I've never been awake to feel one. I slept through a few mild earthquakes in the Silicon Valley area back in early 1988. I didn't even know they happened until I heard it on the news.

When I was stationed in the Aleutians, I went to bed one morning after working a midnight shift. Less than an hour later, a strong (or so I'm told) earthquake hit. I don't know how far away the epicenter was but the official measure was a 6.7. I slept thought that one, too. Mid shifts just suck the life right out of you.

A friend of mine said he was sitting in his room trying to veg out after the shift when it hit. I was training him so we worked the shift together. He heard a woman in the room above his going "Oh, oh, oh" and felt the walls shaking. He said his first thought was, "Damn, that's some serious headbanging action going on up there. It took a few seconds before he realized it was a pretty strong earthquake.

Fortunately, all of the buildings up there were built to withstand earthquakes and very strong winds. We needed that, between the quakes and occasional windstorms of more than 110 MPH, it was an "interesting" place. If God ever decides to give the Earth an enema, that's where he'll stick the hose.