California Earthquakes

[Libby]

So, I happened to be channel-surfing and checking all was right with the world before retiring for the night. Fox News channel (which we get over here in the UK via Sky digital) was reporting the latest earthquake in California - third in the last week - and this one has already spawned 20 aftershocks.

Then the TV signal went - just static. All other channels fine. I tell you, that sent shivers down my spine. This is the way the world ends ...

Fortunately, the signal came back after about a minute, and the news so far, thankfully, is little damage and no casualties. But that was a scary moment.

[Guest blondton13]

So, I happened to be channel-surfing and checking all was right with the world before retiring for the night. Fox News channel (which we get over here in the UK via Sky digital) was reporting the latest earthquake in California - third in the last week - and this one has already spawned 20 aftershocks.

Then the TV signal went - just static. All other channels fine. I tell you, that sent shivers down my spine. This is the way the world ends ...

Fortunately, the signal came back after about a minute, and the news so far, thankfully,  is little damage and no casualties.  But that was a scary moment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, that would freak me out, too!

I remember when I lived in California and the earthquakes would hit. The big Northridge earthquake hit when I was young and lived on my own going to college. Way early in the morning~lived in an apartment complex. I ran outside in a nightgown. I didn't care-I just wanted to get out of the building and onto the ground!!

[Beerbelch]

BEER---> Yup, we've had a few here (California) this past week and a half. Let's see 5.2 - 20 miles S/W of Palm Springs (in Anza), 3.6 N/W Northern Cal - Santa Rosa, (big one) 7.0 - 60 miles off the coast in Northern Cal (Eureka). BTW, this one started a Tsunami warning. I (as joke) told my kids that I was on Tsunami watch (we live in Newport Beach) and not to bother me. They didn't get the joke, the T warning was aborted a half hour after it was originally announced. Today we had another one 4.9, about 50 miles east of Palm Springs in Yucaipa. They get lots of them there. This last one we really felt here. It rolled and shook for about 20 - 30 seconds. No fatalities just a good 'shaker'. Yup, it's earthquake weather here in 'Sunny California.

BELCH

[HighPlainsDrifter]

i lived in LA in 94-95 and i remember the shakes-rattell and rolls.......i remember my wifes plate collection on the wall fell and broke....we where living in the Hancock Park area

Blondton where in Cali did you live?

[The Old Man]

I've never understood how it is, that so many people have built there homes on top of a major fault line despite warnings about forthcoming major earthquakes. I mean no disrespect, it just simply fascinates me that such a large residential and business area has been built there. I'd love to go there on holiday but I don't think I could live there.

[Walkabout]

Actually many areas of the US have large fault lines .. its just that at the moment California's are active. Whats really scary is if the ones in the mid west [New Madrin [?] being a huge one] become active we are really in trouble because no one builds anything earthquake proof here. The NM one actually changed the course of the Mississippi river during the 1800's. I found out I live between two fault lines when I had a new well put in .

They just reported [and showed] a horse race in progress during a 4.9 earthquake.. the horses did keep running but noticably slowed until it was over .

Edited June 17, 2005 by Walkabout

[Libby]

I saw one of those science documentaries that I think was about the Mississippi river. They showed how they could tell from the different strata how much the ground levels had changed. When you can see these obvious signs of how much the ground has been moved over large areas on the surface, you can get the feeling of how much energy is expended in earthquakes.

It's all pretty fascinating - as long as you're not actually in the area.

As for people building in earthquake zones - I wonder how many houses have been built in recent years in the UK on floodplains, or on top of defunct coal mines. It's all about money (and ignorance).

Still a little freaked out. When heavy lorries go down our road, they can shake the house a little, so if that happens today I'll probably over-react and follow the earthquake rules and run and stand in a doorway, away from glass. Trouble is, our doors downstairs are glass doors...

[Guest SouthernCelt]

Actually many areas of the US have large fault lines .. its just that at the moment California's are active.  Whats really scary is if the ones in the mid west [New Madrin [?] being a huge one] become active we are really in trouble because no one builds anything earthquake proof here.  The NM one actually changed the course  of the Mississippi river during the 1800's.  I found out I live between two fault lines when I had a new well put in .   

They just reported [and showed] a horse race in progress during a 4.9 earthquake.. the horses did keep running but noticably slowed until it was over .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The one you're referring to was actually a series of multiple quakes on the New Madrid (Missouri) fault in 1811 and 1812, at least 3 of which measured above Richter 8 level. Besides changing the course of the Mississippi, a section of land in NW Tennessee adjacent to the river dropped so much that the river actually flowed backwards until the depression was filled with water. This is now known as Reelfoot Lake (good name don't you think?). Where I live in Mississippi is within range of some of the stonger tremors and aftershocks from New Madrid, although I'm not aware of any obvious land mass impacts that occurred in that worst-case quake period.

Of course I found out when I moved to central Mississippi that the capital city, Jackson, sits on an extinct volcanic dome which now has a several hundred foot overburden of silted soil from the recession of the Gulf of Mexico many millennia ago. When deep wells are drilled in this area for drinking water, instead of getting water with the typical 60-ish degree F temperature of groundwater, the temp actually increases to almost surface summer-time levels after you pass the silted in overburden.

[4th Horseman]

I've never understood how it is, that so many people have built there homes on top of a major fault line despite warnings about forthcoming major earthquakes. I mean no disrespect, it just simply fascinates me that such a large residential and business area has been built there. I'd love to go there on holiday but I don't think I could live there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Old Man...I understand your position completely. My parents moved from California years ago to retire in the very bucolic, peaceful Midwest. One would think that they were now out of harm's way, yet all they did was trade disasters, for, it is true here on the West Coast of California we have earthquakes. I have lived through both the Sylmar quake of 1971, and more recently and damaging, the Northridge quake of 1994. There have been many others, thankfully centered far enough away that all we felt was the rolling. In fact, the earthquake yesterday hit while i was posting a message at TIWWA, and all it did here was roll a bit and move the casablanca fans we have a smidgen. It is very difficult to explain what it is like. I shall NEVER FORGET the Northridge quake of '94 because my wife and i at the time lived approximately 10 miles from the epicenter. Imagine if you will an out of control freight train roaring by at the foot of your bed, and you have the sound i remember still so vividly on that March morning at 4:30 a.m. - I remember thinking this is the "big one" i have heard so much about, what's going to be left, are our lives going be become inconsequental rubble. After nearly 45 seconds of violent shaking, it settled down, and for the first few seconds after the rumbling stopped the most eerie silence took its place. It was as if time had been shaken still. Then you began to hear and see the transformers on the electrical poles begin to explode, accompanied by incredible flashes of light. If you have ever seen one blow, you know what i mean. This was shadowed by the great cacophony of people shouting, wailing, crying, the entire spectrum of human emotion layed open, bearing witness to the great abomination, the calamitous event that would become a harbinger of change for some, the price for others, their mortal coil. There was no electricity, so we navigated by flashlight down the stairs of our house only to find that EVERYTHING had been destroyed, the fireplace had huge chunks of tile laying on the floor, and the glass, my God, the broken glass was everywhere. I made sure the gas was off, and basically ran around checking on things in a state of shock. The aftershocks began shortly afterwards, and they are nearly as frightening as the main quake. Large, violent aftershocks, which by themselves would have been noticable quakes on their own came at irregular moments and in different intensities. What is somewhat humerous is that after several hours of riding these out, it became a game to my wife and i as we would look at each other and try to predict the intensity.."That felt like a 4.5 didn't it"..."No, i think that one was around a 5.0"...just inane banter like that which helped us get thru the horror that was to come in rebuilding our house, for when daylight came, the extent of the damage was just unbelievable. To be quite frank, i dont know how we did not fall from the 2nd story right thru the ceiling, our waterbed at that time weighing so very much. Anyway, the physical damage was nothing compared to the psychological toll it took, unashamably, on myself, as for a period of over a year, i could not go to sleep without a small nightlight plugged into the wall, for i still remember the darkness, so deep that it seemed you were looking into oblivion. I also had to have a radio on at bedtime, because i wanted to hear something other than the rumbling in my head. I even recall counselors coming to our workplace and having us "talk" about it. I was surprised to find myself shaking when asked to describe my emotions..How profound does an event have to be to affect a person to the core of their soul?

We all, each and every one of us, have lived thru incidents that leave an indelible mark on our own souls. That March morning in 1994 was mine. It is a moment, frozen in time, i shall never forget..

In regards to my parents, what they basically did was trade disasters, for they moved from the seismic instability of the West Coast to an area known as Tornado Alley in the Midwest. They moved to a very beautiful, care-free, golf-course laden area where every freaking year, they cross their fingers and prey to God that during the months of July-Sept that they are able to dodge the yearly twisters that snake through their area. And its doesn't end there either...

Other areas of the midwest are known as flood plains, where every few years, after a particularily heavy rainy season, massive flooding occurs, destroying hundreds of homes, taking lives as well.

Move to Florida and you have hurricanes, 4 of which last year were unprecedented in strength, causing billions of dollars of damage.

Along the Eastern Seaboard, you have Nor'easters, strong northeast winds that also range in frequency, intensity, and destrucutive ability...

So you see Old Man...in actuality, all of these other disasters, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc occur on a yearly basis, can be predicted before they happen with doppler radar, storm chasers, hurricane hunters (planes that fly into the direct path of hurricanes), etc..giving people time to evacuate, leave the area..

Earthquakes offer no such relief, tomorrow may bring "the big one" or it may not happen for 30 years. It is still an inexact science. So given a choice, most people out here would rather take the chance of not knowing when disaster will strike rather than having to deal with it on an annual basis.

One prepares as well as one can. We keep flashlights and old shoes by the bed to remind us of the inevitability of the event. We stock up on non-perishable items, keep a ton of batteries at hand, etc.

in the past week we have had 4 large quakes here in California, yet where we live i felt only a gentle roll yesterday for approximately 30 seconds. There are many fault lines here, and as such present countless areas of origion, making it vitrually impossible to tell where the next weak spot will give.

So your question of why would anyone build on an earthquake fault line can be answered by "why do people knowingly build houses in tornado alley in the midwest, why do they build houses in hurricane ravaged areas of Florida, why do people continue to build houses in known flood areas of the midwest? I cant answer that except i guess people are willing to take the chance because the rewards outweigh the risks...

Walkabout, you could not be any more correct about the inherent dangers posed by a cataclysmic seismic event on a fault line that lies in the midwest, or worse on some of the newly discovered ones on the east coast. Most houses in those areas are built of brick, primarily for insulation purposes, and yet would crumble at a ricter scale reading that would do little damage to homes built on the West Coast. Here in Southern California, untold billions of dollars have been spent on earthquake retrofitting. If you remember "Force Majure" the building was a "seismic oasis", with reinforced pillars, rollers, etc..that is pretty much common place out here...I believe a requirement for any new business construction...and yet, if i had my druthers, i would pack up and leave this overpriced, over siliconed, over hyped and overpriced lifestyle in California and move back to my roots in the midwest. Yes, Old Man, i would take that chance of yearly tornadoes, etc, because i cant deny my roots, i can't deafen my heart's call to "come home"...Yet, due to circumstances beyond my control, at the moment i must remain here... :Gehenna_demon:

Man, i didnt intend for this post to grow like this..sorry guys...i apologize...but as most of you know, i tend to ramble at times....cant give a definitive answer to the question, i guess its what lies in one's heart....

Till the Last Change (mercily)....Be Done..

The Fourth Horseman...

[Beerbelch]

BEER----> I've gotta go along with you Fourth, this is a great place to live. We have our down side just like any other place on the globe. But I'll take the sunshine and the weather over just about any other place (I've done some traveling and living in other spots of the world). What's a little jolt once in a while, as long as there isn't any human injury. 76 degrees today and the surf is coming up.

BELCH