Did the Earth Move for You?

[Bonny]

4.2 earthquake (now revised to 4.0) centered in Piedmont (near Oakland) on the Hayward Fault.

DH and I are on the SF Peninsula and therefore on the San Andreas Fault. I was upstairs in the kitchen. My cat stared at me bugged-eyed. DH was in the walk out basement and didn't feel or hear a thing.

www.sfgate.com/news/article/4-0-quake-rattles-Bay-Area-6448509.php

Earthquake stories please!

[Deleted]

The only earthquake story I have is when I accompanied dh to your state (and your area) for a month, about 12 yrs. ago., on a work related trip. I was in my hotel room, a.m., on the bed watching tv.......all of a sudden I heard a small rumbling sound followed by the bed slightly moving/gyrating! It lasted about 15 seconds...

Scared me half to death!

We don't have earthquakes here in the Midwest, an occasional tornado warning/episode but even that is not (really) a concern in my specific area.

[souldoubt]

Living in SoCal as a kid I slept through most earthquakes, the Northridge quake included.  The only semi amusing story I have was at work some years back when we had maybe a 4.0.  We're a few floors up so we felt it but when they've been doing construction here we also feel rumbling from that.  So when it started all of the locals kind of started looking around like "is this an earthquake" while we had some summer interns in the office.  One of them was from back east and he went diving under a desk about as far as I've seen a human move.  To be fair if I was back east and you told me a tornado or hurricane was coming I'd probably **** myself having never been near one.  

[Malarky]

I have seen the lampshades sway a couple of times over the years here in New England, but never actually felt anything.

Back in 1989, I was on a road trip with exH.  A week before that horrific earthquake we were on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge talking about what a scary place it would be during an earthquake.  We were back in MA by the quake hit.  

That same summer we were camping somewhere in California, I don't remember exactly where, and were woken up in the middle of the night and had to move because the wildfires were coming at us.  

It was a memorable summer.

[Tennesseer]

Aug 17, 2015 9:46:19 GMT -5 Malarky said:

I have seen the lampshades sway a couple of times over the years here in New England, but never actually felt anything.

Back in 1989, I was on a road trip with exH.  A week before that horrific earthquake we were on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge talking about what a scary place it would be during an earthquake.  We were back in MA by the quake hit.  

That same summer we were camping somewhere in California, I don't remember exactly where, and were woken up in the middle of the night and had to move because the wildfires were coming at us.  

It was a memorable summer.

When I lived and worked in New Haven, Ct. during the 80s, I heard one deep earth quake (the earth growled in an angry, deep bass voice) but no shaking. Then another time I had to grab the kitchen sink because I began swaying (I lived in a high rise). I thought it was just me with a bit of vertigo but then I saw the chandelier swaying too. The epicenter of that quake was in northern Quebec.

Now I live in the New Madrid fault area and one big quake will hit eventually.

[kittensaver]

Wow - you guys are shaking and baking up there, aren't you? Please stay safe!

As for earthquake stories, I think I've probably already told mine here a couple of times over . . .

[The Captain]

We had one once.  It felt like a delivery truck rumbled on the street in front of us.  Now granted we don't light up like a Christmas tree on the fault map, but hey - I'm ok with that.


www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/us-fault-lines-graphic-ea_n_432948.html

[wvugurl26]

DC had a small one in 2010. It woke me up. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Not the smartest idea ever. My boss closer to Baltimore didn't feel it but his dogs woke him up uncharacteristically early for them so they felt it. Funny how animals can sense it before we can.

[Plain Old Petunia]

I don't fret about earthquakes.   It is tsunamis which concern me.

The Really Big One 

[Tennesseer]

Aug 17, 2015 13:19:08 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

DC had a small one in 2010. It woke me up. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Not the smartest idea ever. My boss closer to Baltimore didn't feel it but his dogs woke him up uncharacteristically early for them so they felt it. Funny how animals can sense it before we can.

Your 2010 DC earthquake-was that separate from the 2011 Virginia earthquake which rattled DC and damaged the Washington Monument?

[lexxy703]

We had one in VA a few years back.  My boss & I were eating lunch.  I was telling her that the pain medication I was on was making me shaky & held my hand out to show her.  Just then the earthquake hit & started bouncing the table.  She thought it was me going into convulsions.  I had to tell her twice that's not me I think we are having an earthquake.  Since we aren't prone to earthquakes here nobody knew what to do so we all ran outside.  Thankfully it was minor & nobody I know of got hurt.

[lexxy703]

Aug 17, 2015 13:28:11 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Aug 17, 2015 13:19:08 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

DC had a small one in 2010. It woke me up. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Not the smartest idea ever. My boss closer to Baltimore didn't feel it but his dogs woke him up uncharacteristically early for them so they felt it. Funny how animals can sense it before we can.

Your 2010 DC earthquake-was that separate from the 2011 Virginia earthquake which rattled DC and damaged the Washington Monument?

This, 2011 is the one I just posted about.

ETA:  If she is talking about the same one, she was asleep at 2pm on a weekday afternoon.

[Tennesseer]

Aug 17, 2015 13:33:18 GMT -5 lexxy703 said:

Aug 17, 2015 13:28:11 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Your 2010 DC earthquake-was that separate from the 2011 Virginia earthquake which rattled DC and damaged the Washington Monument?

This, 2011 is the one I just posted about.

ETA:  If she is talking about the same one, she was asleep at 2pm on a weekday afternoon.

Maybe she works the night shift?

[cael]

We felt one several summers ago from Montreal I think, then a stronger one a year or so later. First one I was sitting at my desk on the 4th floor here, and we felt the building sway, in pulses kind of. We have a train tunnel that runs under the office so at first I thought it was that, but it definitely wasn't. People at ground level didn't really feel anything, but people from upper floors up and down the street were all outside mingling and talking. Everyone freaked out, but it kind of excited me as a geology nerd Then a year or two later, I was at home one night on the couch and the house shook, cat and I looked at each other and realized it was a quake. It was an old house and at first we thought a car had hit it or something, but it went on for 5-10 seconds. My water was rippling on the table, like when Godzilla or dinosaurs are coming at you

I remember when I was a kid there was a big one in Portland, OR and my aunt described how her office building was swaying, she was on the 18th floor or something. now that *might* freak me out a little.

[cael]

Reading your posts.. must've been the Virginia one I felt during the day, and the Montreal one was the evening one.

[wvugurl26]

They had one in the DC burbs in 2010. It was at like 5am. I was still living with my brother then and I left in 2010 and didn't move back until August 2012. Google says July 16, 2010 at 5:04am. 3.6 magnitude and at the time it was the strongest one to hit within 30 miles of DC since 1974.

[Deleted]

I'm sorry......but I am crackin' up over here hearing these stories. I know it's not a thing to laugh about, maybe I'm sleep deprived...it was an unusually busy last 10 days...and I don't mean to laugh, but....ok I'll stop now and go read something else..

[Deleted]

but...but...from lexxy's post, "pain medication I was on was making me shaky and I held out my hand to show her........I had to tell her it's not me that I think we're having an earthquake..."

[lexxy703]

Aug 17, 2015 14:06:06 GMT -5 @shabbona said:

but...but...from lexxy's post, "pain medication I was on was making me shaky and I held out my hand to show her........I had to tell her it's not me that I think we're having an earthquake..."

We still laugh about it.  She honestly thought I started to have some sort of seizure.  It was pure timing genius!

[Artemis Windsong]

I would think I was just dizzy for a second.

The real earth shaking was when I was at work on the 3rd floor.  The hotel across the street drove pilings into the ground for an entire winter.  I had motion sickness through most of it from the building shaking.

[kittensaver]

Aug 17, 2015 13:18:30 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

About 3 years ago one night like any other we were at home after dinner, the TV on, and DW was in the other room. There was a deep BOOM sound that went on for what seemed like several seconds, along with a pronounced shaking of the whole house.  I jumped up and yelled "what the F is that?"  and went to find my wife.  My first thought was that there had been some sort of explosion nearby- like a gas explosion- but our house was fine (we have an external tank for our stove), and there were no flames/ fireballs/ etc., visible from the direction of the road or any neighbors..  I didn't even think of an earthquake because, you know, this isn't Cali, and we don't get earthquakes.

It turns out that it was a minor earthquake, at about 3.9, and it was centered near us.  It certainly woke me up! 

I'll take blizzards and ice storms.  Please, I don't want earthquakes, volcanoes or wildfires!

 

[[[ Pssst, deminmaine: no one here calls it "Cali." That's a dead give-away. Just sayin' . . .  ]]]

[swamp]

I've been thru s few. I hate them.

One in HS I remember my dog going nuts about a half hour before.

My most recent one I was at my old office. I heard a rumble and thought it was a truck stopping quick for the red light at the corner but the sound kept going. Then my chair started rolling all over which was really weird.

I'll take a blizzard any day

[mamasita99]

I was in Guam for my first earthquake. It was just a few months after the tsunami hit Thailand. Being on a tiny island not so far away from Thailand everyone was still really skittish about natural disasters. In reality, though, it felt like a big truck was rumbling close to the house, and some things fell off of the walls. It was just scary after witnessing the devastation nature can bring.

[Ombud]

No. Driving into work on a different fault line (Concord)

[buystoys]

DH and I were pleased to miss out on any earthquake action while we were in the Del Mar/Solana Beach/Encinitas area a couple of weeks ago. 

[MJ2.0]

I haven't "felt the earth move" for several months now.

But seriously we did get an earthquake when I was on maternity leave with DS. Stuff shook a little bit and I thought someone was doing work next door (we rented a townhouse then). X then called to see if I was okay since we just had an earthquake.

[tallguy]

We have it move here occasionally.  I've been through a 6.8 and a 6.5 as well as several smaller ones.  Come out here.  Maybe you'll get lucky and the earth will move for you.    

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

M.J. grabbed the pun sooner than I did.

I was going to say "every time". ;-)

[swamp]

Aug 17, 2015 16:29:36 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

But blizzards last so long. All the shoveling. At least earthquakes are quick and you don't have to dread their arrival for a few days. Wham, everything moves for a bit, then you're done. Provided your house doesn't fall down there's no cleanup required.

My house will not fall down in a blizzard. I prefer having warning for a blizzard so I can rearrange my schedule and stay off the roads. Cleanup isn't that big of a deal with the right equipment.