I've felt so many earthquakes that I can't remember. Many times I simply assumed they were just a passing truck. I didn't feel the Loma Prieta quake, but it knocked things off the shelves in my garage. I remember when I was about 7 or 8 and sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, watching and hearing teh the house shake while the lights above me swayed. During another "big one" my brother said we should get in a doorway.. and then proceeded to stand in the one next to the fireplace. About 20 years ago I was in church and felt what was later called a 3.8, yet no one else in church felt it (I submitted a report on that one). This area sits on the edge of a giant batholith, which can serve to either amplify or reduce seismic waves.
Thank you for your reply Shuhak. Do you have any idea how BIG the BIG one will be? The 1908 San Francisco earthquake was 7.9 I believe. The one in 1989 was 6.9. My son was living "up north" during that one and it was really scary for me Phone lines were down and about 9:30pm he called me from his then-girlfriend's office to let me know he was fine. The Nimitz freeway collapsed during that one and there was a baseball game to be played that night. He often went to them so I had terrible sof his being on that freeway. Happy Monday! :)
The one in '89 was the Loma Prieta quake. The cypress viaduct was the way we always went to see my grandmother (she lived in San Leandro). The top was westbound with not much of a view, however, we could see the sign atop top of the Nabisco plant (a friendly sight),and that curve took us down into Oakland. The bottom was eastbound, and we usually traveled that at night. The Berkeley exit (which went off to the left)with its flashing orange 'stoplight style" light with the "Reno 80" sign, meant we were well over half way through (mom hated being on the bottom like that). After the quake, we took I-780 (just before the Benicia bridge) to I-680, down to 24, through the Caldecott tunnel, west to the Macarthur freeway (I-580), then back over to 80/17 (the Nimitz) just below where the freeway had collapsed, and on to San Leandro. Coming back, the wide section of freeway just before where the Cypress Structure used to be, was filled with permanent Road Closed signs, forcing everyone onto I-580 (detour). Unfortunately, there was no way to see the ex-cypress structure (I tried) as I-580 angled a bit back to the southeast.
My aunt and uncle lived in San Leandro at the time, but he worked in Frisco. He usually took the Bay Bridge home. On the day of the quake it took him several hours just to get home. All bridges out of the City were closed (part of the Bay Bridge also collapsed), so he had to go all the way down to Milpitas and then back up - in heavy, bumper to bumper traffic - just to get home. My aunt finally got a line through way late that night to tell us that they were ok.
The baseball game you mentioned was game 3 of the World Series between the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants at candlestick. The hadn't started when - boom!
Gee Shuhak I just got the shivers. You remembered it so very clearly in such great detail. Something else we share though from different locations. So it was a World Series game? Well Rich and his friends from work always attended LOCAL basketball games and baseball games. So my worry was grounded in experience. I never did find out where my son was when it hit but clearly he was NOT on the freeway. Can it happen again? Sure. Only now my son lives in Honolulu and I don't think they have earthquakes there or World Series baseball games. Thank you for taking the time to recall what you experienced then. I lived through down here in a very different way than you did being in the vicinity. Two views of the same thing. After 3 decades we remember it still. :)
They were minor. Two in Charleston, SC and one in Mansfield, OH. The one in Mansfield shook my bed slightly. (It is about 70 miles away.) There were no trucks passing, so I called the University Geology department and asked. They said yes, it was a temblor...about 4.0.
I've read that Oklahoma gets many of them allegedly due to fracking. Does Ohio frack? Thank you for your reply E and Happy Monday to thee and Pat. Wonder what this week has in store for us?
This post was edited by RosieG at February 15, 2021 7:09 AM MST
I'm guessing there's probably minor faults in every state right? I'm glad your state doesn't frack. No oil or no interest in fossil fuels? Thank you for your reply E! :)
You gotta be kidding me! REALLY? Gosh I sure did not know that! Actually I never thought about it at all. I associate Texas with oil and also California because there are areas where all you see are oil wells pumping pumping pumping day and night. Maybe the better question is which state has no oil? I'll ask. Thank you for your reply! :)
Well for sure when it's a 5 you notice! The ones that just hit sharply and leave aren't as scary as those that are "rolling" and keep going. It is an experience for sure. Thank you for your reply Kg and Happy Monday to thee! :)
I think there was one in upstate New York that was a very low number. There were people in my neighborhood who said they felt it, but my apartment vibrates whenever a city bus with only a few passengers goes by, so I may have thought that's what it was.
Your apartment "vibrates" L from the traffic below? At night do things quiet down for you? Do you live in a "peaceful" neighborhood? Not that you live there but I think of Broadway as being lit up 24/7 like Las Vegas..the city that never sleeps. Something fun always going on somewhere. Does Broadway ever go to sleep? I know now with COVID I guess all the shows are shuttered. I wonder when that part of life will come back? Thank you for your reply and Happy Monday m'dear! :)
My neighborhood used to be much more quiet. I used to be able to keep my windows open all night in the warm weather - the is no longer possible. Over the past 40+ years I've lived here, we have had too many high-rise buildings erected and there are a lot more people living here. It's sill relatively safe which which is hard to say for many places over such a long period of time.
When you think of the city that never sleeps, you mainly talking about Manhattan - midtown specifically, but I live in an outer borough, which is not as energetic. I suspect it will be some time before the theatres are re-opened. Happy Monday. :)
True that. Just as I think of Las Vegas as "the strip" when in fact there are many quiet bedroom communities where life goes on as it does everywhere else! Thank you for your informative reply L. Also Sex and the City glammed it up loads. And Seinfeld made us aware of the SOUP NAZI. Good shows. :)
That's is certainly big enough to get your attention! Baltimore? I didn't know they had earthquakes there much less big ones. Did anything get damaged? Thank you for your reply bevo and Happy Sunday to thee and thine! :)
Earthquakes are a very rare occurrence here in the Mid-Atlantic and the 5.8 was the biggest we have ever experienced in this region. The earthquake did some structural damage to many buildings and severely damaged our power grid but luckily there were no reported injuries or losses of life.
Shuhak 