OT: My first earthquake!

[packitin]

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[BleepingBeauty]

Wow. Lucky that it was so small a quake, and good to read that there was no reported damage.

One of my oldest friends lived way too close to the epicenter of the Northridge Quake in CA in 1994. I was panicked until I could get her on the phone, hours later, to confirm that she was okay. She was pregnant at the time, which only added to my anxiety. She regularly keeps a flashlight and a pair of shoes next to the bed, in case framed photos crash to the floor and glass is everywhere.

Living with the threat of serious natural disasters is definitely not for me...

[kteague]

Wow, don't envy you on that one! I have felt a couple mild tremors in my lifetime here in Ohio, but that's all. Last summer my daughter and her family were in L.A. when one hit.

Glad you're ok and that it turned out to be more scary than dangerous.

Kathy

[packitin]

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[OldLincoln]

You were simi-awake... I was going to say you must sleep light if a 2.6 woke you up. Just kidding, even veterans of quakes get uncomfortable depending on where they live. When I feel a small side shaker I'm holding my breath for the next wave. My experience growing up on the San Andreas Fault was that the biggest shake was not the first one. It's usually a shudder, shake, then all hell breaks loose.

Now rollers are different, they usually come on really strong from the start and scare me. In '56 I saw a roller coming two blocks off and - not exaggerating - the sidewalk looked like a wave coming at me about 3 feet high. Yet it hardly cracked the cement.

Mom had stopped the car next to the curb while making a right turn and it picked up the car and set it on the sidewalk just pretty as you please. The big clock tower in the middle of the intersection dropped the clockworks out of the tower with a big cloud of dust. Mom drove like a maniac to get home almost in tears saying "Oh, my bay window!" over and over. The window was fine and only a few dishes fell out of the cabinet.

I just thank God I'm not living with tornadoes.

[hobbs]

Do not even pay attention until they get to 4+.
http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm

[Captain_Midnight]

Today I found that the center of the quake was about a mile from my house.

Ah, proximity to the epicenter is key.

We Californians are (sort of) used to them, although quakes will always get your attention.

The biggest problem for longer quakes is not knowing when the shaking will end. (Okay, that and not knowing if it was a PRE-shock or not.)

Glad your quake experience was with a "mild" one.

[whatrdreamsmadeof]

Wow, I'm glad it wasn't worse, and I think you should be shook up even if it was mild. I've experienced a few good hurricanes, but Isabelle a couple of years ago really shook Virgina Beach and the rest of the Tidewater Area. We lost all our huge oak trees, one missed the house by 2 inches but hit three out of four cars. The mess was awful, and no power for 9 or 10 days, no major flooding at my house, but that doesn't mean I wasn't having visions of my house and everything we own floating away. God help us if a Tsunami ever hits here. Glad your O.K. and CONGRATULATIONS on your new GRANDBABY!!!

[roster]

The New Madrid, Missouri, earthquake of 1811/1812 was one of the largest successions of earthquakes in the U.S. According to Wikipedia,

Some sections of the Mississippi River appeared to run backward for a short time. Sand blows were common throughout the area, and their effects can still be seen from the air in cultivated fields. Church bells were reported to ring as far as Boston, Massachusetts and York, Ontario (now Toronto) and sidewalks were reported to have been cracked and broken in Washington, D.C.[2] There were also reports it toppled chimneys in Maine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake

Some scientists believe we are highly likely to have a repeat in the next 50 years. It would be much more of a horror because of the larger population.

I was reminded of it while reading some of the Cherokee Indian history. The Cherokee were astounded by the quake and attached religious meaning to it.

Jay, I am glad you are OK.

[Mce]

Hurricanes are fun too

[Treesap]

I lived in both Northern and Southern California and experienced small shakes. One was kind of weird because it was like something just shifted once as if it were going back in to place.

The biggest earth quake I ever felt was a 5.5 in Portland, Oregon. It woke me up at 5:30 a.m.

I experienced Hurricane Wilma during a vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in October 2005. We were stuck in our room from Wednesday night until Sunday morning. We could go out in to the hallway of our 2 story-building. The hallway was open on each side to the outside. We could watch the 100+ mile an hour winds roar and watch the palm trees bend like rubber bands. It didnt' seem possible that it could blow that horribly for that long. We tried to talk to our hallway neighbors, but they were all from Germany and Austria and didn't speak English. We were so glad when it was over. Then we were stuck for 3 more days until they opened the Cancun airport. Nice vacation, heh?

My sister and and my brother-in-law had a room on the second floor, and my husband and I had a room on the first floor. We moved up to their room in case the downstairs flooded. My sister informed me I had sleep apnea during that time. When the electricity goes out, there's nothing you can do except sleep or get drunk. When there's a huge hurricane, you want to be sure you are at least coherent if it turns to a bigger emergency.

[timbalionguy]

LAst year about this time, we were hit here in Reno with an m4.7 quake. This quake was part of a sequence of quakes, and for several months, the nearby town of mogul was having 2-4 m2+ earthquakes a day. Although they call these small earthquakes, they were enough to seriously unnerve the residents there. Unlike most earthquake swarms, where the main shock starts the swarm, in the Mogul sequence, the shocks culminated in the main shock.

I was at home the night of April 25th, when the m4.7 struck. I have several huge videotape machines in my living room (I collect old broadcast equipment). Two of those machines started to sway. They swayed opposite each other, which was weird. I know now I need to get earthquake braces on one of those machines, as it is somewhat top heavy (and weighs 2,600 pounds!).

As my workplace is on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, I have access to one of the great Seismology labs in the world, the UNR Seismology lab. Their data network passes through our studio building, and they are always adding new sensors to it.

I ended up hosting a seismometer in my yard on two occasions, and have attended some really great lectures by the seismologists.

Reno averages 4 m6+ earthquakes a century. But because the composition of the ground is different from California (Mainly rock here, mainly soft soil in CA), earthquakes here aren't quite as destructive.

I can look at a fault right outside my front door, the Peavine Mountain rangefront fault. That fault has been inactive for a long time. But if it ever ruptures, it will be a m6+ quake. Another geologist has good reason to believe I may have a fault right under my property. I have a very unusual high pressure artesian water well, and this high pressure aquifer was found under 300+ feet of clay. The geologist suggests this clay has collected in the void created by the downthrust side of an ancient vertical fault. The Peavine rangefront fault is a vertical fault as well, so this all makes sense. (I have more natural water pressure than I know what to do with, but the water is contaminated with hydrogen sulfide. The H2S is very easy to get rid of, and the resulting water is the best well water I have had anywhere I have lived.)

What does this all have to do with CPAP? I bought the IntelliPAP machine partly because it can run directly off the emergency power system for the ham radio station, which said station exists just in case of a cataclysm like a major earthquake.

[djdixie]

Jay--I was quite surprised to see your post about the earthquake, because evidently that same earthquake woke me up on the other side of our town. I live in the north county area, which is probably 8 miles or so from you, and at first thought it was distant thunder--but then realized thunder doesn't make you vibrate! My husband slept right through it! Small world-huh? Debbie

[Trinity101]

In a sort of similar experience- here in central Maryland, on Friday night about 2 AM, I was up wandering around as usual, between bouts of sleep- and all of a sudden-BOOM! My entire house shook. I did not know whether it was an earthquake- we lived in Chula Vista, CA in '71 and '72 when John was in the Navy- a nearby explosion, or what. John did not even awaken-so I got on the computer, and onto my favorite CPAP forum here-and more or less forgot it-until that evening-I said- "John- did you watch any news today? "(I REALLY hate news shows for some reason)and he said "Yes, why?" I said,-"I was up around 2....", and told him the story- and his eyes got all wide- well, a house exploded about 15 miles or so from here- it was originally a one-room schoolhouse, and there was a propane leak.No one was at home, two other houses were also destroyed-no one was there, either,if I am understanding it correctly- I cannot believe it-what a wonderful serendipitous happening that this occurred right when the people were not at home!
~joan

[BlackSpinner]

My first earthquake experience was in Montreal Quebec in 1988. It was the day I came home from the hospital with my youngest. I was sitting with her in the livingroom when at first I thought our roommate had an unbalanced load in the washing machine but then it got louder and louder until it sounded like a freight train and I could see all the power lines out side swaying I grabbed the baby and all I could remember was "find doorway". Now I would have run outside but this was the end of Novemebr and it was like -10C outside - not nice for a newborn. The biggest pain was that we had just finished renovating the house and now all the cracks were back.

Later in the 90's I was in Northern California -camping north of the Napa valley on a platform and it moved just as I was falling asleep and my mind said "just a raccoon bumping the platform " and I drifted back to sleep - then it moved again and I was wide awake and thought - if that was a raccoon it must be the size of a grizzly bear!!! I lay there in a panic but nothing else happen so I got dressed and went down to the pool area and there people were talking about the quake - man that was a relief just an earth quake - not a grizzly! I spent 3 years in Alberta hearing about people eaten alive by grizzly bears, earth quakes I could handle!