I just felt an Earthquake (1 Viewer)

[JeremySt]

10:12pm Mountain time. I was sitting at my computer, typing a post for another thread when I suddenly felt a couple thumps. Nothing wierd... I just thought the neighbors were making noise. Then about 15 seconds later, the whole house started shifting side to side very roughly. I could hear the ground rumbling a little, and the house creaked a bit. The shelves and furniture were moving quite a bit, my DVDs even fell over. It was very intense. It lasted less then 10 seconds.

I went outside and all my neighbors down the street were outside. We all confirmed what we experienced.

Earthquakes are common around here (montana) but not often are they felt in largely populated areas, or this intense. It was cool!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

What's the magnitude? Anything under 6 is for sissies. We had a 7 back in 1989...now that's an earthquake.

 

[JeremySt]

Just went on the USGS website. A 5.6 in Dillon, MT. A little over 100 miles from here.

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/imw/index.html

Here is a map of areas that felt it.

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/im...m_display.html

 

[Mort Corey]

5.6 is easy listening....definitely not a rocker Wait till the Caldera gives way....then you'll know you're up in the big time.

Mort

 

[Rob Willey]

It seems my fellow Californians are "earthquake snobs".

Rob

 

[Carlo_M]

5.6 AND 100 miles from the epicenter?!?! That's nothing! Pshaw!

I was "lucky" enough to be within 70 miles of the 1989 SF quake, and then went to college within 30 miles of the 1994 Northridge quake. Now that was some freaky rockin' and rollin'!

Hopefully no one was injured in that Montana quake, though. LA and SF didn't get away scot-free from their quakes, but considering how heavily populated we are, it could have been worse.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Slacker...my house is 15 miles from the epicenter of the 1989 "San Francisco" quake (more correctly Mt. Loma Prieta quake). :p)

 

[RobertR]

I'll see your 15 miles, and raise you less than 5 miles from the '94 Northridge quake (where my gf at the time was living).

 

[Scott_lb]

I felt my first quake in fall of '99 (epicenter near Joshua Tree, in the desert region). I was living near Pasadena at the time and I think we felt it as a 5.4 (or something like that). I first heard our apartment fuse box (which was located in my bedroom) start to rattle and then BOOM! everthing started swaying back and forth. Honestly, the first words out of my mouth were, "My speakers! They must be brought to safety!" (Paradigm Monitor 3's). My girlfriend thought I was nuts. I only felt two very minor ones after that. I agree that they feel weird, largely because there is nothing you can do about it. In the midwest, you can tell when the weather is right for a tornado and you always have advanced warning. With an earthquake, you just have to take your chances (which are usually pretty darn good!).

 

[JeremySt]

I didnt realize something I had no control over would get me into a bragging rights war.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Let me ask those in CA a question that's been rolling around in my mind for some time, when an earthquake occurs and breaks all of your valuables, how do you handle that?

I'm being serious, see I live in DE, a place that see's virtually no activity of any kind, earthquakes, tornado's (except very minor one's) and I can't imagine living in a state where all of my stuff could be broken in a matter of seconds.

Do you just fluff it off and replace everything, or do you "quake proof" all of the things that you can't replace?

 

[Carlo_M]

Luckily, nothing ultra valuable of mine has ever broken. Come to think of it, I am not sure I own anything valuable

Seriously, we just learn to keep things low on the ground. I don't own any bookshelves that go up past 6' and if I ever did, I would anchor them to the wall. My valuables (i.e. HT equipment) are all on low-to-the-ground racks that are very stable and would probably require a 7.0+ epicentered right next door to put on the floor. [knocking on wood, hoping it doesn't happen]

So yes, in a sense I think most of us in the appropriate territories "quakeproof" our stuff.

 

[Arthur S]

Is this anything like "feeling the earth move"?

 

[Mike Fassler]

heh a 5.6? thats like a baby crying j/k unfortunately for us folks that live in Cali thats really not that bad, my most memorable one was the big one in San fran, I was at the world series game when it happened, now that was some freaky stuff.

 

[Scott_lb]

Arthur - the way I described it to my friends back home in Wisconsin is to remember what it feels like to be standing in a large downtown parking garage when a big truck or fast moving car is driving through it (i.e., you can feel the vibration in the floor beneath you). That, of course, is a small earthquake. To re-create the feel of a large one, have a friend drop a section of freeway on your head - that should do it!

 

[Jason Guardiano]

I slept through the 1994 Northridge, CA quake... (6.8) and I was living in Northridge, haha. :b

 

[Jack Briggs]

On the other hand, my apartment building was yellow- and red-tagged after the Northridge event in 1994. I had to move, and I received government compensation.

And anybody remember the 1987 Whittier earthquake? That was a nice one, as was the 1971 Sylmar event. And throughout all this, numerous "minor" 'quakes. I live right next to West Hollywood, for example, which itself was the epicenter of a small 'quake in 2001 -- though it may have been "small," at the epicenter it gets your attention.

Funny thing is, the Southern California area, until 1971, had been enjoying a "quiet" era for decades seismically. No more!

And it really makes one think about speaker stands, securing displays and electronics and all that.

 

[Jason Guardiano]

I've become "earthquake conscious" since the '94 quake, so I make sure not to have any picture frames or anything that could fall over my bed and I make sure the dressers, TVs, etc are propped against the wall (the HT equipment should be ok haha). Just something that people (roommates) who haven't experienced an earthquake before find a little "weird." :p)

"Be Prepared" as they say.

 

[Philip_G]

MT has more earthquakes than CA does, just smaller in magnitude.

 

[Danny Tse]

John, I am quite lucky that nothing has ever been seriously damaged in my home from earthquakes....and I've been living the San Francisco Bay Area since 1977. I remember a piece of plaster fell from the ceiling of our Oakland home during a 6.1 quake in the late 70s. And I was at home in San Lorenzo (an area build on landfill) when the 1989 7.1 quake hit....one of my giant Sony speakers (from my first stereo system) fell off of its short stand and crashed onto the carpeted floor. It survived and it continues to play perfectly to this day.

Today, I live right on top of the Hayward Fault, which scientists predicted as overdue for a major rupture and will most likely cause major damage throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Once you lived in an earthquake-prone area, you'll see all the possible hazards....and start anchoring things to the wall, strapping things down, having all the necessary emergency supplies at the ready, etc....

Of course, any damage from earthquake will NOT be covered by a homeowner's policy. Homeowner's insurance policies generally doesn't cover "earth movements". And that's where earthquake insurance comes in....just received offer in the mail from the CA government and my insurance company. Very steep deductible, but the premium is acceptable. So it's a gamble....a very big gamble.

BTW, we also had tornados in the San Francisco Bay Area too. There was one in Sunnyvale several years ago and there was one in the city of South San Francisco (a separate city from San Francisco) earlier this year.