My very first earthquake!

[Svenskaflicka]

Last night, as I was in bed, I experienced an earthquake. Not an orgasmic such, but a real one.
There was a loud "BOOOM!!!!", and the whole building shook for a while. The cat ran under the bed and hid.
My first thought was that the neighbor must have slammed the door REALLY hard this time - but that kind of behaviour is usually followed by loud screaming in Finnish, so I ruled that out.
My second thought - that it might have been a truck driving into the house - was also unlikely to cause such a long shivering of the entire building.

It didn't occur to me to think of earthquakes, all the way up here in the cold north, until mum told me this morning that it had indeed been an earthquake all over the area, about 3 on the Richter scale. Apparently it had destroyed the windows of one building across town.
But the media has blown the whole thing out of proportion, talking about people fleeing their homes and "night of horror" - it lasted about 3 minutes!
It was loud, shaky, and above all, WEIRD.

But atleast I can now say that I've experienced an earthquake.

 

[Guest]

That's God's way of saying, "If you live there, it's your fault."

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I remember my first earthquake. I was in Oakland, California, in this little apartment, sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. It was a brilliant day outside, about ten in the morning, and suddenly the house started shaking like there was a huge truck going by outside. There was absolutely no sound associated with it.

The dishes started rattling and some dust fell from the ceiling, and I remember the floor lamps shaking. It lasted for about 10 seconds, and pretty much scared the hell out of me, though the other people--Californians all--took it in pretty much in stride.

I had a friend in Chicago who had an apartment that backed up right against the El tracks, and it felt just like that, like two trains were going by, the floor kind of heaving like a stiff trampoline. There was no noise, though, and that's what seemed to make it so scary. From then on, whenever I had to drive over the Oakland Bay Bridge, I used to hold my breath.

 

[dis_pac]

That's God's way of saying, "If you live there, it's your fault."

ROFL

My first earthquake was in a third world country staying in a hotel on stilts on a hillside, damn near shit my pants! I tell you it's funny how fast you can jump out of bed and head out of the door.

No damage done though (other than some emotional damage done to my boxers)

 

[scheherazade_79]

My first and only earthquake happened when I was living in Aberystwyth, a small seaside resort in mid Wales. It was at around 3am when I woke to the sound of books falling off my shelves. In my stupor, I put it down to some kind of heavy goods vehicle rumbling through the estate, and only found out it was an earthquake the next day. It was annoying - if I'd known what it was I certainly would have paid more attention. I missed out there

 

[oggbashan]

My first earthquake was when I was living on Gibraltar.

Don't believe the song about how strong Gibraltar is. I knew it had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. I hoped one of the holes wouldn't collapse.

Damage was minimal pehaps because about three years earlier Gibraltar town had been damaged by an ammunition ship exploding. Any fragile buildings had been destroyed then.

Og

 

[Svenskaflicka]

The weird thing is that normally, when there's a loud noise or the windows are shaking in the strong wind or something, my first thought is "is there an earthquake?" but this time, it never ONCE occurred to me!

 

[rgraham666]

We had a minor one here in TO one afternoon about three years ago.

Felt it more than anything else, this strange vibration in my feet and stomach. As Svenska noted it was weird.

And I also didn't think it was an earthquake until I read about it in the paper the next day.

Shrugs. No blood, no report.

 

[Samandiriel]

I'm jealous, I've only witnessed bad thunder.

Freakish but cool.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

My first and only earthquake occured at sea, while I was on a dive cruise. The ship suddenly started heaving and it sounded like the screws were out of kilter. It wasn't that scary, probably beacuse our berth was right next to the endgine room and it shuddered pretty good anytime the ship turned or the captain ordered more speed.

 

[R. Richard]

If you live on the West coast of the US, you get used to earthquakes. After a time, I would not even wake up when we had a little one at night. I can, however, still remember several when tall buildings would shake and sway.

 

[jfinn]

I've been in three earthquakes--all in the same year when I was living in San Francisco, but only remember one. The first I was medicated, the second inebriated. I fell out of bed and on the floor respectively, but both times I put down to my condition and didn't know about the quakes until later. The third was actually in Michigan when I was back on vacation visiting family.

Michigan doesn't usually have tremblers you can feel, but I was outside talking to someone and leaning on a car. It soundly bounced under my hand. I thought it might be an earthquake, but figured I was just paranoid because of living in California. No one else seemed to feel it either, however that night the news reported there really had been a quake. Go figure.

Jayne

 

[LadyJeanne]

Congratulations, Svenska! You're now a member of the "Shake Shake Shake" Club. We don't have a secret handshake, just a booty shake - you'll get the orientation & training DVD in the mail.

My most recent earthquake was last Saturday. Minor swaying of the building in the middle of the night. My cat and I both lifted our heads for the duration, then settled back into sleep. There was a mini aftershock about an hour later.

The thing with earthquakes is that you really never know how bad they're going to be. If you've been through more than a few little trembles, you're lulled into this false sense of security where you're thinking, "Oh, it's an earthquake. Wonder how long this one will rumble, yawn."

Not that I want to experience a big one, mind you.

 

[Guest]

One of my earthquakes. I was standing across the street at the time.

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t046/T046414A.jpg

 

[Pleasureboy2]

I've been through so many earthquakes I've lost count. I grew up in So. Calif. and have never moved. The funny thing is, the last big quake in So. Calif. that I remember was the Northridge quake round about 1994 I think and I was out of town in Las Vegas. I still felt it there. When I found out what had happened I rushed home, to make sure everything was okay. Other than a few broken pictures everthing was fine. However the freeway I used to commute to work was demolished. Took about a year to fix that.

All-in-all I would have to say that I prefer earthquakes over other natural disasters.

 

[SeaCat]

never dealt with an earthquake and never want to. There's just something wrong about the one solid thing you can count on, the ground, deciding it's time to change address and or location. Give me our Hurricanes and Northeasters. (At least those I know how to deal with.)

Cat

 

[Extreme Bohunk]

hmmm...
Sounds like good story material.
Having 'the big one' during The Big One.

 

[SummerMorning]

Hmm... we get them a lot here. Last big one was in 1998, I think... not sure. Anyway, it felt like an 18 axle truck rolling past the house, only it lasted 45 seconds. Pretty much devastated a few villages and towns upriver, but over here we only got a few cracks in the plaster and broken sculptures which keeled over.

As a precautionary measure one of the sculptures later received a hook and chain, affixing it rather firmly to the anterior wall...

Last one was a couple of weeks ago, the bed I was sitting on started shaking and shivering, but that was about it. Usually I sleep through the small ones if they're at night.

 

[Xelebes]

I've only experienced one earthquake and it was just a big earthquake happening 5,000 km away in Los Angeles.

Apparently my house has some damage from that big Alaska earthquake in the 70's. It was about 3,000-4,000 km away. I was too young to experience it.

 

[Xelebes]

I've been through so many earthquakes I've lost count. I grew up in So. Calif. and have never moved. The funny thing is, the last big quake in So. Calif. that I remember was the Northridge quake round about 1994 I think and I was out of town in Las Vegas. I still felt it there. When I found out what had happened I rushed home, to make sure everything was okay. Other than a few broken pictures everthing was fine. However the freeway I used to commute to work was demolished. Took about a year to fix that.

All-in-all I would have to say that I prefer earthquakes over other natural disasters.

Um yeah, that was the one I felt.

 

[The_old_man]

My wife and I have lived in Oklahoma and (fortunately only) watched tornadoes, in Massachusetts lived through the milder hurricanes, now in California have had A 5.1 just 4 miles from us an the 94 quake only 12 miles away.

Honestly prefer the quakes, no anticipation worries.

 

[Belegon]

quakes don't even bother me....maybe they would more if I lived in NoCal instead of SoCal

 

[Belegon]

talk about interesting timing...

Small Quake Strikes Near California-Mexico Border

POSTED: 12:20 pm PDT May 14, 2005
UPDATED: 12:24 pm PDT May 14, 2005

CALEXICO, Calif. -- A small earthquake rattled northern Baja California early this morning, but there were no reports of damage or injury.

The magnitude 3.1 quake struck just after 3:30 a.m. and was centered in Mexico, about 20 miles south-southeast of the border town Calexico and 95 miles east of San Diego County.
Copyright 2005 by NBCSandiego.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Congratulations, Svenska! You're now a member of the "Shake Shake Shake" Club. We don't have a secret handshake, just a booty shake - you'll get the orientation & training DVD in the mail.

Weeeee!

<--- see? I'm already getting good at it!

 

[LadyJeanne]

Weeeee!

<--- see? I'm already getting good at it!

Just wait til we get the aftershock conga line going!