# Earthquake in bay area -- anybody feel it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518 "2004-09-28T17:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/21 "2004-09-28T22:15:54Z")
We got a nice rolling motion here in my third-floor office in the San Fernando Valley. Like, fer shure! 🙂 Hope everyone’s OK! ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/22 "2004-09-28T22:17:47Z")
I was in San Francisco, still in bed. (Hey, I was at work until 1 AM last night). I felt a little bit of shaking, but just thought it was a truck driving by or something. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/23 "2004-09-28T22:21:14Z")
I was asleep, and a phone call failed to wake me up, so an earthquake 180 miles south wouldn’t either, though I also have a (Doper) friend in Oakland who felt it. ---
**Author:** ![\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7cd45c/32.png) [@\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Deep_F_ied)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/24 "2004-09-28T22:24:16Z")
Yep, sure felt it here in Morgan Hill. Was definatly a roller. Hope it is not a sign of things to come… ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/25 "2004-09-28T22:27:20Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > We got a nice rolling motion here in my third-floor office in the San Fernando Valley. Like, fer shure! 🙂 > > Hope everyone’s OK! Funny, I’m in Woodland Hills, and didn’t feel a thing (but then again, I wasn’t in a 3rd floor office, either. :D). ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/26 "2004-09-28T22:29:47Z")
Didn’t feel a thing in Santa Barbara. Haj ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/27 "2004-09-28T23:01:39Z")
Are you guys reporting your experience to the [USGS](http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/STORE/X51147892/ciim_display.html)? I don’t know how helpful it is, but they seem to actively encourage people to report, even if you didn’t feel anything. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/28 "2004-09-28T23:04:36Z")
I did, and going back and looking at the zip code maps has been very interesting. It’s also fun to refresh the quake map every once in a while and see the pattern of aftershocks graphically displayed. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/29 "2004-09-28T23:29:28Z")
Y’know, you can always tell the longtime Californians, can’t you? > [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > …this seemed smoother and rollier than usual… “Ah, yes, this tremor was just a touch on the nerves, sort of a soothing, rocking, nothing like the angular energy of vintage 1971. Give it a chance to breathe, and we’ll see how the aftershocks give it a nice long finish…” As distinguished from the recent transplants, like from Chicago: “AAAAAAAAAA! EARTHQUAAAAAAAAAAKE!” (We get the same thing up here in Seattle. :)) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/30 "2004-09-29T04:14:50Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Y’know, you can always tell the longtime Californians, can’t you?" I was thinking the same thing when I was reading this thread this afternoon. People are posting “I hope everyone’s OK” and “Oh no, what’s next?”, and I’m sitting there thinking “It was only a 5.9 quake. What’s everybody getting all worked up about?” I’m not trying to belittle anyone who might have been worried or concerned; I understand that any earthquake is a serious thing and that even the tiniest one can be fatal if you happen to be in the wrong spot. But growing up in California does give one a certain sense of “eh, whatever” concerning earthquakes. Note that these sentiments come from a man who has spent 37 years living in Sacramento and who has never actually felt an earthquake himself (not a lot of rumbling in the Great Central Valley). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/31 "2004-09-29T04:18:49Z")
As I was typing my last post, **Rhiannon8404** came into the room and asked what I was posting about. I explained that people had posted earlier expressing concern about the earthquake. **Rhiannon** , who grew up in San Jose about a stone’s throw from the San Andreas fault, replied “What!?! It was only like a 6.0!” ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/32 "2004-09-29T04:24:44Z")
> [@JavaMaven1](#): > > Funny, I’m in Woodland Hills, and didn’t feel a thing (but then again, I wasn’t in a 3rd floor office, either. :D). Nothing in Malibu either, and I’m from Mississippi…so if the earth was moving, I probably would have noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/33 "2004-09-29T05:09:26Z")
Nuthin’. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/34 "2004-09-29T05:38:15Z")
It may be good for science. Parkfield has had mag 6 quakes in 1857, 1881, 1901, 1922, 1934, and 1966. Scientists have been awaiting this since 1985. [http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/](http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/parkfield/) ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/35 "2004-09-29T05:50:01Z")
Huntington Beach checking in. We’re about 235 miles from Parkfield and even though there were reports that people in Santa Ana (about 12-15 miles from here) felt it, I didn’t feel a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Curate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Curate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curate)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/36 "2004-09-29T06:46:05Z")
Felt rolling for about thirty seconds here in Kings county. My secretary and I spent the last twenty seconds of it looking through the window at the 94-year-old building next door to see if it was going to collapse. Still there and the stuck door works better now. ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/37 "2004-09-29T11:36:30Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > I was thinking the same thing when I was reading this thread this afternoon. People are posting “I hope everyone’s OK” and “Oh no, what’s next?”, and I’m sitting there thinking “It was only a 5.9 quake. What’s everybody getting all worked up about?” > > I’m not trying to belittle anyone who might have been worried or concerned; I understand that any earthquake is a serious thing and that even the tiniest one can be fatal if you happen to be in the wrong spot. But growing up in California does give one a certain sense of “eh, whatever” concerning earthquakes. > > Note that these sentiments come from a man who has spent 37 years living in Sacramento and who has never actually felt an earthquake himself (not a lot of rumbling in the Great Central Valley). ::grumblegrumble how would i know what an earthquake feels like i’m just a chick from missouri grumble why did i bother to show care and concern for my fellow dopers grumblegrumble:: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/38 "2004-09-29T12:11:27Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Volcano. Don’t forget about the volcano. **Lieu** [ain’t kidding.](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002049113_sthelens29m.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/39 "2004-09-29T12:14:18Z")
I felt it! OK, just kidding. I’m actually in Dallas. What I thought was an earthquate turned out to be one of those cars with the really loud bass … ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518/40 "2004-09-29T13:57:15Z")
> [@Curate](#): > > Felt rolling for about thirty seconds here in Kings county. My secretary and I spent the last twenty seconds of it looking through the window at the 94-year-old building next door to see if it was going to collapse. Still there and the stuck door works better now. Yep. That’s Californians. “Oooh! An earthquake! Let’s go stand _next to a window_ and see if buildings start collapsing!” :rolleyes: 'course, here in Minnesota we get people who drown because they ride their snowmobiles across the lakes before they’re fully frozen… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-bay-area-anybody-feel-it/266518.md?page=3)