My first Earthquake!

There I was, sitting calmly in the eye doctor’s office & then…

…the ground rumbled.  Or maybe it was my stomach.  I wasn’t really sure
I had felt anything at all until the receptionist looks up and asks, “Did
you feel that?”  Why yes, yes I did.  My first Earthquake.  I definitely
feel like I’m in California now.  I felt very special until I read the
reports of people near the epicenter where the dirt was flying and trees
swaying and pictures falling off walls and pipes were breaking.  But at
least I can say I’ve officially been through a level 6.0 earthquake.

6 Responses to “My first Earthquake!”

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Growing up in southern CA, I can safely say that pretty soon you won’t look forward to waking up in the middle of the night to have to rush out of the house while things are falling over.. (And Andrew, please take people’s advice — you’ve got to bolt your bookcases to the walls whether you like it or not. I know you would want yourself, or anything else in your apartment, getting crushed because of laziness.)

Teisha - September 28th, 2004 at 5:49 pm

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When my brother was at Stanford, he kept waking up in the middle of the night to find that his room was shaking. Apparently he couldn’t even sleep through minor tremors. Of course, his roommates, natives, slept like babies.

Owen - September 29th, 2004 at 8:47 am

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I don’t think you’ve been through a 6.0 earthquake, dearie… You were through a what- 1.5 level where you were? 😛

That said, some people on my campus claim to have felt it… No so sure about that. Certainly most of us didn’t, at least.

Which does nothing to change my weird jealousy. I’ve never felt an earthquake, and I kind of want to. What a different experience.

Paradoxdruid - September 28th, 2004 at 4:38 pm

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Wow, Laika. You’re alive! (How’re things going? Is school good?) Anyway, don’t listen to Druid. I’m very impressed that you were in a 6.0 earthquake. 🙂 You’re a brave, burly, Boulder woman. But I’m glad I haven’t been in an earthquake. It sounds disquieting.

ShortSpeedFreak - September 29th, 2004 at 8:15 pm

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Just so you know, humans can’t feel earthquakes of less than ~3. Each mark up is an order of magnitude more powerful, so a 6 is an order of magnitude more powerful than a 5. Let me tell you, riding through the 7.1 earthquake that was centered about 10 miles away from my house wasn’t fun.

Laika, I suggest getting yourself a earthquake kit. 6’s and 5’s have this nasty tendency to loosen up other faults and you don’t want to be caught unprepared when the Hayward fault goes. Don’t want to be gloom and doom, just be prepared.

stephen - October 2nd, 2004 at 10:47 am

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They were saying that Mt. St. Helens, which had been clocking up four earthquakes a minute the past week, had only had a handful that were actually noticeable. And yesterday it gave a little belch (The picture on the front page of our paper today showed a guy, standing in front of the mountain, making the “devil’s horns” sign like he was at a rock concert)

Owen - October 2nd, 2004 at 11:44 am

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