Thank you for all your observations - my cats are a bit clingy but understandably so - as I have had fear now for awhile, but have taken lots of steps to overcome it. There are lots of helpful posts in the spirituality section to enable you to relax and 'take stock' of your own life.
The only time that my cats went ballistic was about 10 minutes before we had earthquakes. I managed to pick them up to comfort them as I took them outside. As soon as the quake was over - they knew it was OK and came in!
Good little monitors, but don't give them any unnecessary fear!
Lots of love to all