earthquake virgin?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Poll question: earthquake virgin?

It's been surprising to hear, this week, how many people felt an earthquake for the first time in their lives. What's your experience?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Anyone who has spent a night in a cheap hotel shouldn't check the virgin box. Please

don't take that the wrong way.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. you lost me...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

15. Very often the walls in a cheap motel shake rhythmically though no one can put a finger

on the reason for it. Sorry for that.

[Aerows]

2. I've had enough natural disasters, thank you

I don't need to add earthquake on the list just to feel complete.

Though I've certainly rocked the house a time or two, and had it rocked for me :D

[peace frog]

3. Veteran of numerous hurricanes here

but never been through an earthquake.

[Aerows]

5. Did you also used to be Peace Frog at HP?

I think I recall us discussing Katrina before.

[peace frog]

6. Nope, not moi

But thanks for saying hello! :hi:

[dipsydoodle]

4. Don't get a whole lot

15 miles NW of central London although we did get a hurricane back in 1987.

[alsame]

7. It was the first time I felt one in NY. I had felt two

smaller ones in the past - one in L.A. and one in San Francisco.

[ZombieHorde]

8. I have been in a few quakes, but nothing dramatic. No fallen buildings

or collapsed bridges. Some of my books and CDs fell off their shelves; no big deal. They were so light, I thought they were kind of fun.

[Raine]

9. I'm a native Californian, that pretty much says it all. nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

10. Experienced Sylmar in L.A., 1971 but live near the Virginia one now.

Btw, I don't think that experiencing no-damage quakes, even if often, is any different from the experience in Virginia this week. When I lived in California I got used to them as a commonplace occurrence too. But after Sylmar, a major damage quake, THAT was different. That is experience with an earthquake.

Ask how many have been in the immediate area of a major damage quake. That will be a much smaller number.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. ah, so you missed the 94 quake. I moved to LA in the early 80s,

at the time, people were still reminiscing about the 71 quake.

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. Yup, I moved back east before the big SF quake too, but felt sympathy PTSD

for you guys when both of them happened just the same. Two hospitals collapsed during Sylmar, that was so sad - one of them a VA hospital. You're right, prior to SF Sylmar was still called "the big one". But that quake did cause the big change in thinking about building codes, which is a good thing - prior to the other two.

[drmeow]

22. I agree with getting used to them

16 years living in CA and there are only 3 that I remember distinctly: also Sylmar in 71 (I was in Santa Monica), Coalinga in 83 (Santa Barbara), and Whittier Narrows in 87 (Riverside). I know I've felt others but they were all so minor as to be forgettable. But I'll never forget those three. I only consider Sylmar "in the immediate area"

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. I experienced the Whitter Narrows. Was in Pasadena at the time.

[Hepburn]

24. Sylmar....my first mega quake.

Scared the hell out of me.

[PufPuf23]

11. My primary address has always been Pacific Coast between SF and Portland.

The Virginia quake was a significant event because of the novelty and extreme shallowness compared to Pacific Ring of Fire quakes.

Where I live, a similar quake ould be felt and do local damage depending on epicenter but would not propogate for far distances because of faulting and other geological features that dampen the spread.

[Broderick]

14. Freakiest thing I ever experienced.

Never felt an earthquake before. Thought I was passing out or something. I did drink heavily the night before. Old age creeping in was my first thought. Grabbed the counter out front, and then I noticed other's were feeling it. Realized what it was. Quite scary for those 10 to 20 seconds.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. yes, that's a common response - to think that the earth is spinning because you are going to pass

out. When an earthquake hits while you are driving, you think you've blown a tire. And all cars start to pull over to check the tires. The earth drops from beneath the car. Then the car hits the ground. Really freaky experience.

[Drale]

16. I have felt one earthquake

a 4.5 in LA about 5 minutes after we got off the plane.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. did it scare you?

[Drale]

25. Not really actually

It all happened so fast I didn't have time to be scared.

[Rabblevox]

20. I've been through Loma Prieta, Northridge, Katrina, and a monsoon in AZ, I'll take an earthquake...

An earthquake is a "short, sharp shock". It's scary as fuck, but it is over rapidly. You crawl out, if you can, and then start to check on your neighbors. (and then you learn to deal with the PTSD... I was driving for a tow-truck company in SF during Loma Prieta, and for months after, every bump in the road spooked me). But help and assistance were quick to appear.

A hurricane or monsoon, just keeps going and going and going. Even if you are in a relatively safe space with water and food and meds, you stay in a "bunker mentality", because you have no fucking idea when or if help will be coming. Water, gas, roads, might all be down for weeks or months, rather than days.

[RebelOne]

21. I lived in the Los Angeles area for a year and never felt even a tremor. n/t

[Arctic Dave]

23. Many, California and Alaska.

Shake shake shake, shake your booty.

[Xicano]

27. My first earthquake experience was the 1971 6.6 Sylmar earthquake

I was 4yrs old. I don't remember it vividly, but I do have memory of it. Have experienced every Southern California quake since and one moderate one near Monterey California sometime during the 80's.

[Odin2005]

28. Lived in the Upper Midwest all my life, never experienced even a tiny earthquake.

We are probably the most geologically stable part of the whole country.

[ThomWV]

29. We are less than 100 miles from the quake center and none of us felt it

No kidding, my wife, my son, and my self, none of us felt it, and we're just over there hill from where it was centered.