Earthquake Experiences / Preparation

[MN-Investor]

Living in the upper Midwest, I've never experienced an earthquake, so I am curious.

Have you felt an earthquake? A mild one? A moderate one? Damage? Did you panic or was it just another day in California (or wherever)?

Is your house built to cope with mild shocks? Are there things you do to protect your house or belongings?

[swamp]

Several minor ones. I live in upstate NY. No damage. It usually takes a while for me to figure out what's going on beciase they happen every few years. 

[Sum Dum Gai]

We get little ones all the time.  Like every few weeks to couple months.  Most are so small you don't even feel them, and the others are mild shaking or swaying for a few seconds then done.  Not a big deal really.  I haven't experienced any biggish ones though.

[gacpa]

I grew up in Southeast Missouri, home of the New Madrid fault line.  You can pull up lots of articles about this fault line.  It is a really bad one and there have been no earthquakes in the area for decades.

Scientists have predicted a major earthquake is coming to this area for years.  Many of the small towns here are woefully unprepared.  St. Louis and Memphis will suffer much damage along with all the towns and farms in between.

The insurance companies have been listening though, and have dropped earthquake coverage for property owners.  The local VA hospital has been earthquake-proofed, but most folks and building just plain are not ready.

If a major earthquake ever occurs here, you can bet the damage will be devastating.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Aug 24, 2014 14:38:14 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Living in the upper Midwest, I've never experienced an earthquake, so I am curious.

Have you felt an earthquake? A mild one? A moderate one? Damage? Did you panic or was it just another day in California (or wherever)?

Is your house built to cope with mild shocks? Are there things you do to protect your house or belongings?

I was in the 1983 Coalinga earthquake. There was a 6.2 quake there that did a fair amount of damage in that small, central California town. The downtown area (lots of older brick buildings) was pretty much wiped out... 94 were injured. I was a high school senior at the time, and was there for a debate tournament. It scared the heck out of me!

I was living in San Francisco in 1989 for the Loma Prieta earthquake... on the top floor of a 3-story apartment building. The freeway offramp a few hundred feet away collapsed ~ along with a lot of other damage to my block. I was just about to start working on a writing assignment for law school and had turned on the World Series to watch when the loud shaking happened. The building swayed a LOT and the sound was deafening (that turned out to be the offramp collapsing). I did the only sensible thing I could think of ... I put one hand on the TV to keep it from shaking off the stand, and I put the other hand on the wine rack to keep the wine bottles from falling out and breaking. (My roommate later really appreciated having the wine, LOL!) As soon as it ended, I rushed to the bathroom and filled up our large claw-footed metal bathtub with water, and filled up every pitcher and bucket in the house.  We kept getting aftershocks, so I didn't bother trying to clean up anything inside the place (at first). The power was out. I sat on the front steps of the apartment and watched what was happening, and ate all the ice cream. It took my roommie hours and hours to walk home. Before our phone lines went out, I'd called my parents answering machine and told them that I was uninjured, without power, and was staying put for the time being.

I can't really say that I panicked. And I "did" save the wine and the TV.  Of course, the rest of the world watched what was happening on TV ... but we had no power for days, so didn't really grasp the full measure of the damage for a few days. I will say that the aftershocks were very upsetting to me and I was jumpy as a cat for WEEKS. For over a month, we slept fully clothed ... just in case.

We now live in a single-story, ranch-style home in central California. Our water heaters (both of them) are bolted to the walls in case of earthquakes. We have a landline (not requiring electricity) for emergencies. We do not place heavy things on the walls above couches or beds in our home.

We have a fully-stocked emergency tub of supplies, complete with clipboard and whistle and a hazmat suit for my wonderful DH. (He's Mr. Safety) We have water purification tablets and plenty of non-perishables for ourselves and our cats.

And we have earthquake insurance.

[Malarky]

1983 Coalinga earthquake

Was that the one where the Bay Bridge collapsed and crushed everything underneath?

If it was, I was there the previous week.  I'm a New England girl.  Generally when we have earthquakes, you can tell because the lampshades are swaying, you don't really feel much.  

We were driving on the lower level of the Bay Bridge and I completely flipped out on ExH.  I wanted off that bridge so bad.  I was literally crying because all I could think of was that if there was an earthquake, there was no where to go.  I'm not usually the hysterical sort but that completely skeeved me out. 

A week or so later, my hysterical imaginings came true.

[sesfw]

I was in LA for the early 70s quake in San Fran Valley, So Calif. Still in bed at 6:30.  Cat dove under the bed, DH slept through it and so did DD. I just laid in bed and was along for the ride.  Where we lived must have been on a large plate because the whole area moved as one.  The center was at least 50 miles away so we didn't get any damage.

Happened so fast didn't have time to get scared.  DH went to work at the Navy Supply Center in Torrance and didn't say anything about damage.  DD and I stayed home and listened to the radio.  All day long was aftershocks and the radio would announce it.  About 15 seconds later we would feel it.  Very strange day.

Now I live in the Phx area.  Inland Island of So Calif had a quake several years ago that was felt here in some areas but not in this area.  Different plate I guess.

No special preps for a quake here.  If one happens I'll head for the small bathroom.

[TheOtherMe]

When I was a kid, my dad and I were both sitting in our living room and we thought we felt the house move.  Mom and sister thought we were nuts.  News said later that we did have a minor earthquake.  This was in Des Moines, IA.

When I was living and working in Fort Collins, CO, we had one that had all the file cabinets shaking.  We were scared they would fall over.  We were on the second floor so it did cross my mind that the building might collapse.  The building was poorly built because the floors would shake when anybody walked across them.  However, walking did not rattle the file cabinets.

[Deleted]

Aug 24, 2014 14:38:14 GMT -5 MN-Investor said:

Have you felt an earthquake? A mild one? A moderate one? Damage? Did you panic or was it just another day in California (or wherever)?

Is your house built to cope with mild shocks? Are there things you do to protect your house or belongings?

I feel a bit like we can't escape them   

My parents are in the CA North Bay Area, so we got rocked by some big ones growing up.  Our schools required we bring ziplocked earthquake emergency packages to school just in case.  After a safe year, they'd hand the packages back and we'd eat the canned fruit and bottled water and stuff that were required on the sheets.

I didn't expect earthquakes when we moved to OK, but we have a lot recently, since we're near Guthrie.  Most aren't felt or are just tremors, but some like last week make our cupboard doors flap.

I just handle it like being prepared for everything from tornadoes to the zombiepocalypse; keep a radio, flashlight, batteries, 5 gallon drum of water, 5 gallon can of gas, rope, an ax, some canned food, etc. on hand.  

No particular effort to protect other belongings though, we don't have a lot of glassware or anything.  Our house isn't specially built to handle earthquakes, but it's one story, and it cost us $55,000 for the home and acreage.  If the house gets picked up and thrown by a twister or whatever else can happen, as long as we're safe, things are fine.

[mmhmm]

We had a little 3.something here last year, I think it was. I was scrubbing the kitchen floor and noticed things moving that shouldn't be moving. I just said:  "Well, hot damn! It's an earthquake!" and went on scrubbing the floor. Living in California immunized me to the earthquake willies, I guess.

[Tennesseer]

Living in New Haven, Connecticut at the time, I felt the 1988 Saguenay, Quebec earthquake.  I had had a few drinks and was in the kitchen when I started to wobble.  I grabbed the sink thinking  my wobbling had something to do with the alcohol.  I then walked into the dining area and saw the chandelier swaying back and forth so I knew it was not the booze.  Shortly after, local TV stations began reporting the quake.

Now living in Memphis, and as gacpa has mentioned, we have the New Madrid fault line to deal with.  It is just a matter of time before a quake hits though I am more concerned about tornadoes.

[tallguy]

Live in the Seattle area long enough and you’ll experience an earthquake. Most earthquakes in the Northwest are minor. Some you may not even feel. Others, like the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, are large enough to feel and cause some damage. But make no mistake—the Seattle-Tacoma area has the potential to have large and destructive quakes! The Puget Sound Region is crisscrossed by fault lines and zones and also located close to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the Juan de Fuca and North American tectonic plates meet. According to the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, more than 1,000 earthquakes happen in Washington state each year! Living in such a seismically active area, it’s not a matter of if we have a major earthquake, but when.

Seattle earthquakes

February 28, 2001: The Nisqually Earthquake, at 6.8 magnitude, was centered to the south in Nisqually, but caused some structural damage all the way in Seattle.

April 29, 1965: A 6.5 magnitude, deep earthquake in the south Sound area was felt as far away as Montana and British Columbia, and knocked down thousands of chimneys in the Puget Sound.

Been through those two big ones and a number of smaller ones.  Never been concerned about any of them though.  Probably should be.  This is a simulation of a major earthquake affecting the seawall and viaduct.  It is now a huge project to re-do the seawall and shore up and perhaps eventually tear down the viaduct.  Much of the area shown is now torn up for construction.  (And yes, I am on that viaduct every workday.  Twice.)  

 

 

[Deleted]

This is why we are in Texas.   DH was licensed as a PE in both Texas and Cali, but chose TX because he grew up in Japan where the earth shook daily.  He chose hurricanes over earthquakes and I agreed.  

Very good juju and thoughts to everyone who experienced the quake this a.m.  

[Bonny]

Aug 24, 2014 16:13:37 GMT -5 Malarky said:

1983 Coalinga earthquake

Was that the one where the Bay Bridge collapsed and crushed everything underneath?

If it was, I was there the previous week.  I'm a New England girl.  Generally when we have earthquakes, you can tell because the lampshades are swaying, you don't really feel much.  

We were driving on the lower level of the Bay Bridge and I completely flipped out on ExH.  I wanted off that bridge so bad.  I was literally crying because all I could think of was that if there was an earthquake, there was no where to go.  I'm not usually the hysterical sort but that completely skeeved me out. 

A week or so later, my hysterical imaginings came true.

Coalinga is really the Central Valley.

Bay Bridge is SF Bay Area a couple of hundred miles north. In 1989 only a couple of sections of freeways (actually the off ramps sitting on Bay fill) collapsed. The biggest loss of life was from a section of the Nimitz Freeway. That was the Loma Prieta earthquake and the epicenter was actually about 70 miles south and not too far away from Sum Dum Gai.

Besides all the extra earthquake safety retrofits, the earthquake was a catalyst for getting rid of a bunch of ugly double-decker freeways that were built in the 1950s. It's been one of the best beautification projects ever. We can finally see and walk our beautiful waterfront!

[tallguy]

The most extreme effect an earthquake ever had on me was the Northridge quake near Los Angeles in 1994.  My then-wife worked for an insurance company and volunteered to go down there to help with claims.  Left me with a nine- and a three-year-old for nearly a month....    

[Bonny]

tallguy,

You will love your waterfront once that ugly viaduct comes down. Start buying up property now!

[Bonny]

I'm a native Californian who grew up in San Diego. We would get regular shakes along the Rose Canyon fault but I can't remember any really big ones.

We tend to be a little blasé about earthquakes. We always do have some bottled water, we do know where the water and gas shut-offs are, have an old transistor radio and fresh batteries but I think you would want to have these items regardless of where you live.

House is bolted to the foundation.

We do not carry earthquake insurance. With a 10% deductible it's unlikely that we would incur damage higher than that. My biggest concern is earth movement (we live on a hill) and there's no insurance for that.

[tallguy]

Bonny,

I'm just glad I'll have the option not to have to drive to work once it's gone.  That thing carries a lot of traffic. 

[Bonny]

Aug 24, 2014 18:53:14 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Bonny,

I'm just glad I'll have the option not to have to drive to work once it's gone.  That thing carries a lot of traffic. 

San Francisco used the extra right of way created by the bridge support removal to install their "F" streetcar line. They run vintage street cars found from all over world along the Embarcadero. It's a great addition for both tourists trying to get down to Pier 39 as well as locals.

While it wouldn't quite be the same (although expanding the monorail might work!) since the footprint of the viaduct is mostly further against the hill than right down at your waterfront I think it will make that part of the City really attractive.

[Deleted]

I just noticed where Peru had a 7.0 quake.

[tallguy]

Aug 24, 2014 19:01:41 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Aug 24, 2014 18:53:14 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Bonny,

I'm just glad I'll have the option not to have to drive to work once it's gone.  That thing carries a lot of traffic. 

San Francisco used the extra right of way created by the bridge support removal to install their "F" streetcar line. They run vintage street cars found from all over world along the Embarcadero. It's a great addition for both tourists trying to get down to Pier 39 as well as locals.

While it wouldn't quite be the same (although expanding the monorail might work!) since the footprint of the viaduct is mostly further against the hill than right down at your waterfront I think it will make that part of the City really attractive.

The design plans are beautiful.  Now if only we could get a tunnel built.  The project will be stopped for over a year because the boring machine ran into a large steel pipe that the company failed to remove....  

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

We felt the Loma Prieta one 120 miles away. It was pretty surprising and lots of stuff shook off the walls. The worst was the swinging chandelier over the stairway (It almost hit the wall/outer window). I remember seeing the aftermath on TV, especially the Nimitz freeway collapse. We used to go to San Francisco every month to the doctor and took that road home. We had our appointment that day but my mom had messed up and took us the week before on accident (The doctor squeezed us in because we came so far... otherwise, we would have been on the Nimitz at around the time it collapsed). I do remember going to a benefit concert in Watsonville afterwards. I think Carlos Santana played?

Malarky, it was the Loma Prieta where sections of the Bay bridge collapsed. I remember it didn't fall into the Bay but parts of the top collapsed onto the bottom (no one fell in the water).

I grew up in the Bay Area and Central Valley. Earthquakes were just another day and we practiced the drills in school. Like Shaun of the Toys, we feel little ones a lot down here. They are pretty light and over quickly. We have earthquake insurance and our home seems sound. We haven't really prepared (food, water, etc). I guess we just live with our heads in the sand....

[Bonny]

Aug 24, 2014 20:33:42 GMT -5 @missmargarita said:

The biggest one I experienced was 7.2... Huge in a city like San Francisco... Fortunately living here in the desert we're not as built up and can absorb the shock better. I have no earthquake kit whatsoever.... And no plan... I don't think earthquakes produce zombies so I'm cool...

Do you feel them all the time?

Whenever I visit the cabin during the summer I generally feel two or three. It's kind of a little exciting as you can here them coming. The cabin groans a little and then there's a sharp jolt. They're generally really small, typically in the 2-3 range. I assume they're coming from the Salton Sea area.

I generally don't feel them up here in the SF Bay Area until they are reaching 5.0.

The difference may be due to the cabin sitting on a big chunk of granite. But I'm curious if you notice them as often as I do.

[Bonny]

BTW After seeing all the news footage regarding the damage to the wineries I think a group of us YMers should be very charitable and offer to take home those half full casks of wine.

[souldoubt]

Born and raised in SoCal so earthquakes are just a part of life. Slept through the Northridge one along with numerous others and the last one I felt was during March Madness while I was out at a bar with co-workers.  Everyone in the bar just kind of looked around to see if other people felt it and by the time it ended we realized it was a quake.  I remember when we had summer interns at work some years back when one hit and those who had never experienced one were running and freaking out.  To be fair if you said a tornado was touching down close while I was traveling I'd lose it. We have some supplies stocked away that would get us through a week plus if a big one hit.  

[cronewitch]

Aug 24, 2014 18:20:57 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Live in the Seattle area long enough and you’ll experience an earthquake. Most earthquakes in the Northwest are minor. Some you may not even feel. Others, like the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, are large enough to feel and cause some damage. But make no mistake—the Seattle-Tacoma area has the potential to have large and destructive quakes! The Puget Sound Region is crisscrossed by fault lines and zones and also located close to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the Juan de Fuca and North American tectonic plates meet. According to the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, more than 1,000 earthquakes happen in Washington state each year! Living in such a seismically active area, it’s not a matter of if we have a major earthquake, but when.

Seattle earthquakes

February 28, 2001: The Nisqually Earthquake, at 6.8 magnitude, was centered to the south in Nisqually, but caused some structural damage all the way in Seattle.

April 29, 1965: A 6.5 magnitude, deep earthquake in the south Sound area was felt as far away as Montana and British Columbia, and knocked down thousands of chimneys in the Puget Sound.

Been through those two big ones and a number of smaller ones.  Never been concerned about any of them though.  Probably should be.  This is a simulation of a major earthquake affecting the seawall and viaduct.  It is now a huge project to re-do the seawall and shore up and perhaps eventually tear down the viaduct.  Much of the area shown is now torn up for construction.  (And yes, I am on that viaduct every workday.  Twice.)  

 

 

I remember the 4/29/65 quake it was my birthday I was 17. I was watching a movie with blackened shades of airplanes bombing when it started. It felt and sounded like we were being bombed. When the lights came on some kids were under desk crying. The school was long buildings that moved like snakes breaking walls, nobody was hurt.

The Nisqually quake didn't seem like a big deal at the time but did some damage, not to my house.

Early 70s in LA the 6:30AM quake was just after our alarm went off and we weren't up yet. My ex asked me whats that noise and I said earthquake when the upstairs neighbors bookcase fell over. My ex was a Midwesterner so didn't know about quakes and wanted to watch. I was trying to get him to leave the blinds closed and not open them to stand in front of a plate glass window to watch cars bounce and transformers pop. I wanted him to get to an inside wall away from glass but it didn't work. We were managers of the apartments and our swimming pool sloshed out water but no real damage. So we moved to a building closer to the epicenter, elevators stuck, aftershocks re broke walls as fast as we got them fixed. The building was evacuated since it was down stream from a dam that was damaged. Aquariums had fallen so dead fish on wet carpet for 5 days, many people moved out because they were afraid CA was going to fall into the ocean.

I was in other quakes but don't remember them much, one I was talking to my mom on the phone the whole quake. Others you could barely feel or not feel.