Living on Shaky Ground

Alex The G and T

Alex The G and T

Thar! That Blows.
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Messages
3,570
Location
Extremely Northern California
As a Fifth Generation Californian, Earthquakes have been a state of living since infancy. My Great Grandmother was 9 years old, living in San Francisco in April 1906 when "The Earth Shook and the Sky Burned," as the saying goes.

Growing up on the Central California Coast, M 3.x - 4.x were regular... averaging a half dozen a year; with a Big One every ten years, or so. Something more exiting to talk about, at school, than the latest episode of "Hogan's Heroes" or Adam West's "Batman." We get a bit casual about the occasional disruption of footing.

In 1982, I got a wild hair and moved north, on a whim, never dreaming that I would make babies, buy land and get stuck on The Triple Junction for the next 40 years.

The Triple Junction (of Tectonic Plates) is the Root of the Cascadia Subduction Zone; the most seismically active area in the US. (Not counting Alaska)

Dr Lori Dengler is our favorite Geologist, writing a weekly column in the local rag and reporting on any significant events. I have my own stories about the '92 Triple Whammy; but here is an excellent explanation about why... WHY.... is the footing so uncertain around here?

Offshore of where she's standing is my favorite place to go rock fishing. Cape Mendocino is quite near to my home.


We get a little blase' about the quivering and quaking. My wife, Ms Montana, thinks I'm too blase' about the big ones; but even I get a little gunshy, after awhile.

I posted some remarks about the large events of December 20 and January, (what, 13?) in the Weather channel thread. Pretty casual reactions, on my part; but things are getting a bit ridiculous. Thursday night's M3.2, I wouldn't have noticed had I not been already awake. Just a Short Sharp Bump; though I noticed, today, that a couple of items had fallen in the barn. The M3.8, this afternoon was a bump and a few seconds of jiggle-wiggle.But this sort of thing has been going on by the dozens for six weeks. One begins to have doubts... Sitting in the same place where you were last time... Was that an earthquake, or did I just have a tic? And these have all been near at hand.

And always, there is that moment's pause... was that all of it, or was that only the prelude to something Huger.

This from december 21: https://www.sffchronicles.com/threads/42010/page-259#post-2600571
 
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A couple of reasons I started this thread: My reports about Recent Cataclysms were threatening to shade the Weather Thread and there was some controversy about whether Earthquake reports were weather related. I explained that moderate seismic events were reported, on the local TV news, by the weatherman. It takes a significant, damaging event to make the Anchor's desk in the form of a headline. Thus, Earthquakes are weather.

Aside from that insignificant debate; I posted this thread in an attempt to invoke Murphy's Law.

We're finding the constant stream of aftershocks to be rather tiresome. It has become a full-time job to keep the pictures hanging level on the walls. They seem to just crawl about, hither and yon on an irregular basis.

So, of course, Murphy says that as soon as I dedicate a space for earthquake reports; there will cease to be earthquakes about which to report.

This concept has been working for some 30 hours now. Fingers crossed.
 
Everybody who has been around long enough measures every seismic event against the Triple Whammy of '92. I have been naming this ever since and for some sad reason, the sobriquet never caught on. No one calls it this, but me; which is sad because this event deserves a catchy name. Because, never before, nor since, has anyone experienced the like in my lifetime. And it went something like this:

11 AM, April 25, 1992, I was down at the city park, lollygagging against a play structure whilst my 4 year old daughter was clambering.
I happened to be looking toward the southwest when I saw waves of earth approaching, like ocean swells, three or four feet tall. I turned as the waves passed me and as they moved out to the Northeast, I saw trees dancing side to side several feet, from the bottom up. How the waves changed from up/down, to side to side is a mystery to me. Must have something to do with "P" waves and "S" waves, and "OMG F-Me!" waves.

And I said to myself, "Holy sh*t! That is the hugest earthquake I have every seen, in all my life!" And I hustled the kid back to the car and rushed home to see what was left. Well, I had just built that house and barely been living in it for half a years; so I was much releive to find zero major damage. A few things tossed on the floor, some broken glassware; really, ou's hardly notice.

In those days, with the internet in infancy, there was a phone recording to call for Earthquake statistics. For moinor events, we'd have to wait until Monday for someone to show up and update the recording. Major events would be updated in a few hours, even on weekends. Otherwise, wait for tomorrow's newspaper ar maybe the evening, local tv news... if the juice was on.

Anyway, this event was M 7.2. By fat, the most powerful event in my experience before or since.

But I was outdoors in the daylight, experienced no direct consequences, so the overall impression was more of a thrill than a horror.

So we all went to bed, just a little bit excited.

Along about Midnight, we were awakened by such a violent shaking. A M 6.6 in the middle of the night, upstairs, in the dark is no joke.

The power was out, Mom, Dad and the toddler are huddled in the dark listening to a battery powered radio, craving news and getting little.

All of the local radio was off the air. We tuned into an AM talk/news station from San Francisco, 250 miles away. Our friends and neighbors were phoning in with tales and news, even a couple of people we knew; but noone really knew anything.

So, after a few hours of this we finally settled down and got back to sleep in the predawn hours. Just in time for the M6.5. to throw us out of bed.

I awakened, already standing at the bedroom window, amid violent shaking and the sky was flaring up in insane green flashes! Some sort of piezo-electric effect ionizing gasses in the air. So bizarre and so spectacular. But this is about where it stops being an adventure and begins to be a horror, with the impending doubt... Is this ever going to stop?

The earth felt like jello for two weeks, if you put an ear to the ground you could hear grinding noises. The aftershocks went on for months.

And a lot of people had serious damage. My new house was built to modern earthquake inspired building codes, with all of those hundreds of bits of engineered steel straps and braces tying everything together, most if which I installed myself. I remember, hunkering down in bed, waiting for the shaking to stop, remarking to my self that the house felt like it was rocking smoothly. No horrible screeching sounds, it wasn't fighting itself.
Still here, thirty years and a bunch of shakes later.
 
18 minutes past the hour of 4 PM... A little wake up call to remind us that all systems are functioning. M 4.6. Epicenter about a dozen miles nearby.

A moderate disturbance whilst watching a little television and beginning to think about fixing supper.

They always seems to start rather suddenly, with a certain sense of vertigo, then a few seconds of rolling. Then, to really grab the attention, a short, sharp shock. Then comes the moments when we know to wonder: "Is it going to Ebb, or escalate?"

And this one ebbed, over a rather extended time. Seemed long, considering the mild magnitude.

There's always an odd sense of time dilation; a few seconds seem to stretch longer than the reality; and, as it fades, we're not sure if it's still vibrating, or if it's only a continuing mental echo.
 
Oh... The disappointment... Spent the weekend out at the lake, 60 miles inland, and completely missed the M 5.5 on the coast, Sunday Morning.
The Home Front says that there was a strong jolt, a long pause and a stronger wrench which they thought was signaling a major escalation; but it didn't. Oh, Good.
 
Since you missed the coastal jolt, here is the picture of the epic damage.
1684817631226.jpeg
 
Good Morning Fortuna!
Siiting at the kitchen table, easing into the day with a cup of coffee and a crossword.
8:26 AM I felt slight sense of disequilibrium. Was that? And then a bit of a wiggle. Oh yes it was.

The the rocking and rolling began. And a short, sharp shock. Then that pregnant pause to wonder if this particular first jolt is the main event or a prelude to utter chaos. This one ended in a lengthy, slowly fading rocking and rolling. M 4.7, no big deal; though we were sitting right on top of it.

Having trouble waking up? This pick-me-up is more stimulating than a couple extra shots of Espresso!

Outside, the Missus had to grab a table for support. A pretty good jolt to actually notice, out of Doors.
The Apple Corps was right out front and a bit freaked out, prancing back and forth in an agitated manner. They kept looking at us as if either accusing us for the disturbance or demanding that we fix it.

Actually four earthquakes this morning. Mostly too far away to notice. The M 4.2 at 10 16 am I felt as a barely discernible swaying; though the ground has felt like jello, all day.


The Apple Corps. Named after their years-long obsession with windfall apples.
Apple Corp head on web02.jpg
 
A Busy night on the Triple Junction!

I was fully awake for the M4.8, at 3:40 AM. That one was just a few miles away, so that our attention. A couple of strong jolts separated by some moderate swaying. The Missus woke up for the second round.

M$.1, ten minutes later was too far away to feel; likewise the two M3.1 's later on. M 3 's are about the threshold of noticable anyway.

kymkemp.com

[UPDATE: Four Quakes!] 4.8 and 4.1 Earthquakes Hit Humboldt

Did they wake you up?
kymkemp.com
 
It was a quiet morning Downtown, seemingly few people out and about, running casual errands. I was about to walk into the pharmacy when my phone began screeching. I had just enough time to wonder WTF when the sidewalk began bucking. "Oh," I thought, "the screeching must be an earthquake alert."

I didn't want to be standing under sheets of glass, should they burst, so I edged out into the street enough to not be in the traffic lane. Weird quake, seemed to be shaking in circular, random directions. They usually have more fixed directional orientation.

This quake didn't seem particularly intense; but did stretch for an extraordinarily long time. I was standing on my sea legs, waiting it out when one off- rhythm lurch threatened to upset my balance. I had to steady myself against a nearby parked car.

I then spent the rest of the day annoying people by telling them that I didn't think it was all that much for intensity. The angry responses suggested that, had I been indoors I would have had a more startling experience.

Hurrying home to assess potential damage, the quiet streets had suddenly come alive with panicked people, who had forgotten how to drive. All in a big rush to go elsewhere in a hurry.

Rumours ran amok, ranging from three quakes from M6 to M7, here, there and somewhere else; but the current official news settled on M7 about 60 km offshore.

There have been dozens of aftershocks, none strong enough or close enough for me to feel.

I'm surprised. The last time we had a 7, every shop window on Main Street shattered. Today, no broken glass, no reports of injury or deaths. Some damage out toward the coast.

All's well at the Alex homestead. Naught but a few items fallen off of shelves.

A lot of wine on the floor of the liquor store. Smells pretty good.
 
Alex The G and T said:
It was a quiet morning Downtown, seemingly few people out and about, running casual errands. I was about to walk into the pharmacy when my phone began screeching. I had just enough time to wonder WTF when the sidewalk began bucking. "Oh," I thought, "the screeching must be an earthquake alert."

I didn't want to be standing under sheets of glass, should they burst, so I edged out into the street enough to not be in the traffic lane. Weird quake, seemed to be shaking in circular, random directions. They usually have more fixed directional orientation.

This quake didn't seem particularly intense; but did stretch for an extraordinarily long time. I was standing on my sea legs, waiting it out when one off- rhythm lurch threatened to upset my balance. I had to steady myself against a nearby parked car.

I then spent the rest of the day annoying people by telling them that I didn't think it was all that much for intensity. The angry responses suggested that, had I been indoors I would have had a more startling experience.

Hurrying home to assess potential damage, the quiet streets had suddenly come alive with panicked people, who had forgotten how to drive. All in a big rush to go elsewhere in a hurry.

Rumours ran amok, ranging from three quakes from M6 to M7, here, there and somewhere else; but the current official news settled on M7 about 60 km offshore.

There have been dozens of aftershocks, none strong enough or close enough for me to feel.

I'm surprised. The last time we had a 7, every shop window on Main Street shattered. Today, no broken glass, no reports of injury or deaths. Some damage out toward the coast.

All's well at the Alex homestead. Naught but a few items fallen off of shelves.

A lot of wine on the floor of the liquor store. Smells pretty good.
Click to expand...
Good to know that after the last quake the shops replaced their storefront glass to meet code.
As OSHA says, "Safety is No Accident."
 
Excellent thread, Alex.

For two years I taught way up the north coast of Oregon at Seaside. The city was built on a narrow strip along the ocean with mountains on the other side. They have an evacuation plan now, but if there's ever a tsunami -- which isn't unlikely -- nearby, I suppose the town would be destroyed. I wouldn't want to live there.

Soon after leaving Seaside, I lived in Klamath Falls, where I met my wife. Soon after we moved, there was an earthquake there, and as I recall we were told part of the roof collapsed right where she used to sit in her office.
 
It's only been the last five or ten years where a push has been on to prepare the seaside public for potential tsnamis. Now there are marked evacuation routes to the nearest high points and signs indicating "Tsunami zones." Once a year, now, there are drills to test the alert systems; and residents are encouraged to practice their evacuation routes.

The earthquake alert provides a lot of comedy among locals. Firstly, the phone doesn't start screeching often enough to remember the reason for that awful noise. The system is a real-time reaction to a seismograph reading, so the alert for a nearby quake often comes after the shaking begins. "Oh, thanks, I noticed." A quake has to be tens of miles distant to give any actual forewarning; only a couple of seconds at best.

Yesterday's alert arrived pretty much simultaneous to the first lurch. No time to actually look at the phone and read the notice.
 
What is it? Day 3, Day 4? Mild tremors... they jerk off quickly, then are soon forgotten.

The Big Ones tend to linger. The ground feels like jelly and we tend to carry a certain sense of impending doom. Re-impending, really.
As jaded as I am, as a California Lifer, with a long history of shrugging off seisms and having lived on the Triple Junction for forty years; I do get a little shell shocked after a big one. What is going to happen next, runs the niggle at the back of the mind. Anticipating an unknown that may happen in a year. Or Ten. Or ten minutes from now.
We've had dozens of aftershocks. Mostly lesser than M 3.0; which is the threshold magnitude to be normally noticeable. A handful of M 4.+, too far away to be felt.

I've felt three, in the last two days. Only noticeable when sitting quietly, indoors. A little bump. A little sway, a little feeling of disorientation. Subtle movement long enough to indicate a stronger event, further away.
 
Alex The G and T said:
What is it? Day 3, Day 4? Mild tremors... they jerk off quickly, then are soon forgotten.

The Big Ones tend to linger. The ground feels like jelly and we tend to carry a certain sense of impending doom. Re-impending, really.
As jaded as I am, as a California Lifer, with a long history of shrugging off seisms and having lived on the Triple Junction for forty years; I do get a little shell shocked after a big one. What is going to happen next, runs the niggle at the back of the mind. Anticipating an unknown that may happen in a year. Or Ten. Or ten minutes from now.
We've had dozens of aftershocks. Mostly lesser than M 3.0; which is the threshold magnitude to be normally noticeable. A handful of M 4.+, too far away to be felt.

I've felt three, in the last two days. Only noticeable when sitting quietly, indoors. A little bump. A little sway, a little feeling of disorientation. Subtle movement long enough to indicate a stronger event, further away.
Click to expand...
oIn the midwest region we have the New Madrid fault line which is not as active San Andreas, the ;lat time it let go was in 1812 a series of quakes in the 7 range , it shook church bells in the city of Boston. ti didn't do great damage because the area it was center was at that Time was sparsely populated. see have speculated that its due to become active again. A quake like they had in 1812 cause loss of lie and loot of damage because that region is nw more densely populated.
 
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