Our Lives In Earthquakes

Some of us are blessed (cursed) with living in places that have earthquakes. Some, more often, others less so.

So, those Cat Siters so inclined are hereby invited to share personal experiences!

I have a lot, so I'll try to space things out a bit. I've been through a noticeable earthquake for just about every year I've lived out here, more or less.

I'm originally from Ohio, and when I got here in 1985 I had never experienced an earthquake. That changed on July 8, 1986 at about 2:30 in the morning when North Palm Springs was struck by a 6.0 earthquake, and I was in Sunnymead, which is now part of Moreno Valley, just east of Riverside, about 50 miles away from the epicenter.

My roommate and I shared an apartment on the second floor of a cheap apartment building on Heacock Street that shook VIOLENTLY. Everyone told me that the thing to do in an earthquake is to stand in the nearest doorway if possible; hopefully, not as much stuff would crash on top you. So I did.

My roommate had a waterbed, and it sloshed and splooshed. "Dave, we're having an earthquake!" he screamed. "Duly noted," I said back, while the building rocked, and you could hear the nails creaking in the framing, a woman downstairs screaming, and little kids screaming too.

My roommate and I also had a cat, which my roommate named Peanut, a nice gray and white short-haired muscle kitty, much like the infamous Conan I have today. His tail was fluffed in terror and took a while to slim back down again. He jumped eight feet when Mr. Peppermint the building super (he loved peppermint schnapps) pounded on the door and asked if we were okay.

No damage to the apartment complex, and the store my roommate and I managed (mis-managed?) was pretty much okay too.

I was officially a for-real California resident!

I've experienced two Earthquakes in my life over here. They were tiny but noticeable and folks asked, "What was that?" We found out what they were on the news later.

I don't live in an earthquake prone area but I've experienced a few small ones. One was just a tremor when I was a kid (and living in a different state). I remember being on the stairs and it felt like it was shaking. My mother said the closet door was moving back and forth. We went outside our apartment and a few other neighbors were outside talking about it.

We had one when DD was small. I was loading groceries in the back of my car and it felt like my car was rocking back and forth. I didn't realize what it was until I got home and people were posting about it on facebook. My Dad lives several states away and he also felt it...because he was sitting on the John. He said he wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

My kids and I both noticed the last one. I heard it more than felt it. It was like someone had pulled up to my house with a huge piece of farm equipment. I actually looked out front at first thinking something had to be out there. The noise was weird. My step-dad was driving close to the epicenter and it was more of a boom to him. To me the pitch higher and it was more metallic sounding. All I really felt was like a vibration up to my knees. The kids and I looked at each other confused.

I don't live in an earthquake prone area, but I did experience a small one once. It was very near the surface and only a few miles from where I was. I was sitting outside when the wave passed and I jumped up in the air and said a curse word as the ground moved. It had just rained and the raindrops were shaken off the trees in a band that was a few seconds behind the primary earthquake wave. So weird.

I experience an earth quake here in Maryland about 5 years ago. It hit in Richmond, VA and we could feel it here in Waldorf, MD and it did some damage in DC. I was taking a nap and all of a sudden my bed started shaken and it woke me up. That was my first earth quake and I hope it was my last. I didn't know what it was. I thought a tree had fallen on my house.

My next big quake was the infamous Whittier Narrows earthquake in October of 1987.

I was laying on the floor of my house in San Bernardino, doing stretches (along with my cats) when it rolled through at about a quarter to eight in the morning.

It was my day off work and I had a job interview! Hooray! In Monrovia about 15 miles west where the earthquake might have been centered .....

The waves rolled under the ground under the floor, under one of the cats(!!!!) But no damage.

So I called up the place where I had the interview and asked them if it was still on. It was was so I went. . .

More later

muffy said:

I experience an earth quake here in Maryland about 5 years ago. It hit in Richmond, VA and we could feel it here in Waldorf, MD and it did some damage in DC. I was taking a nap and all of a sudden my bed started shaken and it woke me up. That was my first earth quake and I hope it was my last. I didn't know what it was. I thought a tree had fallen on my house.

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That one might have been the one that was felt in central PA. I was at work when it hit. It was right after lunch time; I had my feet propped up on my desk and was reading. The walls (cube walls, not office walls) started shaking and my pictures started moving. I sat there and said, "Ok, guys, knock it off." because my co-workers love to do stuff to me. And then my chair, with me in it, started moving. Then my boss came out of his office, saying "What the h***?" and I realized something funky was going on. Turns out it was the Virginia earthquale. It was......interesting. My first earthquake.

I grew up in California and Japan. So there's no way I could remember all of them! I do remember one time, I think I was probably about 8 or so, I had stayed up too late and was in a giggly mood, and I tried to stand up from the couch right when an earthquake happened, and it knocked me right back onto the couch, and I got even gigglier. Another time I was on my top bunk sleeping (probably around age 12?) and it felt like someone was shaking my bed to wake me up, but nobody was there. It took a few seconds to realize it was an earthquake, and then my mom ran in and told me to get in the doorway. And of course the one where one of the stray cats was howling before it happened.

I think the largest I experienced was a 5 where we were, but it was stronger at the epicenter and caused some damage.

Winchester said:

That one might have been the one that was felt in central PA. I was at work when it hit. It was right after lunch time; I had my feet propped up on my desk and was reading. The walls (cube walls, not office walls) started shaking and my pictures started moving. I sat there and said, "Ok, guys, knock it off." because my co-workers love to do stuff to me. And then my chair, with me in it, started moving. Then my boss came out of his office, saying "What the h***?" and I realized something funky was going on. Turns out it was the Virginia earthquale. It was......interesting. My first earthquake.

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Yes, it was probably the same one. I don't remember exactly how many years ago it hit but it scared the hell out of me.

I've experienced a few earthquakes. But non were strong. It felt mostly like a a few transport trucks drove by my house at high speeds.
We have a fault line that is not very active where I'm from. But we are also a mining city, so sometimes we will feel tremors, but it's just blasting in the mines, and sometimes it's the blasting that will cause the earthquake.
I believe the strongest quake I've ever felt registered at just over 3.5?

So I went to my job interview and got the job . . .

And the news reports were all over about that Whittier Narrows earthquake, which happened right in the middle of morning rush hour.

There was lots of news coverage, and while it caused damage, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the ones we had on July 4 and 5, 2019. But, as the pictures, showed, it was quite bad enough.




Bad as it was, worse was yet to come.