It's The Earth Moved Monday, MKF! 9/23/02

[BBOvenGuy]

Ah yes, earthquakes. I grew up with tornadoes, and I must say I prefer earthquakes. As a kid in tornado country, I was terrorized for years by the "tornado watch" and "tornado warning" broadcasts on the radio and TV, and yet I never saw an actual tornado. Out here in earthquake country, the quakes show up without warning and are gone in a few seconds. I like that much better.

My favorite earthquake stories have to do with the Northridge quake of 1994. I managed to call my parents back in Indiana afterwards - I think somehow I got one of the last phone lines out of the state or something, because everything was jammed soon after our conversation. The news back there was already reporting that one million people were without power and water, and my parents were freaking because in Indianapolis, one million people is the entire city. I had to explain to them that Los Angeles is very very big, and so I wasn't affected by the power loss.

I did, however, have to put up with the hot water heater in my building getting knocked out for an entire week. I went to a trade show in Las Vegas the next weekend, my first trip to Vegas. People asked me what the first thing I was going to do there would be, and I said "Take a shower!"

A few months later, I was at a Star Trek convention at the Pasadena convention center when a Northridge aftershock hit. You could tell immediately which convention-goers were local and which had come from somewhere else, because all the tourists started screaming "Get under something! Get under something!" All of us locals just kind of shrugged and said "Wow, that was a good sized one," and then had to tell the tourists that it was over and they could get up again.

Have a great day, everybody!

[TromDeGrey]

I live near a very active fault line, the New Madrid fault. In 1811 there was a major earthquake that registered an 8.0 on the Richter scale, the strongest earthquake in the history of the contiguous US. The aftershocks rang church bells on the East Coast and were felt in Canada. It even caused the Mississippi River to run upstream! As I said, the New Madrid Fault is quite active. Every year, scientists record dozens of tremors that range from 2.5 to 3.0 on the Richter scale, and every 18 months the fault tremors measure 4.0 or more. So, that basically means we feel a little shake once and a while here in western Ohio. We have more problems with tornadoes than anything else though. Some of you may have heard of Xenia, Ohio? It has been leveled - [i:1beb982db9] leveled[/i:1beb982db9] - by tornadoes [b:1beb982db9] twice[/b:1beb982db9] in my lifetime. Most recently just two years ago. I can't believe people still live there! The strangest thing I have ever been in was an ice storm in Germany in [b:1beb982db9] March[/b:1beb982db9]. There were two inches of solid ice all over my car. Very bizarre!!

[Magrat70]

We aren't too far from the epi-centre. One of the dogs was petrified, the cat looked at me as if it was my fault. The other dog didn't move from his basket so I checked to make sure he was still alive . He would be the most useless guard dog in the history of the world, once in his bed he never moves until morning and will growl at you if you wake him up. As for girlfriend i think if a bomb had gone off she wouldn't have heard it. So that was my excitement for Sunday night.

[tabularasa]

Ah, aren't all of you cute! Yes, as native cali girl I have had the experiences with the earthquakes....3 of which were better than 7.0.........ok, I'm showing my age.

In October of 1971 we had a pretty big one...can't remember the richter reading...all I remember of that one ('cause I was a wee tot you see) was seeing the furniture of my house sliding around the floor, my mom calmly picking me up and moving us into the requisite door jam (for protection they say..I maintain it's so's the rescue workers know where to look for the bodies, "Oh look...we're close to a door jam!!"), and being able to see out of the window how big the waves of asphalt were as the street outside rolled along as sleekly as ocean waves.

Then there was Northridge: I don't care who you are, Mother Nature, DO NOT WAKE ME UP AT 4:30 in the morning! I get extremely grumpy...especially when I am thrown out of bed and hit my melon on the night stand. Bleh.

I have more stories of course, many quite funny, but, I don't want to drag on any more than I have already. Most quakes are small...5.5 and under, and you can always tell the native cali's vs. non. It's always a glance up,if at all, to see if anything might fall on ya, then riding it out, hoping it won't be the "big one" and then looking to your companions and sayint "wadda ya think? 4.1?" lol......Oddly enough those richter guess's aren't generally too far off! Weee!

P.S. Of course, I would probably pee my panties if I had to stare a tornado in the face. Those scare me. And rightfully so. Hurricane's ...not so much. You always have time to run with them babies! lol......

[Elianna]

Was it the Northridge quake that was in the really early morning on Martin Luther King Jr. Day? It woke me up, but my sister slept right through it. The main thing that I remember from that was that there was someone going around asking for money because it was MLK Jr day, and she was very apologetic about doing it on the morning after an earthquake, but she said that people would need it even more now.

The one that I remember most vividly is one from fall of '99 that was centered in Joshua Tree. I was living in Claremont at the time, in a lofted bed, and that started shaking so much I thought that it was going to fall over. At first my bestfriend was the only one that was afraid, it was her first earthquake. We decided to listen to the radio, to see how big it was, and where it was centered. We heard that it was centered in Joshua tree, and then we got scared. About 30 people from our dorm were camping out there. Then we started hearing reports about how there were some campers who camped under trees or near mountains who were getting injured by stuff falling on them. C and I were very concerned for our friends, and fell asleep listening to the radio for more news. When we woke up, we heard that our friends had managed to call in that they were ok.

-Elianna

edited to add: It's actually not true that a doorway is a safe place in a house. The reason that this myth was started was when white people came to california, saw what earthquakes did to houses, and that the only thing left standing were the doorways, and concluded that that was the place to stand in an earthquake. That was true then, because most of the houses were made out of adobe, while the doorway was reinforced with wood. It's not true now, because we make our houses out of different material.

Or so I read in the LA Times a year ago or so.

[Kieli]

This is quite an interesting daily thread. I've been through four earthquakes in PA (Lancaster and Millersville both lie on faultlines and several tornadoes here in TX (we DO live in Tornado Alley, after all ). The one I remember most was when I was a Junior Biology major at Millersville University. I was sitting in my flat, attempting to take a nap when the whole damned building shuddered like a Mac truck just hit it! All of my cabinets popped open and dishes flew halfway across the room. I sat straight up on my futon and went, "What the freakin' hell??!" and ran out my door to see if said truck had indeed struck the front of the building. The large oak tree that was right in front of my door had partially uprooted and took part of my car with it into the air. I had a hell of a time trying to explain that to the tow guy when he came to crane it off. It wasn't until several hours later when I was watching the news that someone mentioned the earthquake and that it was only one in a series that had hit all parts of Central PA. We had several aftershocks into the week but none as strong as that one.

I've decided.....California is probably not for me. Having the ground shift under me suddenly does NOT bode well.

Toni

[Medic4]

[quote:1037938fd4][b:1037938fd4][i:1037938fd4]Quote:[/i:1037938fd4][/b:1037938fd4]

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"Then there was Northridge: I don't care who you are, Mother Nature, DO NOT WAKE ME UP AT 4:30 in the morning!"

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[/quote:1037938fd4]

Tabularasa, that is sooooo true! They always happen in the wee hours of the morning. I remember the Northridge quake, luckily it was my last, hopefully!

[hopey]

the main event on brasil is usually floads or dry times. no earthquakes... i hope everything is fine in uk.

[La]

Well, the one earthquake I lived through was when I was in Japan about 10 years ago. But I didn't notice it. It was in the middle of the day, but I was so sleepy that I was half stumbling through the temple we were visiting anyway, and didn't even know until people were talking about it.

Never had a tornado touch down too close to me when I lived in Chicago, though we did have a microburst go through our neighborhood and knock down a lot of trees and put out our phone and electricity for 2 days.

This spring in Korea I got to experience the "yellow sand" which is sand from the Gobi desert in China which gets beaten nice and finely by the wind as it makes it's way down the korean peninsula. Schools were closed in Seoul and I got a really nasty respiratory infection and coughed for 2 weeks.

[kbk3022]

Yeah, no earthquakes in Georgia, except this one time we had a huge sonic boom that shook the whole house for a good 10 seconds or so. Hey, it was in the papers the next day, it was a big deal.

Anyway, [b:6671cd48f4] Hair Annoyed[/b:6671cd48f4] speaking of Georgia and trailers, I was in one when we had a microburst. What's a microburst you may ask? I don't know but the weatherman spent a long time explaining it when it happened, it's like a storm with tornado like winds, just without the funnel... or something. So anyways, I was at school when it happened, very scary, no power, trailer shaking and the door flying open then slamming closed soaking everyone who was near the door, and of course this day of all days, we had a substitute teacher who didn't have a clue of what to do. So we told her we were gonna get out of the trailer, so we all ran into the school. The damage of this microburst was incredible, it blew down the fence of the baseball field, trees down everywhere, it was really crazy. Probably the worst storm I've ever seen, that and Hurricane Opal.

Kasey

[MadeinNZ]

Earthquakes are kind of a regular occurence here (Wellington is on a fault-line). Once a year some scientist or clairvoyant predicts that the big one (we're way overdue for one) is on its way so everyone stocks up on canned food and bottled water. Then nothing happens and we forget again - until the next shake. I hope the big one never comes - half of the city is built on reclaimed land and likely to fall into the harbour.

I find the scariest part of an earthquake is the first 10 seconds after the shaking stops. I'm always wondering if that was just a prelude for something bigger.

[Nix42]

We had an earthquake here in the UK - I must have slept straight through it. Just my luck, the earth moves, and I'm asleep...again

[VampNo12]

Can't say I been through any earthquakes, unless experiencing the effects at an exhibit in a museum in San Fransico counts . I been through a tornado though, which happened when I was in the second grade. I remember it was the first day of school, which was canceled so I was happy , but I also remember being quite frightened at the all the trees falling down, quite a bit of strong wind, etc.

[tommo]

Okay, I'm getting bored of it all now. Every single news program has had an item on the supposed "earthquake" we had last night and honestly, it was bloody nothing. I suppose we must be short of real news or something. Amazing how Jennifer Aniston made it onto the news as well...clearly the failure of the education system and the corrupt nature of our government isn't quite as exciting as Mrs Pitt and a quivering bunch of land. Bah.

I'm crabby now.

[MadeinNZ]

[quote:086bddfae6][b:086bddfae6][i:086bddfae6]Quote:[/i:086bddfae6][/b:086bddfae6]

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I'm crabby now.

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[/quote:086bddfae6]Ya think?

[Zippy]

Well no earthquake tremers were felt here in the North East, but my dad (who lives in notts) being the caring soul that he is phoned me up at 2am to check that I was alright.

That was after he'd got up, dressed & walked a mile up the road to checked on the cows & sheep out in one of the fields.

It good to know he cares, even if I was having this dream about..........................

I really must not read the pens board before I go to bed!

[tiyodragon]

okay, I'll drop my bit of seeing mother nature throw a tantrum...

I'm from California, so I've done the earthquakes...sort of lively for a few minutes.

Was living in Oregon when Mt. St. Helens erupted, that was kinda cool. I stepped outside from an indoor swimming pool and the ground was REALLY warm! I looked down at my feet and couldn't see them, I was ankle-deep in fresh ash. That was wild!

I don't much care for tornadoes, the errie quiet just BEFORE is unsettling. Here in Dallas, I just end up having to drive around my neighborhood with my chainsaw to help clear streets. Also, tornadoes can do from freaky-gotta-be-against-nature types of damage. At least you can outrun them.

[bellamu]

hi,
well i am from Turkey and 2 years ago we had a 7.5 sized earthquake that lasted for about 45 seconds. 20 000 people died. it literally was a natural disaster.
after the big one, many small ones (5.0 or so) followed.
i found that the waiting for an earthquake was just as much, if not more, frustrating to me than the actual thing. cause every moment you have to yourself, you cant help but wonder if that moment is going to be the one you shake.
the "kinda" relief is that, everybody is in one boat. its not like if you stay in your house you are gonna be safer than if you go out, so you just continue with your normal life and pray that nothing happens. and if something does happen, you ll think about it when it happens. all i can say is- dont waste your energy worrying about it, until you absolutely have to.
Meanwhile enjoy life- its a beautiful life.
Bellamu

[tasha]

Here's me happily sitting reading some Sass-fic on the pens board when a falling box knocks a pile of CDs onto my head before landing on me itself. Somewhat of a surprise. An earthquake? Here? In the midlands? I must have dreamed it. But alas, I remembered what I had been reading, and realised i couldn't have been asleep - that stuff couldn't send me to sleep if I'd been up 2 weeks straight . After tending to the lump on my head I resumed my reading.

This was my first noticable quake, we don't get many natual phenomena over here.

As for the sexual innuendo, even the Evening News had "The Night the Earth Moved" as it's headline.

I hope everone else who experienced it last night took less damage than I did .

tasha

[theatremouse]

well, i donno, i suppose i'm kinda a jerk on this topic. i'm notorious for being wicked low key about natural disaster type things. however, thatd probly be different had i been in LA for the handful thatve happened in my lifetime. i suppose i had good timing that way. and i've never encountered a tornado, though in theory those really wig me out. but i was smack in the middle of some of the (supposedly) more badass hurricanes of the past 20 years, and i was totally bored. i kept looking out the window thinking it totally didnt look all that bad, and there were some trees that i was worried would fall on me on a regular day, and they for some reason lasted the hurricane. though i did witness after the fact that gramma's property got demolished treewise and such. but anyway, none of the hurricanes seemed particularly bad to me, and apparently i'm superinsensitive and a dolt for that. i just dont beleive the winds were as fast as they were, at least right where i was. plus i was a brat and pretty young so i really wanted to be able to go to my friends' houses. i was like "hell if something bad DOES ever happen, or we lose power, i'd rather be there, lemme go!" but it didnt happen. and we never lost power or had anything terrible occur.
and then there was the time i was out with a friend, outside i mean, though i dont think our parents quite realized that, and while we were out a blizzard hit, and we were outside in it for like 6 hours. and apparently it was the worst blizzard of the 90s. we were out for about an hour before it occured to us that it was REALLY windy and snowing REALLY heavily and FAST. so we ended up going inside this shed, which was empty, and waiting around in there and chatting and such. it kinda felt like the thing would blow away, but so much snow piled up around the sides it couldnt move. it's weird how even though we were just inside like, plywood walls, it was warmer just cuz we were "inside". we werent even wearing coats really, just whatever out winter outfits were, fleece sweater things and those like wintercoat vest things. (oh we were stylin kids. oh yeah.) and we just hung out until the wind was less, and it paused in snowing for like half an hour, went home, to one of our houses, and thought nothing of it. but then later heard on the news it was some super blizzard or something. didnt seem like a big deal to me. it was wicked cold, but didnt seem like anything worse than what we always did.
and thusly my reputation for making light of natural disasters. i guess it's kinda nice to have no phobia whatsoever for those two things. i'm scared of enough stuff.
peace.

[hellmouthhottie20]

Here is something that actually scared me, I study volcanoes and earthquakes (and live in the uk!!!!) and there was little old me sitting on the net at the time the quake hit, I didnt feel it, but i heard it, now for the freaky part....
I was on the net searching through all the earthquakes that had hit England in the last 3 years!!!!!!!!
And i must say i got most excited and contacted some of my fellow obbsesive friends (god iam such a geek)

Apart from remembering the hurricane back in 80 something, my most exciting brush with nature was when i surfed the tail end of hurricane andrew when its tail end hit the east coast (north sea) a few years ago.

[Puff]

Hee hee Tasha I loved your story. Typical kitten There was an earthquake I was reading fanfic, I went back to the fanfic afterwards. All that was missing was the food report

I had my first earthquake in CA awhile ago, they are weird.

[Taz]

We had a couple quakes when I lived in Japan, nothin big but enough to sway the high rise tower we lived in, very nauseating mostly. There was a good size one when I was in CA a ways back but mostly we just waited it out.

[mscheckmate]

I'm a California native, and I think I prefer earthquakes to all of the other possible natural disasters. Especially brush fires and tornadoes.

But the 1994 Northridge earthquake was the scariest one. I had moved into my 1921 house about six months before. I kept the 1930s stove that had come with the house, but fortunately changed the original gas plumbing from a solid pipe to flex. Good thing I did, because the stove walked several inches during the quake, and the flex pipe flexed like it was supposed to. But I hadn't braced my water heater yet, so I had to listen to it gyrating around while the house was shaking. I thought that it was going to break loose from its connections for sure. So, when the quake stopped, there I was crawling around the kitchen with a flashlight checking for gas and water leaks. Fortunately, everything held up all right.

Some CDs had become projectiles in the living room, and the kitchen cupboards opened. Nothing broke though. That is, not until three months later, when the old galvanized pipes started breaking and spewing water under the house or inside the walls. I think the rust and sediment inside got re-arranged during the quake, and the old pipes couldn't handle it. So, I ended up having to re-plumb the house. And my insurance company required that I do a seismic retrofit, too.

So, while my house was getting a good shaking, my uncle's house in Northridge was really going through the wringer. My cousin was at sea with the Navy, so he'd left his Corvette in his dad's garage for safekeeping. A beam near the ceiling broke loose and smashed through the windshield of the car. I guess you could say that the car got staked.

Ah, unpleasant memories. But other people went through far worse that day.

[i:18f6c2d7a4] edited because someone couldn't spell.[/i:18f6c2d7a4]

[BBOvenGuy]

We have fires in Los Angeles, too. Big ones these days. We had the driest winter in 140 years or so, and it's over 100 in the day right now. At least it's not windy.

The TV news is saying that everything from Glendora to LaVerne is in danger at the moment. The fire department is using helicopters at night, which they don't do very often. When I was driving to choir rehearsal tonight, it looked like there were smoke plumes in every direction.

Stay safe, people.

[mscheckmate]

Yes, indeed. Having grown up in southern California, I swore from an early age that I would never live in a burn area. So, I live in an area of LA where I'm only subject to earthquakes and tidal waves. My gf lives in a canyon town in the Santa Ana mountains, and it's incredibly dry there. The canyon has not burned since people started building houses there, pre-1920s. But they've had fires outside the canyon every year since '97, I think.

Tonight, I was working up in the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and I could actually see the Glendora-area fire from where I was. It's scary, and the Santa Ana winds haven't even gotten going yet.

I hope people have taken brush-clearance and fire-safe landscaping seriously this year.

[Gatito Grande]

With all the earthquake stories, I'm surprised no one else has told (or 'fessed up!) this one: a small quake in Portland, Oregon. No big deal. In fact, I had to wait for the news to make sure it actually happened. Why had I felt it when few around me had? Easy: [b:c0a7b3929f] I was sitting on a mini-tsunami![/b:c0a7b3929f]

GG [i:c0a7b3929f] Oooh, fires: stay safe Kittens-in-Dry-Lands. Those are [b:c0a7b3929f] nasty[/b:c0a7b3929f][/i:c0a7b3929f]. Out

[Rally]

Earthquakes, I love them, happy to be back home in California after the wet miserable flooded drenched soggy sticky yucky homeless weather in Bama.

[xita]

should be sleeping, but i had to do a couple of things and now reply to this. Nothing scares me more than earthquakes. And I live in CA. As a child in central america I survived a 8.something earthquake that killed 30,000 people. I was only 4 but I think it messed me up with earthquakes. Northridge earth quake was really scary, I don't live far from the epicenter and I really thought I was gonna die when it hit, being thrown about your bed in violent upward thrusts. Anyway, they are very scary but I don't worry about them on an everyday basis. I know that earthquakes don't get more stronger movement than Northridge, they just can last longer. So I feel like I know a bit about earthquake strength.