I felt the Earth move under my feet: a running, shaking thread

[Batman]

The magnitude scale is logarithmic, so a 7 is 10x the power of a 6 and an 8 is 10x the power of a 7. That means it would take a thousand 5.0 quakes to dissipate a pending 8.0.

Hold on to your butts.

The magnitude is also one of about a hundred variables that can affect how bad an earthquake is. How deep in the earth it originates, the kind of rock and soil, epicenter location, etc., all change the equation a bit. Most people barely feel anything below about a 5.0, but if say a 5.5 originates close to the surface and affects an area with loose soil, it'll probably do a whole lot more damage and be more intense than a 6.5 in rockier terrain that better absorbs the energy.

 

[Liut]

I have experienced one earthquake.
I was asleep. Dog comes running in freaking out. I think he has to take a leak.
I start to get up, house rumbles, glasses rattle in the kitchen cabinet.
I sprint to the front door because I thought a car had just rammed the house or something.
Nothing.
"Boy, that was weird. I must have been having some kind of dream."
Go back to bed. Get to work the next morning and turned out to be a quake.

Same here i.e. ... once.
I did the last thing you're supposed to do ... I ran outside.

 

[I Should Coco]

I have experienced one earthquake.
I was asleep. Dog comes running in freaking out. I think he has to take a leak.
I start to get up, house rumbles, glasses rattle in the kitchen cabinet.
I sprint to the front door because I thought a car had just rammed the house or something.
Nothing.
"Boy, that was weird. I must have been having some kind of dream."
Go back to bed. Get to work the next morning and turned out to be a quake.

It's funny how dogs/animals know just before it happens.

We had a relatively minor quake about 10 years ago when we lived in North Idaho. Dog was acting really weird, like she had to go out, but refused to go through the door.

A couple minutes later there was some minor shaking.

Can't imagine what it would be like to go through a major quake. Hopefully I'll never know.

 

[Liut]

It's funny how dogs/animals know just before it happens.

We had a relatively minor quake about 10 years ago when we lived in North Idaho. Dog was acting really weird, like she had to go out, but refused to go through the door.

A couple minutes later there was some minor shaking.

Can't imagine what it would be like to go through a major quake. Hopefully I'll never know.

Had a colleague whose dog would warn you about thunderstorms better than a meteorologist.
The dog would crawl under my buddy's desk and hide.
Sometimes thought of that pooch during my brief stint pretending to be a TV weathercaster.

 

[Dyno]

I was in SF a few weeks before the big one in 1989. Before that I experienced a minor quake in San Diego. For years I was afraid to go to CA because of the San Andreas and really sort of forgot about it. I was in the one in DC about 10-12 years ago and a small one in NY a couple of years ago, neither of which I enjoyed.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I have experienced one earthquake.
I was asleep. Dog comes running in freaking out. I think he has to take a leak.
I start to get up, house rumbles, glasses rattle in the kitchen cabinet.
I sprint to the front door because I thought a car had just rammed the house or something.
Nothing.
"Boy, that was weird. I must have been having some kind of dream."
Go back to bed. Get to work the next morning and turned out to be a quake.

Where I lived overseas - in the Pacific Ring of Fire – tremors weren't exactly breaking news.

A quake? Different story.

 

[dixiehack]

Damn, I was encouraged by the previous report that said when the Big One hits, everything west of the 5 would be gone. I live a quarter-mile east of the 5 so I should be OK.

This brings up the thought I have watching forecasts every tornado season. “How did storms know where to go before they built the interstate system?”

 

[Kato]

Everything I know about the New Madrid fault line I learned from Uncle Tupelo

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I got awakened on April 13, 1992 in Germany at 3:30 a.m. by a 5.4 that happened a few hundred miles away in the Netherlands. Thought someone was trying to wake me up but I went back to sleep. A few hours later, after I got up for good and turned on the radio,I learned that it was a quake. Only one I remember ever feeling.

 

[Here me roar]

This brings up the thought I have watching forecasts every tornado season. “How did storms know where to go before they built the interstate system?”

Native guides. Duh.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I have experienced one earthquake.
I was asleep. Dog comes running in freaking out. I think he has to take a leak.
I start to get up, house rumbles, glasses rattle in the kitchen cabinet.
I sprint to the front door because I thought a car had just rammed the house or something.
Nothing.
"Boy, that was weird. I must have been having some kind of dream."
Go back to bed. Get to work the next morning and turned out to be a quake.

I’ve experienced two. First one, I had just taken the job as SE of a small town daily, had just moved into my new apartments and a few days in, I half-woke up during the night wondering why I was feeling like the bed was vibrating. That morning, it was on the wire that there was a small earthquake a couple hundred miles away.

Second time was that quake about 15 years or so before in Virginia, that I felt in my hometown where I was at the post office. The building started shaking, the price package samples started falling off the wall, and the guy in front of me and I looked at each other and at the same time, said “earthquake!” We both also ran outside, which, I guess, you’re not supposed to do.

 

[Driftwood]

I obviously don't know earthquake procedures, but I'd think outside in an open space would be the best place so nothing could fall on you.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Fletch just now: “Any commentary from this point forward I have to apologize for in advance.” :)

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Saka saves England’s bangers. Hat trick after that penalty.

 

[Songbird]

Otisburg’s still in play.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

****, got stuck on the wrong thread.

 

[dixiehack]

Only one I’ve been in was a 4.6, but only like 35 miles from the epicenter. The floor in our upstairs bedroom felt like standing on a trampoline. Quite a novelty in the Deep South.

 

[MileHigh]

4.6 is someone sneezing.

 

[Liut]

I obviously don't know earthquake procedures, but I'd think outside in an open space would be the best place so nothing could fall on you.

Outside in an open space might be one thing.
However, I was downtown with a fifteen-story building next to me.
I guess the prevailing wisdom was stay inside so you don't get hit by falling debris.
My thinking that day was something along the lines of "when that building falls on top of the radio station, I don't want to buried alive."

 

[DanOregon]

I think I live closer to the San Andreas fault than any other regular posters so I kindly ask you all to treat it like a no hitter. Mods: lock this thread now!