California Earthquakes

[hippyroo]

I used to live near Walkabout and the NM fault. I remember one summer day as a youth watching a wall of our house buckle and then reset with a few cracks along the basement wall. Pretty exiting stuff for a kid.

On a more phisophical note:

It's amazing how quickly all of man's tek. and power and self importance can be made miniscule by a small event on the planet.

[Guest blondton13]

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?

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Well, from 87 to 89 I lived in the wonderful Mojave desert...Fort Irwin! haha Then I moved to Riverside where I lived until 93, at which point I came to this wonderful state of NC. To be honest, I'd go back to CA in a heartbeat, quakes and all.

And BeerBelch, I love Newport Beach! That was my favorite beach, besides Laguna! (Where all the houses slide off the hillside! hehe)

Mother Nature is everywhere you go. Here we get all of the hurricanes. I guess having some prior warning is better than none, though.

[Gunslinger]

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... 

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if my geology is correct, they have estimated that if they would have had seismograph instruments in the early 1800's(when new madrid fault originally erupted) it would have registered approximately 12.1 on the richter scale, its said that church bells rang uncontrollably in boston,mass. and that there was damage to streets in philadelphia,pa. can you imagine the scope of damage that would cause if it happened today? i live in western arkansas, we would be lucky if anything was left standing being this close to the fault.lol

[Gunslinger]

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... :mabiuswoz'ere:   

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...

you will be welcomed if you ever decide to come back to the midwest horsemen, it will still be here, tornadoes and floods aside, drove through your parents home town this last weekend, on my way to missouri to see my in laws, its a great town they live in, small and surrounded by mountains, they picked a good place, take care. Gunslinger

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[Guest SouthernCelt]

Just saw this on the internet...haven't read it myself...but I don't like the start of it!

New Data Confirms Strong Earthquake Risk to Central U.S.

A colossal earthquake that caused damage from South Carolina to Washington D.C. and temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi River nearly two centuries ago could be repeated within the next 50 years, scientists said today...click here for entire article

[HighPlainsDrifter]

we had a small quake here in Missouri the other day.....register as a 3

[The Old Man]

I knew we were heading for the real apocalypse!

To end times! :swingin':