Earthquakes

Being a native Californian, I've lived with the idea of "the big one" all my life.  I can't ever remember a time when I didn't hear about it but I refuse to stress over it.  I'm sure some day it will happen ...  but earthquakes, unlike hurricanes, don't have a season or particular weather conditions.  They just happen.  And faults run all over the country, not just the western part. The thought of them can be scary, but since I've lived with them all my life I've learned to kind of enjoy the "rolling." But then, I've never been in a really devastating one, either.

Joyce

Oh, you're totally right.  You can't ever be prepared for the Big One... it's just gonna show up one day.  But I guess it just feels closer, like a lead up to something. Every time I feel any vibration I pause thinking "is this it?" I've been in much larger earthquakes, but they were always just a surprise, just VOILA! 7.1 or 6.7 ..etc.  This is more haunting. Very creepy feeling.

I don't know alot about earthquakes, but I do keep up with the number happening everyday over the US and the world.  Earthquakes have been way up over the last few weeks in the US.  They also had one in Illinois about a week ago that was 5.2 and  they don't usually have them there.  I haven't really noticed any in that area until then.  They said that there was an increase in that area and were expecting more.  Here is the governments site that gives more info about earthquakes.  You can get lots of info on this site.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/

I check this site daily and I would say normally there is in the 400's to 600's in the US and when I just copied this link there were 1234.  I have also noticed that they seem to increase in the US when a hurricane is headed or landed in the US.   

I don't know why I check this site out, just caught my interest.  I hope you find some info about earthquakes.

I'm a native Californian too and never worried too much about them or believed that the "big one" was right around the corner. However, I've been really surprised by the number of them that have happened in the Reno area recently. I don't recall that happening anywhere before or I just wasn't paying attention. I guess we should all have emergency kits ready "just in case" but I have to admit that I don't either. I haven't even felt an earthquake since I've lived up North here (20 yrs), but we used to feel them all the time in So. Cal.

Cathy, didn't you guys feel the Loma Prieta quake in '89 that collapsed the freeway overpass in Oakland and the Bay Bridge?  We felt that one here - at least  the hanging plants were all swaying.  We didn't have the pool in yet when that one hit, but my understanding is that the water acts like some kind of tidal wave and about half of it splashes out.

Joyce

I'd be a bit worried, personally. I have never lived in CA and I realize that when you live with that threat your whole life you tend to gloss over it. That's kind of how I feel about Tornado's. Yes, they happen but they never hit us all that hard (knock on wood). However, with so many earthquakes happening over a short period of time, and they are getting stronger, I'd be wondering what is really going on underneath me. With a fault like that, this is probably tiny shifts, but a big shift is likely to happen before it settles again. You never really know. I'd be listening to those scientists that are saying that it wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up on some batteries and bottled water.

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Cathy, didn't you guys feel the Loma Prieta quake in '89 that collapsed the freeway overpass in Oakland and the Bay Bridge?  We felt that one here - at least  the hanging plants were all swaying.  We didn't have the pool in yet when that one hit, but my understanding is that the water acts like some kind of tidal wave and about half of it splashes out.

Joyce

Oddly, I don't remember feeling it but I was watching the World Series and I remember the cameras shaking and watching everyone, including the players, looking really frightened and getting the heck out of there. Had I lived closer to, or been affected by that earthquake, I think I'd be much more nervous.

I was born in California and lived there until October 1974. I had gone through a few tremors. The way I survived is to get away from any structure. Juxtapose that with living in tornado country. With a tornado, the only two places to be are either west of the storm or underground. With hurricanes, you can have a day to two days warning. And people in Florida listen to those warnings and pack up and get the heck out of there. Only in New Orleans do you have people who say, "It won't hit us." Even though Bertha hit New Orleans head on in 1954 as a cat 3. Katrina, which was a cat 3 when it made landfall did not directly hit New Orleans. It hit Gulfport, Mississippi. When it went over Grand Isle, it swerved hard to the northeast. New Orleans was hit by the "clean" side of the storm. A storm surge is what broke the levees, especially on Lake Ponchartrain. In about a 150 years of city management of New Orleans, no one ever thought to elevate the city pumps above sea level and put them on independent generators. That is, such mismanagement is never tolerated in earthquake city and hurricane central. No, you have to go some place like Texas to find more idiocy. In Texas and Oklahoma, it is not a requirement of land developement to install storm rooms or shelters. You can put up a pup tent and call it home. In the one place in the world where more windstorms happen than anywhere else. And what do most people around here do? They stand on the porch and look for a tornado, rather than take shelter.

Well, life has a way of catching up with such people and teaching them a permanent lesson.

I used to be like that. The worse the weather, the better I liked it. Then I grew up and saw that these natural events destroy property and kill people and are not to be taken lightly.

I already experienced "the Big One", Mexico City September 19th 1985, more than 10,000 people died, i lived in a part of the city where the volcanic ground absorbed part of the force but downtown was built on a lake and they got it bad, buildings came down and 250,000 people lost their home