EricJ Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 So we had a nice 5.6 earthquake here in the South SF bay area last night, which was almost directly centered beneath me when it happened, so it was a pretty good shake, although not big enough to cause damage really, just a few things knocked over. It reminded me though of the 7.1 in 1989 in the SF bay which I was here for also (you know the one that stopped the world series?). But that was was actually scary, I was out walking and it looked almost like the sidewalk was coming at me in a wave, and when it got to me just basically threw me over. Very strange when the one thing we count on always being there (the ground), isn't quite as stable as we thought. Anyway, anyone have good earthquake stories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I was in SF when the quake hit as well and we lived in Cupertino at the time (just outside of San Jose). We lived on the second floor of an apartment complex and we had been in California for about four months before this one hit (never having been around quakes before). Was watching TV on the floor (no real furniture at the time) when it started, dad come flying out of the kitchen, jerked me off the floor and we got to the door jam of the stairwell. That went on for a bit then the ripping and breaking sounds started. When it stopped we ran downstairs and got out into the courtyard with everyone else. After the aftershocks were over and everyone calmed down, got back to our apartment only to find that the whole back wall of both of our rooms had broke away from the building and fallen to the ground. I now had a completely open room to the elements. Was kind of neat in a scary way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skya Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I was there in '89 as well. My mother decided on a whim to let me stay home from school that day otherwise I probably would have been on a bus downtown underneath one of those collapsed highways. I had a distinct fear of being underneath roads for years after that. As it was we were in the stablest part of the city, (yay bedrock) but it was freaky climbing the hill that evening and watching the city glow orange as the marina burned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted October 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 The funny thing, is for a good couple years in 2003-4 I worked in this building which literally had HUGE plateglass windows and was on the edge of a cliff which half the building overhung...which was great, except it was located less than a mile from the center of the 89 quake...which made me a little nervous when I thought about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted October 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Thats crazy about your apt nathan, must have been a shock! Noel, were you still around for the Oakland hills fires? That was the creepy fire story for me, since I was in the east bay, and it looked like almost the entire skyline to the east was on fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizcam Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I've been thru several. The First was the Sylmar Quake back in '69. We had just moved to California from Wisconsin. I was a little kid at the time and homesick from the move anyway. The Quake hit early in the morning and was a pretty big one. 6.9 I think. Damaged a lot of things and caused most of the current laws for earthquake safe buildings we have now. At first it felt like a train but then it got violent. We didn't know what to do it an earthquake so we were near the plate glass window looking out trying to see what was causing it when the window exploded. No major cuts but that could have been really bad. The aftershocks had me freaking out so bad I had to go to counciling. We almost moved back to Wisconsin after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wren Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I was in a restaurant on a second floor one day around Christmas, and was surprised that the waitress walking by was making the decorations on the trees shake, as she was a tiny little thing. Turns out it was really an earthquake many hundreds of miles away. Living in a geographically stable region does not make for exciting earthquake stories, for which I am profoundly grateful. ;-> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritual Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I've been through one tiny earthquake. Sweden is pretty far from any earthquake area but there's a crack in the earth along a very deep and oblong lake a bit south from where I live. My grandmother lived close to that lake when she was alive and once when I was visiting her there was an earthquake. I think it was 4.5 on the Richter scale, or something like that. There were no damages on anything, but it was a very strange experience! Scary enough to make me very happy I don't have to fear any worse ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted October 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 I actually have family who moved out of CA because they were convinced it was going to fall into the ocean...so they moved to New Mexico, lived there for a while and their house burnt down, then moved to somewhere in the midwest and their house flooded away, are now back in CA and living happily. It's one of those things which you just can't predict, but you can't live in fear of. Basically nature can really destroy anything at will if it decides to, and compared to some things, earthquakes aren't that common and most of the time aren't that bad. I really think it is just that fear of the one thing we count on, the ground beneath our feet, suddenly not being trustworthy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiccanpony Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 California the shake and bake state!! and she's such a damn Drama Queen!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hinton Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Never been through an earthquake; I've lived in tornado alley pretty much all of my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sculpta the squig Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Once when I was five, we stayed in a friends house for our holiday, that is to say we used their house while they were in Germany. I had built a wonderful castle out of wooden blocks and when we got back from the lake near by a enourmous earthquake had come and toppled it! I remember being very sad for quite a while after that Squig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skya Posted October 31, 2007 Report Share Posted October 31, 2007 Thats crazy about your apt nathan, must have been a shock! Noel, were you still around for the Oakland hills fires? That was the creepy fire story for me, since I was in the east bay, and it looked like almost the entire skyline to the east was on fire I was not my mother decided to move to Arkansas to be near her parents the next year. That was quite the culture shock, going from San Fransisco to Fort Smith Arkansas..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 I lived in CA for a few years. Never experienced a CA earthquake. Minor ones happened, but I was always either asleep or otherwise doing something that masked the motion so I didn't notice. Then I went to Hawaii for a week. 5.0 quake hit the island I was on. Funny thing though. I didn't realize it either. I had been lying on the bed in my hotel room watching a movie, and decided to go snorkling. I stood up and wobbled around. I thought I'd stood up too fast and was dizzy. When I got to the beech I noticed the formerly crystal clear water was all muddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted November 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 yeah, until they get above 5, it's pretty easy to miss them, and even then, if you're driving or something along those lines, you can miss it. I know people who were in the 7.1 here in CA who were driving and they just thought it was a rough patch of road or they had a flat. It's also funny, because this little 5.6 the other day was the first quake for a lot of my co-workers, and now I swear, 5+ times a day someone says "Did you feel that?!" and everyone rushes to the USGS site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 I got a laugh that after eight years there I could wake up in the night, know that we just had a earthquake and mumble '3.2' or '4.1' and sure as heck my girlfriend (now wife) would ask me how the heck I did that when we would watch the news and I was usually within .1 to .3 of the scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizcam Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 You get a feel for it after a while. I have friends in Cal tech, the polacew they always interview when there's a bad one. Come to find out Cali has earthquakes EVERY DAY but 99% of them are so small you don't notice. It's kind of fun to watch one of those grafts working and realize that there are several quakes happening as you watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted November 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 I love http://earthquake.usgs.gov it'll tell you everything! For example, in CA today: MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 16:37:41 37.531 -118.802 2.2 11 km ( 7 mi) WSW of Toms Place, CA MAP 3.5 2007/11/01 16:34:31 37.540 -118.814 7.2 12 km ( 7 mi) W of Toms Place, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 16:25:20 32.690 -115.385 7.4 9 km ( 6 mi) ENE of Mexicali, Mexico MAP 2.2 2007/11/01 15:48:13 38.376 -122.626 5.4 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 14:59:46 36.034 -120.675 7.7 21 km ( 13 mi) E of San Ardo, CA MAP 2.1 2007/11/01 14:50:02 38.375 -122.625 5.4 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 14:05:29 38.808 -122.790 3.3 2 km ( 1 mi) NE of The Geysers, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 14:01:05 39.556 -122.021 19.4 16 km ( 10 mi) ENE of Willows, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 13:48:48 37.429 -121.775 8.6 8 km ( 5 mi) NNE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 13:42:01 37.356 -121.724 3.1 9 km ( 6 mi) E of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.8 2007/11/01 12:35:14 37.828 -121.968 4.9 1 km ( 1 mi) SW of Diablo, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 12:12:43 35.822 -121.112 6.4 21 km ( 13 mi) NNE of San Simeon, CA MAP 1.6 2007/11/01 11:04:56 37.539 -118.814 6.8 12 km ( 8 mi) WSW of Toms Place, CA MAP 2.7 2007/11/01 11:03:37 37.830 -121.967 7.1 1 km ( 1 mi) SW of Diablo, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 10:33:34 38.755 -122.715 1.7 3 km ( 2 mi) SW of Anderson Springs, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 10:15:13 33.253 -116.306 11.6 6 km ( 4 mi) E of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 10:13:36 33.248 -116.319 4.9 5 km ( 3 mi) E of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 08:52:49 33.361 -116.391 13.6 13 km ( 8 mi) N of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 08:49:20 33.501 -116.563 10.4 12 km ( 7 mi) ESE of Anza, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 08:42:44 36.005 -120.582 0.0 18 km ( 11 mi) NW of Parkfield, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 08:42:25 36.045 -120.640 4.3 24 km ( 15 mi) E of San Ardo, CA MAP 2.5 2007/11/01 08:28:22 34.694 -116.296 5.2 13 km ( 8 mi) WSW of Ludlow, CA MAP 1.8 2007/11/01 08:15:29 38.374 -122.626 5.3 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 07:40:10 38.824 -122.808 3.0 3 km ( 2 mi) N of The Geysers, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 07:14:12 36.664 -121.283 4.8 14 km ( 9 mi) SSE of Tres Pinos, CA MAP 1.7 2007/11/01 06:33:05 37.427 -121.771 9.4 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 06:32:55 38.812 -122.817 2.7 2 km ( 1 mi) NNW of The Geysers, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 06:01:00 35.556 -118.808 6.3 25 km ( 16 mi) NE of Oildale, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 05:01:48 33.708 -116.765 20.0 6 km ( 4 mi) SW of Idyllwild, CA MAP 1.7 2007/11/01 04:55:47 37.431 -121.781 7.0 8 km ( 5 mi) NNE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:40:50 33.452 -116.536 14.7 17 km ( 11 mi) SE of Anza, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:35:01 34.018 -116.620 13.5 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Morongo Valley, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 03:28:28 35.684 -121.120 7.4 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of San Simeon, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:22:43 36.561 -121.155 4.3 3 km ( 2 mi) NNW of Pinnacles, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 02:01:26 36.900 -121.278 7.8 12 km ( 8 mi) ENE of Hollister, CA MAP 2.4 2007/11/01 01:24:37 37.059 -118.267 8.7 12 km ( 8 mi) SSE of Big Pine, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizcam Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 I love http://earthquake.usgs.gov it'll tell you everything! For example, in CA today: MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 16:37:41 37.531 -118.802 2.2 11 km ( 7 mi) WSW of Toms Place, CA MAP 3.5 2007/11/01 16:34:31 37.540 -118.814 7.2 12 km ( 7 mi) W of Toms Place, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 16:25:20 32.690 -115.385 7.4 9 km ( 6 mi) ENE of Mexicali, Mexico MAP 2.2 2007/11/01 15:48:13 38.376 -122.626 5.4 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 14:59:46 36.034 -120.675 7.7 21 km ( 13 mi) E of San Ardo, CA MAP 2.1 2007/11/01 14:50:02 38.375 -122.625 5.4 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 14:05:29 38.808 -122.790 3.3 2 km ( 1 mi) NE of The Geysers, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 14:01:05 39.556 -122.021 19.4 16 km ( 10 mi) ENE of Willows, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 13:48:48 37.429 -121.775 8.6 8 km ( 5 mi) NNE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 13:42:01 37.356 -121.724 3.1 9 km ( 6 mi) E of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.8 2007/11/01 12:35:14 37.828 -121.968 4.9 1 km ( 1 mi) SW of Diablo, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 12:12:43 35.822 -121.112 6.4 21 km ( 13 mi) NNE of San Simeon, CA MAP 1.6 2007/11/01 11:04:56 37.539 -118.814 6.8 12 km ( 8 mi) WSW of Toms Place, CA MAP 2.7 2007/11/01 11:03:37 37.830 -121.967 7.1 1 km ( 1 mi) SW of Diablo, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 10:33:34 38.755 -122.715 1.7 3 km ( 2 mi) SW of Anderson Springs, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 10:15:13 33.253 -116.306 11.6 6 km ( 4 mi) E of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 10:13:36 33.248 -116.319 4.9 5 km ( 3 mi) E of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 08:52:49 33.361 -116.391 13.6 13 km ( 8 mi) N of Borrego Springs, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 08:49:20 33.501 -116.563 10.4 12 km ( 7 mi) ESE of Anza, CA MAP 1.0 2007/11/01 08:42:44 36.005 -120.582 0.0 18 km ( 11 mi) NW of Parkfield, CA MAP 1.9 2007/11/01 08:42:25 36.045 -120.640 4.3 24 km ( 15 mi) E of San Ardo, CA MAP 2.5 2007/11/01 08:28:22 34.694 -116.296 5.2 13 km ( 8 mi) WSW of Ludlow, CA MAP 1.8 2007/11/01 08:15:29 38.374 -122.626 5.3 7 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Rohnert Park, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 07:40:10 38.824 -122.808 3.0 3 km ( 2 mi) N of The Geysers, CA MAP 2.0 2007/11/01 07:14:12 36.664 -121.283 4.8 14 km ( 9 mi) SSE of Tres Pinos, CA MAP 1.7 2007/11/01 06:33:05 37.427 -121.771 9.4 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 06:32:55 38.812 -122.817 2.7 2 km ( 1 mi) NNW of The Geysers, CA MAP 1.5 2007/11/01 06:01:00 35.556 -118.808 6.3 25 km ( 16 mi) NE of Oildale, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 05:01:48 33.708 -116.765 20.0 6 km ( 4 mi) SW of Idyllwild, CA MAP 1.7 2007/11/01 04:55:47 37.431 -121.781 7.0 8 km ( 5 mi) NNE of Alum Rock, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:40:50 33.452 -116.536 14.7 17 km ( 11 mi) SE of Anza, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:35:01 34.018 -116.620 13.5 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Morongo Valley, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 03:28:28 35.684 -121.120 7.4 8 km ( 5 mi) NE of San Simeon, CA MAP 1.4 2007/11/01 03:22:43 36.561 -121.155 4.3 3 km ( 2 mi) NNW of Pinnacles, CA MAP 1.2 2007/11/01 02:01:26 36.900 -121.278 7.8 12 km ( 8 mi) ENE of Hollister, CA MAP 2.4 2007/11/01 01:24:37 37.059 -118.267 8.7 12 km ( 8 mi) SSE of Big Pine, CA Those can't be in California time as it's only 1035 am here right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted November 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 I'm pretty sure they use GMT... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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