Rock concert vs Earth Quake

I'm here in Virginia just outside of D.C. I knew something was wrong when the
my desk and computer screen was moving and I looked at my glass of
water 3/4 ths empty already and the water was rocking back and forth still
flying out of the glass. Then my chair started sliding back as the floor dipped. Being
in a corner, 4th floor apartment of a beach style frame walkup I really
thought the building was going to fall down for about 30 seconds. I haven't
been this moved since I was at a Hollies (remember them) concert in a school
gym seated on the beachers that were literally shaking they were playing so loud.
Yeah yeah I'm all shook up. No big deal for Californians but today I joined the
club of earth quake veterans.

good to hear you still have your apt...not to mention your health and sense of humor : )

The last one in Seattle I was experiencing waves in our yard...pretty scary stuff.

take care

That's sounds scary the one you had in Seattle with the waves in
the yard.

This was all very surreal. The walls were swaying like waves.
I really didn't know what to make of it. Not at all what I expected
an earthquake would be like. I was thinking the ground would rumble
and shake with vibrations but not this rolling waves stuff. This was
swaying like you said waves except the I didn't get out side to see
if the ground had waves in the grass. Actually it started with
a few dropping like crashes. My first thought was some movers
had dropped a refrigerator in the stairwell and it was shaking the
apartment. But then it happened a few more times. And that
is when the swaying started and the walls moving. I still thought
it must be movers and imaged they drove the moving van into
the outside wall damaging the building and that is why the walls
were swaying and the outside floor dipping. And then it intensified
again and I thought that's it I'm running out of here now!

This was below the threshold where it would get really scary.
It was more astonishment than anything else. I guess that would
have quickly given way to panic had things started collapsing and
the ground swaying. I can't imagine what a 6.8 magnitude and up
quake might be like. I've often thought I would not like to live
on the west coast. It would be rather hilarious if the east coast
instead of the west coast fell into the ocean. One thing is for
sure if nature gets carried away there isn't a lot you can do about
it unless you have a hot air balloon maybe.

I must confess I didn't think about my G&L in the closet. The
couple times we have had fire alarms go off I've thought about taking
the best guitars with me. Not this time. The thought never crossed
my mind. LOL.

Last edited by jwebsmall on Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well, it rumbled and shook here! I live in Harrisonburg, VA, I'm guessing 70 miles due west of the epicenter. I was at work on the ground floor (2-story building) and I felt the floor rumbling beneath me and a lot of shaking noise. My first thought was someone's kids were running around upstairs, but just as quickly ruled that out...that shakes the ceiling and maybe walls, but not the floor!! Then wondered if a big, heavily laden truck was driving past out front, but then realized it lasted too long. Looked out the window, only to see nothing unusual. Then I wondered if it was an earthquake....nah, we don't get earthquakes here!

Pretty soon a coworker says her spouse who works a mile away felt it, too. Next thing I know we're told to evacuate the building! Other coworkers are on their smart phones reading headlines that it was a 5.8 magnitude quake...within minutes of the event...that really amazed me! Fortunately in our area there was no damage. But it did answer a longstanding wondering of mine...what does an earthquake tremor feel like! Though I must say, I hope that's the only experience I ever have of it!!

Everything seems okay at home...no signs of anything, and the guitars are safe...though, like jwebsmall, I never even thought about them...was more wondering what my kids were doing at school...especially my youngest, as it was her second day of Kindergarten!!

That's the key to determining whether you are experiencing an earthquake.

If you don't think about your guitars it is most likely an earthquake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... cySY#t=20s

This is about 7 miles from me.

We were just below the threshold where serious damage would have started
to happen. If the quake had been twice as strong I'm pretty sure my apartment
building would have collapsed like a cardboard box. As it was the walls were moving
2 to 3 inches.

Yikes, and a hurricane on the way too... You should all move to Minnesota. Hey, does Canada get earthquakes?


Cheers,

Will

The entire north America plate may be getting ready for the mother of
rock and roll.

This url shows all the earthquakes in the last 14 days along the Pacific
plate and it appears to be putting serious pressure on the north American
plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEDfGPOxWLM

We have had 4 after shocks the last one at 1am this morning at just
over 4 magnitude (not bad).

The hurricane is going to be slamming us sometime on Saturday.

The weather service already issued warnings of 80 mph sustained winds
along the coast and mandatory evacuations have been ordered for
some towns along the MarDelVa peninsula.

Earthquakes are unnerving as hell. For me it's a lack of control thing, so I verbally tell them to stop until they do.

The vid of the masonry building partially falling is an example of why we have the building codes that we do here in California. The bulk of the damage that occurred during the 1933 Long Beach, CA quake (m6.2 to m6.4, depending on who you talk to) was caused by the collapse of un-reinforced masonry built on loose sediment and fill. BTW - wood frame houses hold up remarkably well so long as they're properly bolted to their foundations.

I am not a geologist and I don't play one on TV, but the other vid is, to me, just fear-mongering spin. You're on the same tectonic plate as Phoenix, and that plate extends from California to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Just just know that earthquakes can happen in mid-plate. There are LOTS of little quakes in CA/NV/OR/WA every day that we can't feel. The vast majority are less than m2. A few are m3 or so. A very few are larger. As the magnitude ramps up, the numbers of shocks go down. You can see a map of our rockin' & rollin' here. You can subscribe to the USGS ENS here.

You'll feel aftershocks for a while and they should become fewer in number and lower in magnitude over time.

Ken...

I love how people in India, etc. think we are over reacting. They experience this annually(higher temps, humidity, rising water, and so on)...


Cheers,

Will

The first time is always the best.

Seeing the walls sway and computer vibrating
so you can't read the screen and watching the
water fly out of the glass was a real kick.

Next time I'll just say oh we're having another earthquake
- no big deal - I think I'll mosey on out to the parking lot.

The first time is always the best.

Perhaps. I almost had to change my pants after my first quake. They're not something you get used to. Nor should you.

Next time I'll just say oh we're having another earthquake
- no big deal - I think I'll mosey on out to the parking lot.

Oh, I doubt that. Just dive under a desk or strong table. Stay out of doorways because, while the door frame is strong, the swinging door can bust up your hands. Maybe just stay inside and watch that glass of water. From under the desk.

Ken...

I was joking of course.

If the magnitude went over 6M I wouldn't be laughing.

I started a song last week I'm tentatively calling "Without Notice".
That was the day before the quake.

For those of you who just experienced your first quake, welcome to life on the left coast. Personally, I find quakes kind of surreal. There is an odd sound, an odd feel, and "things" are moving in unexpected ways. But you do get used to them, sort of.

My wife is from southern New Jersey, and my M-I-L is terrified of what might happen to us (her daughter and grand-daughter, really) in a quake. I think that she would outright panic if I were to actually show her a real quake fault. Which you can see, in Fremont, CA. BTW, I jest a bit. My M-I-L worries about me too.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has a real time quake map of the states: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/. I like to check it just to see what's happening here at home, in CA.

A few people mentioned seeing things in a wave motion. In a large enough quake, you can see the waves in things like a parking lot. Concrete and asphalt doing the wave. And later, there is no obvious damage. It's surreal, all right.

Later,

edg