My first earthquake! (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

This morning, about 6am, I woke up to a very weird vibrating sensation. It was like the downstairs neighbors were having exceedingly boisterous sex on the ceiling. It felt the way the trucks sound at the Xerox receiving plant next door. Or maybe as if someone had inserted a quarter into my bed, and hit the "vibrate" button.

I thought maybe I was dreaming or, well, I don't know what.

Then, about 10am, I heard on the national news, there was a magnitude 5 earthquake in Plattsburgh, NY, felt from Pittsburgh to Maine.

That's my first earthquake. Kinda of exciting as well as disturbing.

Anyone else here in the NE feel it?

 

[Malcolm R]

It really shook me awake. I woke up suddenly and the whole room was bucking and shaking. Very odd sensation. The walls were creaking and windows rattling. I thought there was also a decent aftershock about 10 to 15 mins later, not as strong but just a slight vibration and I could see my plants shaking.

This was the first that I've ever actually felt, or that's been strong enough to wake me up anyway. I guess I've slept through a couple of 3.0 quakes in past years. No apparent damage right around me, though I've heard a lot of sirens throughout this AM so maybe there are some problems nearby.

 

[DeathStar1]

I think it even hit us here in the Jersey shore, either that or we felt it because we are a bit below see level as well. Obviously not with the same intensity, but just enough to notice something was strange..

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, gentlemen, welcome to the club!
I, along with other Californians, stand ready to answer any and all questions you may have regarding this phenomenon. My own earthquake resume is quite extensive, thank you--starting with the 1971 Sylmar quake.
My most impressive ride, so far, was the 1994 Northridge 6.8-level shaker--it ruined my apartment at the time. I received FEMA money in order to relocate.
Another thing: What really gets to you after a major quake--and Northridge certainly qualified on that score--is the aftershocks. Seriously. They are nerve-wracking. And you should have seen all the "tent cities" that sprung up immediately--people were afraid to go back inside for days.
Open for questions!

 

[RobertR]

Hehehe I'm not quite the quake veteran you are, Jack (I've been here 13 years), but I've certainly experienced many of them. I'm reminded of the scene in L.A. Story where LA denizens casually continue their at-restaurant conversation while the table moves, followed by an estimate of the magnitude.
One of the things I was fascinated to experience was that a quake doesn't HAVE to manifest itself as the "shaking" feeling. Instead, there was a distinct "rolling" effect, as of a ship on an ocean.

 

[Craig F]

Ah yes, I remember my first quake. (I lived in Silicon Valley for 13 years) It happened about 2:30 am. I was dreaming at the time and my dream shifted to where I was on a boat on the ocean tossing all about. I woke up just after the quake stopped. I thought, "Man, that seemed so real".

When the clock radio went off the next morning, the song playing was Carol King's. "I Feel the Earth Move". I then realized what had happened.

My worst quake was the 1989 Loma Prieta 7.2. Fortunately, I was in an area that was not affected too badly.

 

[Tom Rags]

Holy Crap Dave! I thought I felt something this morning, but I thought that I was dreaming! I distinctly remember feeling this morning that I thought we must be having an earthquake. But I chalked it up as a dream and I forgot about it until reading your post. Wow!

--Tom

 

[Julie K]

Ah yes, earthquakes.

I went through the Sylmar quake but the Northridge quake is the one that really sticks in my mind. There's nothing like sitting in the dark waiting for the next aftershock (or worse, wondering if that monster of a quake was a foreshock for something bigger.)

Even the smaller aftershocks weeks later are enough to trigger an "oh shit!" from people, myself included. And then there were nights of jerking awake whenever the heater came on or a large truck rumbled by.

I was fortunate though. A lot of nice things broke, but my house was basically ok, which is good considering that not far from mine a house was declared unsafe and had to almost be rebuilt from ground-up.

 

[Carlos_E]

Hey guys:
Check out the thread "After we die, what happens?" in the After Hours section. As Forum member Scooter is actually posting and comtemplating his mortality, the QUAKE HIT!!!!!!!!!. Nothing happened to him and he is OK. But WOW!!! This is a Classic HOME THEATER FORUM moment that I will treasure forever.
Take care. And if worst comes to worst, you can join me in Florida, The Sunshine State. You just have to dodge the Hurricanes but you get plenty of warning for those.
Carlos

 

[Henry Gale]

...join me in Florida...

....the lightning headquarters of North America.
No thanks, I'll take my chances in Central Texas.
Jim

 

[Jack Briggs]

"I'll take my chances in Central Texas."

Oh, I see. You prefer your disasters in the shape of tornados! (Hey, I actually dig the things--and I've seen three of them. Not bad for somebody from California, eh?
Julie's right about the tension one feels when going through the aftershocks--and the aftershocks from Northridge continued for a long time. To this day, when a large truck goes by I tense up.
Hey, I live in between Hollywood and West Hollywood. We had a mild shaker back in September, and the epicenter was smack dab in West Hollywood.

 

[DaveF]

Well, I've got one less reason to not movie to CA (which is a real possibility, since I'm starting the job hunt).
This was more strange and interesting than scary, since it was pretty mild, and I was half-asleep while it happened. It's more disturbing now, afterwards. As I've heard it said, it's distressing for the earth to move. It's not supposed to do that, and runs counter to a lifetime's experience.
What really surprised me and my roommate was that it felt strongly periodic: it was like a 1Hz vibration for several minutes. Based on movies I figured it would be erratic shaking.
As for extent: this was felt from OH to NY to ME to MD. U.S. Geologic guy said the Eastern terrain allows earthquakes to be felt over more larger distances than in the West.

 

[Jay H]

Cool, hope the roads are OK, I didn't feel a thing but I never feel earthquakes. Even if I did feel the house shaking, I'd figure it's probably the local rock quarry or something... Unless things start falling off shelves and stuff, there's too much things around here to blame first before calling it an earthquake...

Jay

 

[Jack Briggs]

About the sensations: Some quakes are different from others. The rolling kinds are just as unnerving as the jolting ones. I know a number of people who were in San Francisco in 1989. You should hear them describe what they went through!

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hiya Dave!
Felt pretty strong here in Rensselaer (near Albany). It woke me out of a sound sleep.
It took me maybe three seconds to figure out what was going on. During those first three seconds, I just thought Robert Fowkes had just turned his subwoofer up real loud again in NYC!!!

 

[Peter Mazur]

I have been in too many to count.

On the day that the big one hit in 89, I was in San Francisco about thirty minutes before it struck. I remember sitting in my car trying to figure out the best way to go home. I was about set to take the Bay Bridge which would lead me to the Cypress structure when I noticed the blimp flying above Candlestick. It was the year of the Bay Bridge World Series. Luckily I decided to take 101 (which runs down the western side of the bay) home. The commute that day was increadibly light due to the game. I was at a red light when it struck. It was just as Jack said earlier, a very rolling feeling. It actually felt like my car was on waves or something like that. I saw these two people running out of their house with their hands in the air screaming, it was quite humorous at the time. The guy in the car next to me saw the same people and looked over at me and we kinda both laughed at the same time. The light went green and we took off like nothing had even happened. I proceded to drive across the Dumbarton Bridge (a bridge located further south down the bay) and went home. When my girlfriend came running out all upset, and I went in to watch TV...I had no idea that it was as bad as it was. I have always felt weird that I was laughing while people were being crushed to death in the Cypress freeway. Anyway, I will never forget that day. But, these earthquakes are a small price to pay for living in a beautiful area like this.

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

My first was the SanFran '89 quake. I was on Mare Island at the top of a man made hill. We had just finished school and I went down stairs to the 'lil pardners room. I'm standing there doing my thing when I start getting really woozey! I thought maybe I was going to faint. Next I hear slamming and look over and all the stall doors are slamming open and shut. I didn't know what the heck was going on! I zipped up and stumbled out of the bathroom. I see the fire extinguishers slapping back and forth in their wall holders and that's when it hit me that I better get out of there ASAP. I ran out of an emergency exit and up the hill to find everybody outside. Needless to say I was shaking just a bit. :b
Next up were the two slightly smaller LA quakes ( I just don't remember what years). I remember an Apt. building collapsing on it's first floor but the rest of the floors held in tact.
Then I was in 4 cyclones/typhoons on Okinawa and Hurricane Bonnie in NC.
Now that I live in Colorado I find it a bit boring.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

They keep calling them the SF earthquakes (1906, 1989) but both happened about 60 miles south in the bowels of Mt. Loma Prieta. Back in '06 the city of San Jose lay in ruins but it was a small town then so SF got all the publicity. I was working about 8 miles NE from the epicenter in '89. I tried to walk across the room but couldn't - the floor was moving up and down about 20 inches at about 2 Hz! It kept knocking me off my feet.

A magnitude 5 is just for fun. You feel it but don't really have cause for alarm. We had a magnitude 5 here back around 1981. We worked next to an open field, and could look out the window and see the ground waves. That's right - you see swells coming across "solid ground" just like on the ocean.

I always have to laugh when newcomers talk about earthquakes. A typical line is "I really like the mountains here but too bad there are earthquakes." Duh...what do you think MAKES the mountains?

 

[Shawn Shultzaberger]

We worked next to an open field, and could look out the window and see the ground waves. That's right - you see swells coming across "solid ground" just like on the ocean.

It's funny you say this because I had a buddy who was getting cash at an ATM during the '89 quake and he told me when he looked out across the parking lot he could see the waves. He said they were really moving the parking lot lights.

 

[Pamela]

I just want to know why the freakin' things always seem to happen in the middle of the night. Talk about a rude awakening!
One time, while my cat was napping on the bedroom floor, we had a small jolt. It was enough to send Chloe running out of the bedroom and into the living room. Poor thing. She was afraid to go back into the bedroom for the rest of the day. She would tip-toe over to the doorway, peek inside and run back into the living room. She was checking to see if the boogie man was still in there.
Lesson #1: Cats do no do well in earthquakes.