midnight
Alec and Carol curled up on the divan to watch the same show Troy was viewing . At 2030 they , too , were in bed and asleep . The sounds of the city were deadened by the high insulation construction of the building . Possibly half of the nearly three million residents of Greater Spokane were asleep in their beds shortly after midnight , but the other half were either at work or play when the earthquake hit . There were three distinct and violent temblors , lasting from one to four minutes . The great buildings of the metropolis swayed , glass shattered and fell amidst the screams of frightened thousands . But the city was built to withstand fringe nuclear destruction and the damage was relatively light .