above us moving around in unison, as we have concluded through highly scientific comparative analyses of the way they walk that at least two of them are quite large. But no, I thought, that wouldn't make the whole building sway--would it?

It wasn't until I peered into my open closet and saw all the clothes on hangers swaying in unison in the reverse direction of the rest of the building that we really were having an earthquake. My internet is being spotty so I haven't been able to identify a news source for confirmation, but my teacher confirmed it at school today. She told me that it was announced on the radio but unable to be covered in print due to a government ba on printing articles about earthquakes. Apparently after the disastrous earthquake in 1992 much of the population slept outside, filling the streets with pallets and bodies and bringing all traffic to a standstill as well as causing safety and sanitation problems. Afraid of a repeat, the government forbade covering earthquakes in the media -- or so my teacher said.