Earthquake!

While most Neopians managed to endure the sudden quake unharmed, one wasn't so lucky. We met a pink Bruce named Sabrina who made the mistake of running out of her apartment building while the ground was still shaking. Debris fell from the top of the building and hit her head. She is now in the hospital seeking treatment for head injuries. She seemed to be doing well. When we interviewed her, she was making jokes and she responded to all of our questions without trouble. The well-known Gelert doctor at the hospital told us that she is expected to make a full recovery in the next few weeks.

Sabrina's accident is the reason we, the Neopian Times staff, now bring our readers a very important public service announcement: in case of any aftershocks, all Neopians are advised to stay indoors and away from any windows. There have been hundreds of aftershocks reported already.

The Defenders of Neopia are hard at work trying to fix the damages of the quake. They managed to rescue all Neopians in Neopia Central who were trapped underneath the dust and fallen debris. They are proud to report that they found nobody, apart from poor Sabrina, who had serious injuries. "We were relieved that no one else was hurt. My crew should be heading back to the headquarters, but we're staying in case of any aftershocks," said Judge Hog, leader of the DoN.

Pushing aside all the bad news, the little Neopian children were pleased to hear this morning that schools will be closed for the rest of the week due to safety hazards. School is expected to resume next week. "I am so happy! No school, no school!" chanted a student, six-year-old Anna. The chubby JubJub was overjoyed when her parents told her the news. She plans to help her parents clean up the house after tremors knocked over their vases, photo frames, and other things.

The faeries inhabiting Neopia Central are also busy cleaning up after the quake. They have been sending Neopets out on quests constantly since the quake ended, because they needed supplies to help fix their homes. "I had just finished renovating my little abode, and now I find everything broken again!" complained a fire faerie, as she hammered nails into her wooden window sill to keep it from falling off. During our interview, Neopets kept walking in and out, dropping off more supplies for her.

The annual Lenny Festival had to be postponed, frustrating Lennies across Neopia Central. They were looking forward to the festivities, but the joyous occasion was cut short due to the earthquake. "Yeah, I'm a little mad, but I'll be fine. I know we'll get to celebrate later," said one Lenny, whom we spotted taking down Lenny Festival banners in the park. He wished the remain anonymous. When asked about the plans for the postponed festival, he said, "Nothing really. Everything here is too damaged to do anything. We'll just gather up all the Lennies and have a picnic in the park. Then, we'll all fly over to Krawk Island where we'll get our free training at the Academy."

In other news, Neopia Central's weather forecast looks good this week. We predict that the skies will be clear, and we'll have a very warm week. We're looking at temperatures reaching up to seventy-eight degrees Fahrenheit. It's going to perfect for going to the beach, or taking a long walk in the park with friends. Be sure to bring sun-screen to make sure there are no nasty sun-burns.

When we asked other Neopians across the planet about the earthquake, they had this to say:

"I've spent all day duct-taping down the furniture." - vali1987

"I hate all of these aftershocks! It's highly annoying, especially when I have been trying to re-arrange furniture in my Neohome! It's going to be tough to move on after this mess." - salsarulez

"Fyremo wanted to go check it out, but his sister Lettyuce was afraid that Dr. Sloth was coming back. Their bickering turned out more annoying than the earthquakes we felt for the rest of the day." - thewendyyybird

"Snowhytte just left the show from the Concert Hall and she was a rockin' and a rollin' so she didn't even notice that there was an earthquake! Ethylle had just served herself a nice cup of tea from her fancy new tea set when the Earthquake struck and so she spilled tea all over herself while her new tea set broke. Her whole day was ruined." - cherieskullz

Here is a very detailed account of what happened to one Neopian:

"I was coming here to lurk and chat. Like always. All of a sudden, there was this terrible brightness that stung my eyes, making them water even after squeezing them shut. Fleurv growled his non-impressive growl, pushing his face into my knees to escape the light as we clung to each other, the earth beneath us dragging us to our backs as it shook and roared. When it was over I stood up, shaking the dust off and once again being grateful for short hair (dust is so hard to wash out of hair) while Fleurv huffed then sneezed from the dust cloud my "cleaning" of myself had scattered into his nostrils. We shortly got ourselves under rights again and were going about some other duties we had when it happened again! Instead of trying to ride it out this time Fleurv grabbed me and I grabbed him and we just flung ourselves onto the ground, yelling at how infuriating yet exciting this was. After that second earthquake we went back to our home for awhile. Daring to venture out for only short moments. After all, who wants to wash all that dust out again? It's a mess to get out of hair. And fur." - fatalyentryst

That is the end of our report on the earthquake. As the aftershocks continue to come, please remember to stay safe. Updates and any news about the mysterious rock formation in Tyrannia will be published in the next issue of the Neopian Times.