# You Can Feel An Earthquake On The Ground, Right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666 "2019-07-07T13:19:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/1 "2019-07-07T13:19:17Z")
The Dodgers and Padres [gamely played on](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/california-quake-dodgers-padres-play-through-earthquake.html) while the stadium shook and fans screamed in horror during a 7.1 quake the other day. I can see how being in a building would somehow amplify (or something) the motion, but surely if you’re standing on the pitcher’s mound or at home plate you can feel it, too, right? I’ve lived through three very minor earthquakes (including one aftershock), felt two of them (and the aftershock). For the strongest (5.2), I was in my bed, felt it but good. Felt the after-shock (4.something) later that day at work (on the ground floor of a building). ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/2 "2019-07-07T13:28:35Z")
Oh they definitely can feel it. But it wouldn’t be as noticeable in a taller building. I think they players noticed it. But these guys must know that minor quakes happen, you just play through them. You play through everything until an official declares otherwise, because you don’t know how they’ll rule. You can see some of the players swiveling their heads around to take in the situation. I think their eyes are on the coaches/officials, not the exits. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/3 "2019-07-07T15:11:01Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The Dodgers and Padres [gamely played on](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/california-quake-dodgers-padres-play-through-earthquake.html) while the stadium shook and fans screamed in horror during a 7.1 quake the other day. I can see how being in a building would somehow amplify (or something) the motion, but surely if you’re standing on the pitcher’s mound or at home plate you can feel it, too, right? > > I’ve lived through three very minor earthquakes (including one aftershock), felt two of them (and the aftershock). For the strongest (5.2), I was in my bed, felt it but good. Felt the after-shock (4.something) later that day at work (on the ground floor of a building). Yup. Was about 10-ish miles from the ground center of the Loma Prieta earthquake. A 6.9 Mw. The one that hit during the World Series, jeez, about 30 years ago. I was out in the open, waiting to catch a bus to go home. I could see the ground rippling. The shaking got so bad, I sat on the ground. Other than that, it was fun. Nothing could fall on my head. After it was over, I went back to my work, to see if anything had collapsed on anyone. Nothing did. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/4 "2019-07-07T15:17:38Z")
They say what you should do is go outside. Those guys were already outside. Play ball! ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/5 "2019-07-07T16:33:07Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > They say what you should do is go outside. No, “they” most certainly do NOT say that, or if they do, they are idiots. Running outside is one of the worst things you can do. [USGS says](https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-should-i-do-during-earthquake?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products) > [@](#): > > If you are INDOORS – STAY THERE! … > > If you are OUTSIDE – get into the OPEN, away from buildings, power lines, chimneys, and anything else that might fall on you. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/6 "2019-07-07T16:42:55Z")
^This.^ I was at work four miles from the epicenter of Loma Prieta when the quake hit, just getting ready to walk out the door. Us old California hands dived for under the work benches\* and the only one who ran outside was the Idiot from Oregon™ who came back in after it was all over and called _us_ idiots. :rolleyes: \*My main concern were the unsecured steel shelves toppling and the florescent fixtures hanging from eight-foot chains shaking off their hooks. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/7 "2019-07-07T16:50:36Z")
Meh, it depends. Is running outside likely to put you near a shattering window, or things falling off adjacent buildings? Then don’t run outside. Are you in a built-by-the-lowest-bidder building that you’re surprised is still standing, and running outside gets you away from stuff that might fall on your head? Then I might. Generally, I’d stay where I was, away from glass, and preferably under something solid and sturdy. Like DesertDog did. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/8 "2019-07-07T17:16:13Z")
I was on the 11th floor of a building in San Diego for the quake on July 5th. We felt the quake the people on the ground floor did not feel it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/9 "2019-07-07T19:16:20Z")
My nephew was playing tennis in Berkeley during that "world series earthquake and he didn’t feel a thing, nor did his opponent. My wife was taking a shower during a minor earthquake here in Montreal and felt nothing. To me it felt like a large truck was going down our street. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/10 "2019-07-07T20:55:29Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Meh, it depends. > > Is running outside likely to put you near a shattering window, or things falling off adjacent buildings? Then don’t run outside. Are you in a built-by-the-lowest-bidder building that you’re surprised is still standing, and running outside gets you away from stuff that might fall on your head? Then I might. > > Generally, I’d stay where I was, away from glass, and preferably under something solid and sturdy. Like DesertDog did. The problem is that if you run out while it’s quaking that’s the most dangerous time for things falling, and while you’re going out the door, you’ll be in the most dangerous spot – next to the building. Stay in if you’re in. Which reminds me… I don’t know if it was a national thing or not, but the local fire departments were holding a poster contest for kids a number of years ago using their new slogan: Get Out and Stay Out. Good advice for a fire! But I was walking through the local business district that was displaying some of the kids’ posters in their windows, and it was a little weird to walk by or into shops that said Get Out and Stay Out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/11 "2019-07-08T01:41:24Z")
In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (which had an epicenter five miles or so from my home), there were people killed who went outside (by falling brick on the Pacific Garden Mall in Santa Cruz), as well as people who died inside collapsed buildings (four in SF and two in Santa Cruz). The vast majority of the 57 deaths directly attributable to the earthquake were people killed in cars, primarily the 42 deaths on the Cypress Viaduct. The lesson to be learned would be not to be driving on double-decker freeways when a major earthquake hits. Beyond that, it seems pretty hit or miss as to whether you should exit a building or not. (I haven’t looked it up, but as I recall, most of the deaths in Northridge were from collapsed buildings) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/12 "2019-07-08T02:50:44Z")
Yeah, if you’re in the open and clear you should be fine. But near a building can be a real hazard. I was a boy in LA and went through a few real shakers. Only one made me sit down, though. It wasn’t that bad but it caught me running and I just lost my feet and down I went. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/13 "2019-07-08T07:31:26Z")
I was walking on a sidewalk in Tokyo when the March 11 earthquake (and then tsunami) in northern Japan. It was strong enough that I immediately went out into the street in case glass from the 11 story buildings came down. The cars were stopping as well. We recently had a weaker earthquake here. My wife was driving and though something happened to one of the tires. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/14 "2019-07-09T03:20:25Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I was walking on a sidewalk in Tokyo when the March 11 earthquake (and then tsunami) in northern Japan. > > It was strong enough that I immediately went out into the street in case glass from the 11 story buildings came down. The cars were stopping as well. > > We recently had a weaker earthquake here. My wife was driving and though something happened to one of the tires. In the 1989 earthquake, most anyone driving at the time of the quake reported that it felt like they had four simultaneous flat tires. I was sitting in my car, getting ready to turn left off of Hwy. 101 north of Salinas, and got bounced around pretty good; everyone who was driving instantly stopped driving and pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/15 "2019-07-09T04:33:43Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Yup. Was about 10-ish miles from the ground center of the Loma Prieta earthquake. A 6.9 Mw. The one that hit during the World Series, jeez, about 30 years ago. I was out in the open, waiting to catch a bus to go home. I could see the ground rippling. The shaking got so bad, I sat on the ground. I was at sea on the _Carl Vinson_ (homeported in Alameda then) when that one hit. Baseball absolutely saved a lot of lives. Even the CHP officer that was aboard the ship to give us driving safety training was stunned that there weren’t more casualties. > [@](#): > > Other than that, it was fun. Nothing could fall on my head. After it was over, I went back to my work, to see if anything had collapsed on anyone. Nothing did. Not on you, but part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and part of the Cypress Structure collapsed. The wife of one of our department heads was one of those who got killed. [That quake hit October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake#Ground_effects) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/16 "2019-07-09T06:12:19Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I was at sea on the _Carl Vinson_ (homeported in Alameda then) when that one hit. Baseball absolutely saved a lot of lives. Even the CHP officer that was aboard the ship to give us driving safety training was stunned that there weren’t more casualties. > > Not on you, but part of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and part of the Cypress Structure collapsed. The wife of one of our department heads was one of those who got killed. > > [That quake hit October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake#Ground_effects) Not sure what you’re trying to say. I lived there; I was well aware and watched (Well, listened really, as the power was out, and we were relying on a d-cell boombox to know what was happening.) the news of the Nimitz pancaking on those drivers. Or listening on KCBS about seemingly half of Pacific Heights collapsing. Then there was that fallen deck section on the Bay Bridge. Chunks of brick off buildings in downtown Santa Cruz hitting people. I thought a few of the older brick buildings there actually did fall apart? But the building I worked in didn’t fall down. Nor did the windows in it break. Both are still mystifying to me. Didn’t look that impressively built, wasn’t sitting on piers driven into granite. Still stayed up. And when we ran later that year in Forest of Nisene Marks, it didn’t look like any more trees fell than when we’d run there before. Before I moved, a long time ago, we were all waiting for The Big One, while getting bashed by things like Coalinga, Northridge, Loma Prieta, and now Ridgecrest X 2. Still hasn’t happened yet. If there is a bright side to this tragedy and damage, I hope that these quakes help California get ready when something truly massive (Fort Tejon, some of the earlier quakes in the Mission records) comes. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/17 "2019-07-09T06:30:27Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Or listening on KCBS about seemingly half of **Pacific Heights** collapsing. I think you mean the Marina? The Marina District and its landfill undergoing liquefaction caused many structures (mostly homes) to collapse and several fires to start. I was living a mile from Candlestick Park when Loma Prieta struck in ‘89. That one shook but good. Yes, baseball saved many people — at rush hour that Cypress Structure was usually jam-packed, but not for Game 3 of the Bay Bridge Series. A couple of years after ‘89 I lived near that epicenter and my kids went to Loma Prieta Elementary School. For Friday night’s quake I was down south in Costa Mesa. The ground shook mildly but for a long long time — approx 45 seconds for us there. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/18 "2019-07-09T08:19:41Z")
How people might be injured in any given earthquake can vary greatly according to the circumstances. [In this survey](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13531803_Injuries_as_a_Result_of_California_Earthquakes_in_the_Past_Decade)of Whittier Narrows, Loma Prieta, and Northridge, from the journal _Disasters_, (22(3):218-35–October 1998), they say: > [@](#): > > The mechanisms of injury varied across the three earthquakes (Figure 2). In the Whittier Narrows earthquake, non-structural elements (objects, pictures and lights) were reported as the cause of approximately half of the reported injuries. Falls accounted for an additional 19 per cent of the injuries in that quake. Following the Loma Prieta earthquake, non-structural elements accounted for less than 10 per cent of injuries. The force of the earthquake caused 55 per cent of injured respondents to fall, while 27 per cent had the force of the earthquake move their car, thereby causing an injury. During the Northridge earthquake the majority of injuries were caused by non-structural elements falling (55.2 per cent), followed by the physical force of the earthquake (22.1 per cent). Approximately 15 per cent of injuries immediately after the Northridge earthquake were caused by the behaviour of the individual (for example, jumping out of a window, catching a falling television, etc.). Less than 1.0 per cent of injuries in the Northridge earthquake and no injuries following either Whittier Narrows or Loma Prieta were caused by structural elements falling or building collapse. One reason for the differences, they say, is that Northridge occured early in the morning when many people were in bed, so they got up and tripped over things as they tried to run outside. I just stayed in bed, though I really thought the building was going to come down. Last Thursday and Friday I didn’t notice anything, because I was driving both times. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/19 "2019-07-09T08:28:06Z")
There are (at least) two types of ways earthquakes can feel. One is a swaying or shaking side to side, and another is a sudden feeling that everything has just dropped down a foot. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666/20 "2019-07-09T09:04:46Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Not sure what you’re trying to say. I didn’t mean anything other than there were areas where stuff did fall down. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-feel-an-earthquake-on-the-ground-right/836666.md?page=2)