An earthquake poll

In My Humble Opinion
41

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
Lots. We get noticeable ones every fewf weeks or so. The last one was about two weeks ago.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
I felt the magnitude 6.8 one that hit Niigata this past July and the 6.9 there in February, as well as the series of 6.something quakes that hit that same region in 2004. Using the Shindo scale (which measures the actual ground shake at each location), the strongest I’ve felt is a 4.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?
Yes. I’ve never really gotten used to them, plus there’s the knowledge that a major one will hit Tokyo with in the next two decades.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?
Not much. It’s one of those things I keep telling myself I need to do.

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?

Hurricanes are relatively easy to see coming and are fairly easy to resist with a sturdily built house. Keep candles, clean water and a portable stove ready and you shouldn’t have much problem even if the utilities get knocked out. On the other hand, you can be certain of getting hit by them multiple times a year.

Earthquakes are completely unpredictable beyond general probabilities. You don’t know when or where they will hit, and when it starts you have know idea how strong it will get or when it will stop. They affect huge areas and make you feel completely helpless and exposed. Modern construction techniques can supposedly withstand a shindo 7 quake (and indeed, the modern buildings in Niigata were undamaged, and after the 8.1 earthquake near Hokkaido the construction company that built our condo sent out letters saying that of the 450+ buildings of theirs in Kobe during the 1995 quake, not a single one collapsed), but there’s always the nagging feeling of doubt. However, killer earthquakes don’t happen very often. Tokyo’s last major quake was over 80 years ago.

I don’t know much about tornadoes, other than they seem to rip everything they encounter right out of the ground.

All other things being equal, I’d chose to live in the hurricane zone first (though not right on the coast!) followed by earthquake and tornado. I’d choose a flood-prone area last of all.

42

About three. The latest was about 5 years ago. I forget the size, but it was small. The first I felt was 1974 in Urbana, Illinois!

Nothing big. A tiny shaking. In eleven years in the Bay Area, we haven’t had one that even knocked anything off of the shelves.

Nope.

Yes. We’ve got flashlights, lots of batteries, water, canned food, and a wrench attached to the gas inlet to turn it off.

I’ve lived in both tornado country (never saw one) and hurricane country (we were on the dry side of the biggest that came through.) Earthquakes happen less often then either. Tornadoes don’t affect a very large area, so that would be my first choice. Earthquakes are my second. As far as inconvenience, I’ll take any over having blizzards almost every winter like I was used to when I lived in the East.

43

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
Yep, lived in West Hollywood for 12 years…first was Whittier, then the others, but the all-time biggie was the Northridge quake.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
Northridge quake by far…odd fact about that one - my SO and I were in bed and suddenly, we both woke up in the middle of the night and sort of looked at each other and said, “why are we both awake now?” About two seconds later, BAM…so maybe we heard it coming?

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?
Having lived through quite a few, I don’t know if I would say I am afraid of them - but I don’t feel the need to want to re-live the experience again anytime soon.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?
I was surprised to find out Las Vegas is sitting above dozens of fault lines and is prime for earthquakes - although as yet I have not felt one here. I have heard from locals that they felt the Northridge quake here and it scared the bejesus out of them. No, we don’t not have a kit, but we have most of the items scattered around the house and would be able to find them, assuming the house didn’t come tumbling down. BTW, newer homes here are all built to the same earthquake codes as California - I saw our house being built and they used all of the tricks they use in California construction.
5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?
I think people who live in Florida are insane…they get hurricanes yearly, and they seem to be getting worse and worse - at what point do you say, “Fuck this!” and move?
I believe the worst earthquake in US history was in the Midwest (granted, hardly anybody lived there then) so I guess no place is totally safe from earthquakes, but I have to admit, living in California you got used to them, but I never want to be there when the “big one” hits!
Growing up in Illinois, I know the horrors of tornadoes, but at least you (usually) have some warning and can get to cover or head to a basement…so I guess if I had to pick a disaster, give me the tornado.
Currently, in Las Vegas, a heavy downfall of rain is the biggest, and most dangerous disaster we have - assuming none of those earthquake faults below us breaks anytime soon.

Thanks for this cheery thread.

44

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
Yup, a few. I can’t remember when the last one was, though. I’m sure I’ve felt one more recently than 1989, but I can’t pin it down.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
Loma Prieta. I lived about 100 miles from the epicenter, so the shaking wasn’t too severe. (Also, my hometown is remarkably earthquake-proof. In 1906, towns to the south and to the north were flattened, but Petaluma was barely scratched, despite the fact that the strongest shaking, out in Point Reyes, is about 15 miles due west.) The most notable thing was how long it was. Usually earthquakes are little jolts that you can confuse for a big truck driving by the house. But Loma Prieta just kept going and going. Not nearly as long as CBEscapee’s experience, though, that sounds really scary.

Anyway, I was watching TV and the quake didn’t seem that strong until the TV blacked out. When it came back a few minutes later, we quickly realized that it had been a lot more severe in other areas.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?
Nah.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?
I don’t. I am bad. I do know earthquakes happen here from time to time, too. It did scare me somewhat when I found out that the Skopje was pretty well levelled in the 1960s, too. Buildings here are definitely not built to the same strict standards that I am used to in California, too.

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?
Earthquakes, definitely. The thought of a tornado freaks me out, and I think anyone who voluntarily lives in a hurricane-prone region is insane. I mean, those things happen EVERY YEAR. They have a SEASON. If earthquakes had a season, I wouldn’t want to live in a quake zone, either.

45

The “nice” thing about tornadoes…as a kid we all learned; the sky turns GREEN, you suddenly hear NOTHING, not a bird or a cricket; it is absolutely, deadly still. You have about 20 minutes, tops. Get on your bike and peddle your ass home as fast as you can. Go to the southwest corner of your basement and huddle. Granted, if the tornado actually hits your house, all bets are off…but for the most part, in the basement (southwest corner) you have a good chance to survive even a direct hit.

46

  1. Yep. I’m from Spain and, living close to a bombing area used for training by several NATO air forces, have experiences both natural 'quakes and live-practice bombs.

  2. The ones people feel usually come up to a 4 something. Liquids jump in the glass/bottle, you feel dizzy… the natural quakes don’t make the windows rattle; the live bombings do.

  3. Nah. I fear the bombing practice more, specially since it sometimes seems as if every year there’s at least one pilot who misses seeing Moncayo in his maps and eats it. Since they can manage to turn themselves into rubber stamps against a mountain that big, we don’t trust that they won’t completely miss the target area, you know?

  4. Nope.

  5. If the buildings are well-built, I’ll take quake.

The “ecologists” who are against the Itoiz waterworks in Spain claim, among other things, that “since that was built, there’s quakes in the area!” A few times I’ve taken some naive person to see the lists of quakes in the area for the last 100 years or so… gee, there were quakes in the area before, too, and equally intense! But of course why learn geology when you’re in a crusade.

47

I experienced something like this when I lived in Michigan. The sky turned BROWN, in the middle of the day, it started hailing HARD, and sirens started going off.

I was scared shitless. I had no idea what was going on until I got to work the next day and people were talking about the tornado alarm.

48

Just to chime in, we here in Manchester had 6 earthquakes last week.

That’s right 6, in England fer gawdsake

49

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?

The only time I ever experienced an earthquake was on October 28, 1983. The epicenter was near Challis, Idaho. This site gives some more information.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.

The quake was measured at 7.3 on the Richter scale, but in the Boise area the magnitude was much less, but still noticeable. I was in the eighth grade at the time. I was sitting in my U.S. History class. When I felt my desk shaking I thought it was the obnoxious punk who sat behind me kicking my desk, as did everyone else. When we all realized what was going on we evacuated the building fire-drill style. While there was no damage locally, there were a couple of kids walking to school in the town of Challis were killed when some rubble from one of the collapsed buildings toppled on them (link).

Meanwhile, my sister was in marching band and she was outside with her class practicing. She said she was not even aware of any such seismic activity and felt nothing.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?

Not really. Even though, according to the first link, Idaho ranks fifth for earthquake risks; they’re quite rare around here.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?

I don’t. can’t say that anyone around here really recommends any such thing.

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?

I think I’d rather live here where earthquakes are the biggest risk (tornadoes are rare, too, and we’re out of reach from hurricanes). An earthquake may cause some damage, but it wouldn’t be as catastrophic as what a tornado or hurricane could do. On the other hand, at least there is some warning with weather events versus earthquakes, so it’s hard to say, really.

50

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?

Just the once. I was in Redmond, WA during the Nisqually quake on February 28, 2001.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.

It was a 6.8. At first I thought that someone was outside shaking the entry doors to our building very hard, and then I thought, wait, no, it sounds like a truck crashed into them. Then one of my co-workers yelled, “Earthquake!” and we all got underneath our desks. There was a lot of shaking, and the ground took on a very unsettling rubbery quality, bouncing up and down. It lasted maybe half a minute? (I do not feel that my recollection is accurate as far as time goes, though.) Afterwards nothing in our office was harmed (nor was anything in our house in the Univeristy District in Seattle harmed) but a co-worker later reported that all of her OCD boyfriend’s carefully placed action figures had been shaken from the shelves in her house, causing no small amount of trauma to the boyfriend.
3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?

No. First of all, I live in Ohio now, and we don’t really get big earthquakes here. Second, even when I was in Seattle, I figure that if I could ride out a 6.8 quake with no major damage, I’d probably be okay no matter what. Although we did take certain precautions as described by previous posters, i.e. not hanging glass-framed pictures over beds, keeping the tops of shelves and the fridge clear of objects, and so forth.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?

When we did live in earthquake territory, we kept several gallons of potable water in the basement, along with a flashlight. That was about the extent of our preparedness kit.

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?

If natural disasters were to be the only criterion, I’d probably pick the tornado area, just because really big destructive ones are relatively rare, and usually hit a very localized area. (Unlike hurricanes and earthquakes, which wreak destruction on a much larger area.) Besides which, I grew up in tornado country and don’t consider tornadoes a big deal.

51
  1. Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
    The Netherlands and earthquakes are not two things one would associate with each other. Most Dutch, if you asked prior to 1992, would have said that earthquakes can’t happen in the Netherlands. So when one did strike, in the early hours of April 13, 1992, no-one knew what happened.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
The quake I experienced was 5,8 on Richter’s scale, and we were about 30 miles south of the epicenter. The quake happened at a depth of 18 kilometers.
We woke up from the heating pipes rattling. I screamed, because I thought the heater was going to explode. My mom, living 150 kilometers up north, thought her ghosts and spirits were trying to tell her something. My dad, in the same town, thought a particularly heavy truck rode past. My MIL, living even nearer the epicenter, had her jar of peanutbutter falling out of the cupboards.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes? Not any more. I am however mortally afraid of fire in my house, and if an eart quake can cause fire, then yes, count me scared.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit? No.

**5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why? **I haven’t experienced hurricanes or tornado’s so I can’t say what I’d prefer. However, I would mind daily hassles more: planes roaring overhead, or a busy moterway next to my house.

52

The “southwest corner” thing is a myth and generally bad advice.

53

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
Many. Honestly don’t know which one was the most recent.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
The biggest? Easy, almost 22 years ago: Mexico, 1985

I was standing around in the schoolyard and suddenly felt queasy. Or rather thought I felt queasy. When I looked around, all the people around me looked around rather like me and the clincher was a car that didn’t have its handbrake engage moving around.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?

Not really. But I know more than one person who panics at the mere thought.

4) If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?

Nope. But I should.

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?

I’d stay right where I am. In my case, at least, I have gotten used to it.

54

  1. Yes. We have them quite often, but it’s been a couple of months since there has been one large enough to feel.

  2. 9.2 in 1964. Good Friday, sitting down to dinner, when the largest earthquake to hit North America struck. The house survived, but the china didn’t. I was a teenager with excellent balance so I somehow made it outside. Cars were lurching back and forth, trees were whipping over and slapping the ground on both sides, chunks of buildings were flying through the air, and a large apartment building under construction collapsed in my view.

  3. I don’t like them, but know what to do when one starts, i.e., don’t stand there waiting to see if it gets worse.

  4. Yes. Water, food, batteries, Yachtboy, flashlights, first aid, shotgun, cat litter, cat food, etc.

  5. I prefer the earthquake zone. The chances of an earthquake of that magnitude striking again are remote.

55
  1. Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?

The Nisqually Quake of Feb, 2001. I was living in the Olympic Peninsula then, so it wasn’t so strong there as in Seattle, but strong enough. The funny thing was, I was working in a bookstore, and a customer who had just moved to the area had just been talking about how afraid she was of earthquakes. Five minutes later, the quake struck. To me, though, it was nothing at all compared to the Loma Prieta (see below)

  1. If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.

The Loma Prieta Quake. I was living in Oakland then, and I’d come home early to watch the World Series on a borrowed tv. I was talking on the phone with a friend in Berkeley. My cat noticed it first, and then I heard a grinding sound and felt the vibration. My first thought was that someone was taking a bulldozer to the building – then my friend and I simultaneously said “It’s an earthquake.” A beat. “It’s a really big earthquake.” At that point, a pipe burst in her place and she ran to check it out, and I saw the hardwood floor in my place undulate like swells on the ocean. Decided to stand under a doorframe, holding the cat. A great feeling of peace and all-rightness came over me at that moment, though. I was perfectly happy with any and every possibility that might occur.

  1. Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?

The Loma Prieta experience was not frightening. But the repeated news coverage of the pancaked freeway and the Bay Bridge section collapse was very frightening. I decided then that I’d rather go through five major blizzards a year than one big earthquake every five years. (You could start another thread on how tv makes disasters much, much worse than they would be otherwise.)

  1. If you live in earthquake territory, do you have a preparedness kit?

I have a generic preparedness kit in the car that works for earthquakes, blizzards, and other emergency needs, and same for home.

  1. If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?

I wouldn’t live in California again, well, maybe far northern coastal CA, but I love the greater Seattle/Oregon coast so much, I’d move back in a heartbeat, if I didn’t have obligations here in the northeast.
I lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota for over ten years, heard the tornado sirens go off often enough, but never worried about tornadoes that much. More exciting than frightening, though it is a bit strange when the sky turns that greenish yellow color. I love a good thunderstorm. Though it’s easier to love them when one is a renter than when one is a home owner.
I rode out Hurricane Wilma with my elderly parents in Florida, and didn’t care for the hurricane experience much. We had ample warning and were very well prepared in a house built to the most recent codes, but the dang thing goes on for so long, you get tired of it, and then keeping my Dad’s insulin cold through the long power outages afterwards was a concern. (Even though you stock up on ice ahead of time, it does eventually melt, even in ice chests.)

I prefer blizzards. You get plenty of advance warning so you can stock up on supplies, watching the snow fall is pleasantly hypnotic and relaxing, and being snowed in when you have a good fire in the fireplace, lots of good books, and ample wine, can be very, very nice.

56

1) Have you ever experienced an earthquake? When was your most recent experience?
A couple, back in the late 70’s or early 80’s.

2) If so, what’s the largest magnitude quake you’ve ever felt? Describe your experience.
4? I dunno, it was a long time ago. Just a bang IIRC. No damage. It was remarkably similar to when the Conoco refinery kersploded. Everyone stopped, looked around, said “what was that?” then turned on the news to find out.

3) Regardless of whether you’ve experienced one or not, do you fear earthquakes?
Not so much. I don’t feel a hankering to live California, but earthquakes aren’t the primary reason

5) If you have a choice between living in an earthquake-prone area or a tornado or hurricane prone area, which would you choose/avoid, and why?
What do we mean by “prone”. I’ve seen far more tornado’s around these parts, but I’m out of tornado alley. Hmm… Hurricane prone regions tend to have nice beaches and large icky bugs. Earthquakes and hurricanes both can destroy large regions. Tornado’s generally strike places I don’t want to live, but I’m not terribly ascared of them… Yeah, I’d probably say tornado’s.