So Cal Earthquake

[yuandrew]

Anyone in the So. California area feel tonight's earthquake at about 9pm ?

 

[StarHalo]

Got the full effect; was sitting comfortably on the couch, so I felt the very sight rolls that started 5-6 seconds before the jolt, quite a rock n' roller, kept it up for a good ten seconds or so too. Instantly loaded QuakeFeed and news radio on the iPad, so was fully informed.

The Matterhorn ride at Disney got stuck, Dodger stadium felt it mildly, and there are a few water main breaks, that's what I've heard thus far.

 

[Frijid]

Heard about it on the CB on the way home. Caught 2 guys who run base stations here talking about it, said they picked up someone on skip from cali who told them about it. Hope no one got hurt though. I'll probably live to regret this, but i'd like to, at least once in my life, feel the effects of an earthquake.

 

[StarHalo]

I'll probably live to regret this, but i'd like to, at least once in my life, feel the effects of an earthquake.

Nothing to regret there; I go through several a year. Picture a moving truck that's in neutral rolling backwards at about 5 mph, and it bumps a corner of your house, causing the house to shift just for a second - that's a ~3.0 earthquake.

Fun fact: In the last 20 years, only 2 people have died from California earthquakes.

 

[THE_dAY]

Felt it too for a few seconds but only the soft rolling, no jolt or anything harsh.
I'll have to check out QuakeFeed sounds like an interesting app.

Also felt one a week or so ago.

 

[moldyoldy]

<snip>... I'll probably live to regret this, but i'd like to, at least once in my life, feel the effects of an earthquake.

well, having arrived in Alaska after the big quake, I was treated to many smaller quakes in the course of a year up there. The worst one I experienced? asleep in my bunk on the 3rd floor of a concrete barracks. woke up to someone shaking the bed hard. rolled over. No one there. realizing I had to leave - NOW - I rolled out of bed and managed to stand briefly on the floor long enough to stagger to the doorway. The side-to-side floor motion was worse than on ship's deck in a turbulent sea which is more up/down. The floor did not stay still. The room door opened with difficulty. I staggered down the hallway bouncing from wall to wall thinking that even if I have to crawl, I really need to exit this building. As I neared the door at the end of the hallway with outside metal steps leading down to the ground, the shaking stopped. Damage? minor cracks in the building. lots of gear dumped on the floor or bottom of closets.

My niece said that she rode out a Cal earthquake - literally. She hung on to the couch as it 'walked' it's way half-way across the room. Various cabinets emptied themselves.

IOW, Maybe you can survive the quake, but dishes and any order in the room(s) may not.

 

[HotWire]

Yup.... I was sitting in my home office clicking away when stuff flew off the shelves and across the room. I live less than 1 mile from La Habra, CA. No damage.... just stuff to pick up. I've been through worse quakes!

 

[MBentz]

Didn't feel it up here.

 

[RetroTechie]

As I understand it, a really big earthquake (magnitude 7~8 or so) is more or less overdue in Southern California, correct? Am I the only one who thinks these smaller quakes in the last few months might be a prelude of sorts?

Of course that next "big one" might be out for decades still. :thinking: Or it might not... :duck:

 

[caddylover]

was at my car show sitting in my caddy when I started to look in the mirrors to see who was shaking my car

 

[caddylover]

also, had a decent little aftershock about 30 minutes ago.

 

[Solid Lifters]

also, had a decent little aftershock about 30 minutes ago.

It wasn't an aftershock. It was a brand new earthquake. 4.1 in Rowland Heights. But, it happened on the same fault line. The Puente Hills Thrust System. The same fault line that caused the deadly 5.9 Whittier quake in 1987. Looks like our big earthquake drought is official over. Now is the time to prepare for them!

 

[PCC]

As I understand it, a really big earthquake (magnitude 7~8 or so) is more or less overdue in Southern California, correct? Am I the only one who thinks these smaller quakes in the last few months might be a prelude of sorts?

Of course that next "big one" might be out for decades still. :thinking: Or it might not... :duck:

That's true up and down the entire West Coast of the US. I'm starting to get nervous here near San Francisco.

 

[MBentz]

The time to prepare was months and years ago. If you live down there and don't at least have a backup generator, you're crazy.

 

[HotWire]

There is information here: http://www.scsn.org/2014lahabra.html

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

That's true up and down the entire West Coast of the US. I'm starting to get nervous here near San Francisco.

I took a Physical Geography class in college that used San Fransisco as an example for a worst case scenario for an earthquake to occur. The instructor pointed out that much of the city was built over a landfill and during an earthquake, the land would shake like Jello. Combine that with the dependency on suspension bridges for an escape route (that could be damaged in a large quake) and a decent amount of tall buildings that would shake more sitting on a Jello-like foundation and you have the recipe for disaster. Good luck.

 

[moldyoldy]

Ref the "the land would shake like Jello":

Absolutely correct. In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, an engineering acquaintance of my brother happened to be in the area that was built out on to 'fill' in the SF bay. That person said that the ground fluidized which resulted in oscillations in the road that were much higher than he was tall. hence the reason that the first floors of many buildings in the area outright collapsed and were crushed under the upper floors. residents of the second floor easily jumped to the ground to save themselves.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

There's a good article on soil liquifaction on Wikipedia along with some scary pictures, and it mentions the 1989 quake in the SF Marina District.

 

[Hooked on Fenix]

Chile just had an 8.0 earthquake. Looks like the Ring of Fire is waking up. It's a good time to stock up on supplies just in case and make sure you have what you need in case of a disaster. We had similar events starting about 4 years ago. The 7.2 southern California Easter earthquake, the 8.8 Conception, Chile Earthquake, the Haiti 7.0 earthquake, and the 9.0 Japan earthquake. The earthquakes seem to have a pattern of rotating around the Pacific. The large ones seem to be able to keep a chain reaction going around the fault lines to an extent. Definitely time to prepare for the big one.

 

[PCC]

I took a Physical Geography class in college that used San Fransisco as an example for a worst case scenario for an earthquake to occur. The instructor pointed out that much of the city was built over a landfill and during an earthquake, the land would shake like Jello. Combine that with the dependency on suspension bridges for an escape route (that could be damaged in a large quake) and a decent amount of tall buildings that would shake more sitting on a Jello-like foundation and you have the recipe for disaster. Good luck.

Actually, most of the really tall buildings in SF were built on the original shoreline (Pyramid building) or higher. They drive pilings deep into the ground to the bedrock for stability. My sister was on the 39th floor of the AP Gianini building, the second tallest building in SF back in '89 and she said that the building swayed back and forth about 5 feet at the top. I was actually standing in a parking lot near where the new ballpark is now and that part of SF is landfill. It didn't feel all that bad from where I was. The ground moved side to side with almost no vertical movement (jello effect?) about one foot in either direction. I was literally standing there with one foot in the air getting into my car.