yeeks! We had an earthquake!

[jobob]

Just now. The house is still shaking a bit. Whee!

(It wasn't bad here, but I always hold my breath some when one comes along)

[salsabike]

SF Gate website (I have it bookmarked. Kind of a news geek, I am) says 4.0, centered near Danville. Are you near there?

Ugh. We get them here, although not nearly as much. My cats usually react much quicker and smarter than I do.

Hope your heart rate's slowing back down now...

[Bike Goddess]

Didn't feel a thing and we're north of Danville!

[jobob]

It's amazing how soon it came up on the USGS site. I'm about 20 miles away from the epicenter.

Bikerz & Trek420 live much closer to it and aka_kim and dachshund were nearly on top of it. V was fairly close to it as well. But from the intensity map it seems it wasn't bad near the epicenter (tho their hearts must have been in their throats).

Here's the intensity map - people answer a short survey and from that a numerical intensity score is generated. I was one of the first to post to it and it's been kind of neat watching it evolve.

http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/ca/STORE/X51207740/ciim_display.html

(My area was a III, btw)

[snapdragen]

I felt it - super mild here in SJ. It felt like a gentle shake. Chloe didn't even react, stronger one usually set of her bark alarm.:p

[snapdragen]

Hmmm, USGS says 4.0

Earthquake Details
Magnitude 4.0
Date-Time Saturday, September 06, 2008 at 04:00:15 UTC
Friday, September 05, 2008 at 09:00:15 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 37.866°N, 121.996°W
Depth 16.2 km (10.1 miles)
Region SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
Distances 3 km (2 miles) ENE (77°) from Alamo, CA
5 km (3 miles) NW (315°) from Diablo, CA
6 km (4 miles) NNW (343°) from Danville, CA
11 km (7 miles) S (172°) from Concord, CA
22 km (14 miles) ENE (69°) from Oakland, CA

[sundial]

The house is still shaking a bit.

Did anything break? :(

Our earthquakes here sound like an explosion. Weird.

[jobob]

Nope. Just a bit of rattling. :D

[Aggie_Ama]

My husband and I fell in love with the Bay Area but the earthquakes scare me! Our fault line close to home (Balcones Fault) is way dormant. You got to go way back for any activity, like thousands of years. But tornados, thunderstorms and hail storms- WHEEEEEEE. :D

Glad you are ok, no broken plates or anything.

[vinbek]

We live in San Ramon right along the Danville/San Ramon border at Crow Canyon Road. We had a huge jolt. My kids were in their rooms and came running out. They had trophies and books that popped off shelves, but no damage. I have felt rolling ones and kinda jolts, but last night's was the biggest I have ever felt. It scared the kids. My dog was totally oblivious, but that may have been due to the fact that he had a brand new chew bone he was working on! We live along the Calaveras fault. It definitely got my attention.

[aka_kim]

I'm on the north side of the mountain, so the shaking wasn't too bad here (a IV according to the map). My cats did not seem to be aware that a quake was coming, so they're pretty useless as an early warning system. I was afraid :o, as I seem to be with earthquakes the last few years -- I'm always certain that the big one has arrived.

[wildhawk]

The house where I grew up in central Virginia was located near a rock quarry - you could almost set your alarms by the blasts that would shake our whole house, knocking pictures askew, rattling things off of shelves, etc. That is the closest I came to an earthquake, so I cannot imagine what you are going through. Hope everything is o.k. You have the earthquakes there and we have the hurricanes here - we are looking at big old nasty Ike to affect us this week and I am going back to work on Monday (night“shaft”) so I am sure I will be scheduled overtime. Hope we do not have to evacuate. Best of luck to you with your quakes - sounds scary.

[vinbek]

I was raised in Mississippi. We had tornadoes and bad thunder storms all the time - in addition to the high winds of the hurricanes. The earthquakes here (at least so far) are mild compared to the storms I've been through. Although, I won't be saying that if and when the big one comes.....

[andtckrtoo]

I was in Los Gatos at the time, and did not feel a thing. Of course, I was sitting outside by a fairly busy road, so I might have assumed that a big truck had driven by. :p Glad no one was hurt!

I'm a transplant too, and I honestly thought the idea of an earthquake would really bother me, but as time goes on, I'm finding myself less stressed. I agree with those who say that will probably change after a big quake, but so far the biggest I've felt was a 5.3 and that felt more like an amusment park ride than anything. Although my poor DD15 was on the john upstairs when it hit, and she got a bigger ride. :eek:

[Dogmama]

If we had earthquakes here (southern Arizona) would we shake 'n' bake?

[pardes]

Okay, Dogmama, confess. Your dog told you that joke, right?

You have a very funny dog.

While reading through a few dozen bike blogs this weekend I came to one with a cartoon from Savage Chickens (http://www.savagechickens.com/). They are like Farside cartoon....sometimes you just can't stop laughing and half the time you aren't really sure why you are laughing.

I particularly like these kinds of cartoon where no one, no thing, no group is the brunt of the joke and the joke relies on its own merits to be funny.

[Trek420]

anyone on the north coast?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/09/BALS1BG3RV.DTL

[Running Mommy]

wow. Need to call my bro. He is a commercial fisherman in Crescent city. Surely he felt it. Odd thing was around that time I was on the phone w/my mom in Brookings OR! I bet she felt it. She feels them ALL!! (actually surprised I didn't get a call)...

[Trek420]

I called my mom (Sonoma). She didn't feel it but says she did feel the smaller one we had in the South bay recently. I didn't feel either one.

[Pax]

I don't know how you all do it, I can handle tornadoes, have lived through five hurricanes in FL, hail/fire/flood...but earthquakes scare the living hell out of me!

[jobob]

That's reasonable - you have a bit of warning with hurricanes & storms & fires & floods; not so much with tornadoes, but some. Earthquakes just happen.

But really, the vast majority of them feel like a big truck is rolling past your house, if even that. You get used to it. And try to be prepared.

[Trek420]

"The big one" will not feel like a large truck driving by ;) But it's all part of the thrill of living in paradise :rolleyes: earthquakes, floods, fires. :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcbK0qGuOsY

I think we all do our best to be prepared, it's hard to have everything but I try to keep an earthquake kit at home and at work, water and food etc.

Speaking of which I need to rotate the water in my kit soon.

[Biciclista]

no, it will more like being in the path of a loaded freight train!

[Pax]

That's reasonable - you have a bit of warning with hurricanes & storms & fires & floods; not so much with tornadoes, but some. Earthquakes just happen.

But really, the vast majority of them feel like a big truck is rolling past your house, if even that. You get used to it. And try to be prepared.

We've had a couple of 4.2's around here and they left me wigged out for days...you can't hide from them, you can't run away. *shudder*

My SO's job is on the line right now and we're discussing the possibility of another move in a year or so (I really don't want to, but it is what it is), California is on the list because of her profession...I would hope I could get used to them, being freaked out all the time would suck!

[Trek420]

Actually the most powerful quake in the written history of these United States was in the midwest. The Mississippi ran backwards for a bit of time :eek: :confused: :eek:

You can't predict them, I don't know if I'd want to know :confused: I think you can only be as prepared as best you can and do your best. It's interesting in the SFGATE article the people lining up at the hardware store for flashlights AFTER the quake :rolleyes:

Show of hands: if USGS could tell us "8.0 in 30 seconds" would you want to know?

[Catrin]

Actually the most powerful quake in the written history of these United States was in the midwest. The Mississippi ran backwards for a bit of time :eek: :confused: :eek:

Indeed, and it also rang church bells in Boston :eek: The New Madrid fault is no slouch, and hopefully it will be a LONG time before it goes again. There were eyewitness accounts of something called "land waves" (just like it sounds) that were something over 3 feet tall due to the force of the earthquake, and there were hundreds of aftershocks over a good period of time. (I want to say they were taller than that, but my memory may be off - it's been some time since grad school).


Show of hands: if USGS could tell us "8.0 in 30 seconds" would you want to know?

Hmmmm, part of me says "yes" the other says "nope" but, in the end, what could one do with that kind of knowledge in such a brief time period other than to say a prayer?

[Trek420]

If indoors get under a sturdy desk or table, hold onto it
if unable to do that go to interior reinforced walls like stairway wall
Get awaaaaaaay from glass and windows
If outside head towards open space, avoiding windows and of course power lines.

Stay there till the shaking stops. :rolleyes:

Let's see, if you're at work or in an office don't necessarily evacuate. Stay put and have your safety team (that'd be me at my work) make sure the exits are safe. Nothing like having everyone rush out and find they can't :o

Attend to injuries wherever you are.
Do not turn off the gas unless you detect a leak.
Do look for things like downed power and broken pipes. Where'd I put the shut off valve thingies? :confused:

Stay off the g*d damn phone! In a real big one leave the lines for first responders. Do not call your Mommie. Establish a family call tree of one person waaaay out of the area and if necessary call them, say you're ok, and have them call the rest.

I'll think of more after coffee with the Spazzdog and rotate my earthquake kit. Talk amoungst yourselves about emergency prep.

[bmccasland]

One thing we learned after Hurricane Katrina - cell phone towers get clogged, or go down completely. So have an emergency contact number with someone in a different area code. I have friends who live here (New Orleans metro area), but now have cell phone numbers from Texas - where they bought new phones while they were evacuated post storm.

[Trek420]

One thing we learned after Hurricane Katrina - cell phone towers get clogged, or go down completely. So have an emergency contact number with someone in a different area code. I have friends who live here (New Orleans metro area), but now have cell phone numbers from Texas - where they bought new phones while they were evacuated post storm.

In terms of standard POTS (plain 'ol telephone service) a little known factoid is central office systems were never meant to provide dial tone for everyone whose lines are served outa the CO. When disaster strikes our instinct is to pick up the phone and call our Mom and Dad's or someone.

When everyone does that at once .... you overload the system and it just plain goes kaflump. It's the same for your cell tower regardless of who/where you call.

If you simply must call within the first 72 hours or so pick up the phone .... if there is no dial tone wait. Don't hang up. It'll be a while. Don't hang up. It should be there. Then call that one person your family has already established as the emergency contact when you did the family emergency drill. Cause you all have each others numbers, right?

Tell them you're ok .... or not. If not tell them what you need and let them take care of it.

The other thing I think we've all learned from Katrina is in a true emergency, Cat 5 tornado, 8.0 quake .... you may be on your own for a while.

Are you prepared? http://72hours.org

[KnottedYet]

The one juicy earthquake I remember being in (2001 Nisqually quake) I promptly ran to a big plate glass window and looked outside to see what was going on.

Oh, yeah, I'm smart. S-M-R-T.... :rolleyes:

[Aggie_Ama]

Good reminder about the phones. When the Bonfire the phone lines got clogged and went down. 40,000 students with freaked out loved ones will do that. Our AOL Instant Messenger worked though, so I could tell mom I was safely in my dorm room at 2:42 am.

[Trek420]

Ok, so I'm going through the earthquake kit and I'm really not as prepared as I thought. :eek: Just realized really no food in the kit, and more important, no coffee. :p But I do have water. Supposed to have enough water for everyone including the doggieeeee.

I dump it out twice yearly and clean and refill the bottles.