As usual when a felt earthquake occurs we got a lot of calls from citizens who had
felt the quake and were concerned. This afternoon three came in short succession.
In each case the caller mentioned, without being asked, that their dog was restless
and wanted out. So they took the dog out and then the earthquake occurred. This
is quite common, as most of the readers of this board know.
It can be used as an early warning system. My mother grew up in the shadow
of the volcano Santa Maria in Guatemala. When she was young she has said
that when the dogs started barking without any cause all the villagers would leave
their homes and wait until the earthquake had occurred before reentering the houses.
It worked so well that while large earthquakes were common no one in the
village was injured or killed in any earthquake.