Joe Frickin' Friday Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Southern Michigan experienced a 4.2 magnitude earthquake this afternoon. Nothing new for you west-coast cats, I suppose, but for me it was interesting. It was like the super-deep, concussive, booming sound that thunder sometimes makes - except the sound wasn't coming through the air, it was coming through the structure of the house, and the floor shook like there was heavy construction going on next door – except much, much stronger, so that it was obvious that it couldn’t possibly be related to any conceivably construction. The window blinds swayed noticeably. Apparently we do get small quakes around here from time to time, but this was the first one I've ever felt. Glad it wasn't bigger! Link to comment
enfoman Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I am glad for you also it wasn't any bigger. Every tick of the scale has an exponential force factor. I remember the mild one some 35 years ago ? in my area from a quake in Ontario. That was enough for me. Link to comment
upflying Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I was standing next to my cop Kawasaki KZ1000 when Loma Prieta hit. The driver I pulled over thought I was jumping on their car. I still finished the stub. Link to comment
OoPEZoO Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Was this the result? We will rebuild! Link to comment
Stan Walker Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 4.2? really 4.2? I've slept through bigger quakes than that! That's not an earthquake, that a truck driving by.... or an overweight dog jumping over a fence... Let us know when you get a real one, say into the high 6's or 7's. Then we will be impressed! PS Just kidding you, Joe. Earthquakes mess with our minds. We believe the earth to be solid and stable, then we find out we live on a bowl of Jell-O. For days after an earthquake every time a door closes, a wall shakes, or a truck drives by I'm frantically looking for a place to crawl into to save my a$$. And I was born here in earthquake prone Calif. Stan Link to comment
Bill_Walker Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Fun times, eh? Many years ago, the San Diego Union ran a cartoon shortly after a fairly noticeable but non-damaging earthquake. I don't recall which one, and I can't find the cartoon online. Picture an office scene, with several people running in different directions with panicked looks on their faces while yelling "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!". Meanwhile, one guy works calmly at his desk. The caption: Can you spot the native Californian in this picture? Link to comment
Burt Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Same thing in west Michigan. I went outside looking for heavy equipment in the area. Link to comment
Kathy R Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 I like to think of those little ones as letting off steam, so you don't have to go through a big one! I'm really glad that is all you got Mitch. I've never been in a big quake. My only experience is waking in my bed on the 17th floor of my Chicago condo building and noting that the building seemed to be moving slightly. It turned out there was a quake in southern Illinois and you know how tall buildings (mine was 30 floors) are built to sway. Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 I was standing next to my cop Kawasaki KZ1000 when Loma Prieta hit. The driver I pulled over thought I was jumping on their car. I still finished the stub. My brother - like me, raised without any experience of earthquakes - started grad school at Stanford University in fall '89. He was sitting on a bench near a water fountain when suddenly the water started sloshing out of the fountain and trash cans started tipping over; he said he was ready to watch Hoover Tower fall over, and was surprised when it didn't. He turned to on older fellow nearby, said he had just come to town, and asked if this was a big one. The old guy said he'd been living in the area for decades, and this was the biggest one he'd ever seen. Nice timing, bro. That's not an earthquake, that a truck driving by.... or an overweight dog jumping over a fence... Let us know when you get a real one, say into the high 6's or 7's. Then we will be impressed! Yeah, I know it wasn't a big one. No damage, no cracked plaster, no cups rattling off of shelves. But it was noticeably bigger than any man-made ground vibration I've ever experienced; it really made me sit up and take notice. With my wife being Japanese born/raised, we paid more attention than most folks here to the 2011 Tohoku quake; I can't imagine the violence of a 9.0. Sheesh. ...you know how tall buildings (mine was 30 floors) are built to sway. No kidding. Link to comment
CVA-42 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 We've had at least two that shook the house pretty good in the years we've been living in north Georgia. I added earthquake insurance after the first one. Link to comment
David13 Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 This was an earthquake Friday. http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/01/the-northridge-earthquake-20-years-ago-today/100664/ Violent shaking of the earth along with the knowledge that people at that very instant were dying. dc Link to comment
EffBee Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Here's how we handle anything below a 6.0 on the west coast. Link to comment
KTM Doug Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Geez Mitch, I generate a bigger quake when I fall down. Link to comment
Stan Walker Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Here's how we handle anything below a 6.0 on the west coast. Link to comment
upflying Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Santa Cruz got hit hard in Loma Prieta. The PD there asked for "mutual aid" to help secure the area from looters and lookie lous.. I was chosen to go since motors are expendable resources. Highway 17 was destroyed and like driving off-road. Downtown SC was a ghost town with teetering buildings. Each groaned and creaked during aftershocks. 16 hr shifts, fun times. Link to comment
JohnnyJ Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Was this the result? We will rebuild! Better get the FEMA paper work started. It could take a while. Johnny J Link to comment
Rougarou Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 In 2004 we got assigned to Okinawa, Japan. The place we were assigned to live was a nine story poured concrete structure. Now, if any of you know Okinawa, it is in typhoon alley and gets hit regularly with storms and is near a major fault line for the shakes. If you know the Okinawans they build their structures to withstand these little storms and the shakes, hence, solidly built. Our little abode, on the ninth floor, had these glass cabinets with glass doors. While we were unpacking, a little tremor began. Having lived in SoCal for a short time, I knew what it was, but my wife being from the swamps of La had never felt one before only the ripples from the passing pirouges. She told me to stop shaking the floor. I asked her, in the most sarcastic of terms, "how could I shake the floor of a nine story building concrete building?", that's when it hit her that she had felt her first "quake". Fast forward three years and we are now ready to depart that island. Our bedroom closets have these cabinets above the main closet. We had a TV in these cabinets so we would leave the doors ajar a bit. At 0darkthirty my wife lying asleep feels the bed shaking (I don't know what she thought I was doing), anyway she wakes me saying that we're having an earthquake. Now, I wake up, and say "what do you want me to do about it stand on my head and stack bb's?" She says "I don't know, nothing", so I roll over and rock back to sleep. We're still living on the ninth floor so it would be a nice ride to the bottom if it's strong enough. Anyway, it only lasted about a minute or so. Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 We're still living on the ninth floor so it would be a nice ride to the bottom if it's strong enough. Last fall I spent a few nights on the 54th floor of the tallest building in Japan. It only opened for business just last March, so it hasn't yet been tested by a major quake. I'd like to think it's been built to the latest and most stringent quake-resistant building codes, but you never know until The Big One hits... Link to comment
greiffster Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 It only opened for business just last March, so it hasn't yet been tested by a major quake. I'd like to think it's been built to the latest and most stringent quake-resistant building codes, but you never know until The Big One hits... A little bit of voodoo magic and some hand waving. Then over design with a factor of safety about 5. When it comes earthquake design (and hurricane design for that matter), I'm reminded of this cartoon... Link to comment
4wheeldog Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I lived in CA from birth until the age of 53, a decade ago. Many earthquakes of all sizes and varieties. The oddest one was when I was about 16, in the Oakland hills. I was out in the street in front of a buddy's house, and we heard what sounded like a freighttrain coming down the hill. Of course we looked in the direction that the sound was coming from.....And could see a wave rolling down the street, about 6" high. It rolled right under us, and continued on, still sounding like a train rolling away. I have seen shakers and bouncers, but that was my only roller. Link to comment
Bud Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Was this the result? We will rebuild! Better get the FEMA paper work started. It could take a while. Johnny J You might want to put the funds in escrow, just in case FEMA wants it back in a few years saying they paid you in error. Link to comment
enfoman Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Was this the result? We will rebuild! Better get the FEMA paper work started. It could take a while. Johnny J You might want to put the funds in escrow, just in case FEMA wants it back in a few years saying they paid you in error. You guys are a riot! Can,t get closer to the truth on that one! Local and state entities are still trying to have FEMA do right in the reconstruction from the double wammy flood storms here a few year back. Link to comment
1springer Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 Shallow 3.7 here last night, epicenter about 14 miles away. Most slept through it, normal seismic activity on the volcanoes. http://pnsn.org/earthquakes/recent Link to comment
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