The_LED_Museum
*Retired*
Just before 11 this morning I was writing an e-mail on my computer in my 3rd floor
apartment.
I felt this "thump" on the floor. At first I thought it was the people working on the roof, perhaps they knocked over a tar machine or something.
A second or two later, I started feeling an increasingly heavy, low frequency vibration
underfoot and I started to hear rattling noises.
Having lived through several quakes, I abandoned my e-mail, grabbed my camera and
my cane, and quickly gimped my way to the door, snapping off one picture on the way.
That's when all hell broke loose. The vibration turned into a violent shaking, apparently oriented mainly in the north-south direction.
This shaking quickly became VERY intense, and the sound of shattering glass insulators
and various thuds, thumps, and the tinkling of busted glass permeated the air, along with indescribable noises made by the building itself. I could barely brace myself in the doorway. A neighbor at the end
of the hall was holding herself up just outside her door.
Fourty or fifty seconds later, it was over.
After the quake, I surveyed the apartment. I found near total destruction.
More than half of my collection of 240+ telephone & telegraph insulators were on the
couch and on the floor (many broken), my computer had died (fishtank water slopped
over the tank rim directly into the monitor, apparently shorting the entire system out),
bricks were busted all over the kitchen floor, and the bedroom & bath were totally
obstructed with furniture and boxes that had toppled and emptied themselves all over
the floor. Garbage bags burst after having heavy objects fall on them, so there is a large
quantity of dry household trash (bottles, paper, etc.) mixed in with everything else. The
medicine cabinet had burst open; various pills and toiletries were scattered about the
room and floating in the toilet bowl.
Cleanup is expected to take weeks, possibly months. I live on a fixed income, so I have no insurance, and can't afford to hire a disposal guy to come and haul everything away. I'm in a wheelchair, so doing it myself will take many, many weeks.
This is definitely the strongest and most frightful earthquake I have encountered.
I posted pictures of the extensive destruction at http://safeco2.home.att.net/quake.htm
Operation of my website has been suspended until I can replace the monitor on my computer. The spare I'm using is a 10" PS/2 monitor with 640x400 resolution, which is NOT suitable for viewing or editing any of my web content. If I do updates, the website's formatting will probably get trashed.
Those whom I owe flashlights will get them, but not quite as quickly as originally planned. Most of my flashlights are buried under rubble and must be dug out and cleaned up prior to their return.
Don't be surprised if the forums are lacking posts by me for a few days... first I have to dig my way to essentials like kitchen facilities, the toilet, and the bathtub.
I can't **** in a bottle forever.
KING-5 TV here in Seattle also posted some of my pictures: http://www.king5.com/detailtopstory.html?StoryID=14812
I'll be b
o **** we're having another
apartment.
I felt this "thump" on the floor. At first I thought it was the people working on the roof, perhaps they knocked over a tar machine or something.
A second or two later, I started feeling an increasingly heavy, low frequency vibration
underfoot and I started to hear rattling noises.
Having lived through several quakes, I abandoned my e-mail, grabbed my camera and
my cane, and quickly gimped my way to the door, snapping off one picture on the way.
That's when all hell broke loose. The vibration turned into a violent shaking, apparently oriented mainly in the north-south direction.
This shaking quickly became VERY intense, and the sound of shattering glass insulators
and various thuds, thumps, and the tinkling of busted glass permeated the air, along with indescribable noises made by the building itself. I could barely brace myself in the doorway. A neighbor at the end
of the hall was holding herself up just outside her door.
Fourty or fifty seconds later, it was over.
After the quake, I surveyed the apartment. I found near total destruction.
More than half of my collection of 240+ telephone & telegraph insulators were on the
couch and on the floor (many broken), my computer had died (fishtank water slopped
over the tank rim directly into the monitor, apparently shorting the entire system out),
bricks were busted all over the kitchen floor, and the bedroom & bath were totally
obstructed with furniture and boxes that had toppled and emptied themselves all over
the floor. Garbage bags burst after having heavy objects fall on them, so there is a large
quantity of dry household trash (bottles, paper, etc.) mixed in with everything else. The
medicine cabinet had burst open; various pills and toiletries were scattered about the
room and floating in the toilet bowl.
Cleanup is expected to take weeks, possibly months. I live on a fixed income, so I have no insurance, and can't afford to hire a disposal guy to come and haul everything away. I'm in a wheelchair, so doing it myself will take many, many weeks.
This is definitely the strongest and most frightful earthquake I have encountered.
I posted pictures of the extensive destruction at http://safeco2.home.att.net/quake.htm
Operation of my website has been suspended until I can replace the monitor on my computer. The spare I'm using is a 10" PS/2 monitor with 640x400 resolution, which is NOT suitable for viewing or editing any of my web content. If I do updates, the website's formatting will probably get trashed.
Those whom I owe flashlights will get them, but not quite as quickly as originally planned. Most of my flashlights are buried under rubble and must be dug out and cleaned up prior to their return.
Don't be surprised if the forums are lacking posts by me for a few days... first I have to dig my way to essentials like kitchen facilities, the toilet, and the bathtub.
I can't **** in a bottle forever.
KING-5 TV here in Seattle also posted some of my pictures: http://www.king5.com/detailtopstory.html?StoryID=14812
I'll be b
o **** we're having another
