Earthquake

I'm in Ventura, CA..who felt it?

Magnitude 4.6 about six miles NW of Malibu.

I felt it and guessed it had to be within 5 miles because it was basically just one big bump for me.  I was wrong, it was 7 miles!

The reason I guessed was because I was living in Northridge for that unpleasantness and we had a 5.5 aftershock right under the house and it was just one very big bump.  I think I was cleaning up the garage at that point (got vitamixed by the main quake) and the dog was sitting on the lawn.  He immediately ran into the house!

We've got a little cluster berk of proximal quakes going off right now (X marks my location).

Been through a few 4.Xs out there. Enough that I knew when we had a 4.X here in NH exactly what it was and I was 0.1 off my guess for magnitude.

Sounded like a freight train right next to our house and the Mrs. started freaking out "WTF?" I replied it's just an earthquake.

Cali, NH, Guam have been places that I have felt 'quakes.

Quakes in CA, FL, HI & the Philippines the past few days. 
 

This is going to sound weird.  I want to experience one.  Growing up in PA, they don't really happen.  When I was a kid, I'm told we had a tiny one, but no one felt it because it was something like a 1.4.  I'm not saying I'm wishing for a natural disaster, but I wish I knew what it was like.  Same goes for tornados.  Never experienced one despite living in IN, TX, MT, and a little while near the NE/KS border.

I lived in Evansville IN for three years and we had a definitely noticeable quake, but I was driving a motorhome and didn't feel anything.

I lived in Los Angeles for 7 years and there was one 2.4 centered just outside of Sunland.  I didn't feel it, but I noticed that the pendant lights in the house were swinging slightly.

Hope everyone out there is ok.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

It's really an odd sensation. I've felt a few rumbles in the New England area, but none were anything serious. But when I was a kid, back in the summer of '89, I went to visit my dad's hometown in the mountains of southern Italy for a month. One day, my grandmother (she made the trip too) and I were at the local open air market, and the rumbling started. Up in the mountains, you could really hear it coming. Then everything shook, and I lost my balance and fell on the ground. Stuff fell off people's vendor stands, but no building damage. Whole thing lasted about 15-20 seconds. Grandmother picked me up and assured me that it was "normal" and we went on with buying stuff at the market. Apparently, those types of little quakes happen from time to time down there; my dad told me he had been in a few that were much stronger as a kid. No idea what the Richter Scale rating was, but I would probably guess it was a 2.5-3 at max. I really hope that's the strongest one I'll ever witness. 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

This is going to sound weird.  I want to experience one.  Growing up in PA, they don't really happen.  When I was a kid, I'm told we had a tiny one, but no one felt it because it was something like a 1.4.  I'm not saying I'm wishing for a natural disaster, but I wish I knew what it was like.  Same goes for tornados.  Never experienced one despite living in IN, TX, MT, and a little while near the NE/KS border.

I lived in Evansville IN for three years and we had a definitely noticeable quake, but I was driving a motorhome and didn't feel anything.

I lived in Los Angeles for 7 years and there was one 2.4 centered just outside of Sunland.  I didn't feel it, but I noticed that the pendant lights in the house were swinging slightly.

Hope everyone out there is ok.

I was in the Loma Prieta earthquake, you aren't missing much.

I was sitting in front of the TV and when it happened I looked back at my parents sitting at the table 20ft away, the concrete slab rippled so much that I couldnt see my parents for a second. I'm a concrete guy and I know how crazy that sounds too, but that's what happened.

The lawns outside were a foot higher too

There was one that hit us in IL probably about 15-years ago. It was just after 5am, I was leaning against the kitchen counter facing south, and heard/felt it pass through going northbound in a half second or less. 

Thankfully it wasn't strong enough to cause any damage, but it sure was a weird experience. 
 

There was one that passed through town when I was in high school, but I was out riding my bike & didn't feel it at all. 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

We had one in the western part of the state around 2010. I think a 3 or 4 point something.

I was at home, felt my futon shake, and thought someone angry was pounding at my door for a minute. A few miles away, my friend was in math on the 4th floor of the building at his campus and said the tv stand and wall art all shook.

That was amongst the spat of tornadoes that came through causing minor destruction and destroying my friend Emily's trailer for the third time. Nature must have hated her family, in 10 years they lost 3 trailers to tornadoes, in the exact same spot. 

I was in Venice for the 2012 Emilia Earthquake, which was a 6.1.  That was utterly terrifying. 

Imagine being in a 16th century stone building, in a tiny hotel room in a claustrophobic alley 3 floors up... and on an island with no landbridge exit.  I've felt a few 4.x growing up in the Bay Area, CA, and this was unlike any of those.  It was more large, dizzying violent swaying more than it was shaking.  The ensuing panic and worry of the 'unknown' and subsequent aftershocks put a pretty heavy damper on our vacation... not that it mattered since people lost lives and homes.  We were pretty far away from the epicenter too, so I can't even imagine what it felt like close-in.  

It's definitely an experience I hope to never go through again.  

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Funny thing is Curtis, PA was the only place I've ever experienced an earthquake. It was a small one as a kid. 

I've experienced earthquakes in upstate NY and in NC.

The 2020 one in NC was hilarious. It happened in the morning on a Sunday, when my wife and I were trying to be lazy. I thought my wife was tossing and turning in bed, so I fussed at her. She fussed back at me, because she wasn't shaking the bed. Turns out it was a 5.1 earthquake, centered in Sparta, NC. 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Weirdly, I'm kind of with you. I don't want a disaster, but it would be interesting to feel what a minor earthquake is like. Tornadoes? Had plenty of those growing up in Kansas, but I've never felt an earthquake. 

Having experienced both Loma Prieta and Northridge I don't feel any desire to experience more. 

Small ones just feel like a big truck driving by outside.  Big ones feel very strange, unsettling, and scary and they seem to go on forever.  Loma Prieta I was in the computer lab in Cupertino (~ 20 miles away) working on a programming assignment, ran outside, and saw water sloshing out of the fountain.  It was one of those big round fountains -- figure 30 feet across, and the water was sloshing out like it was an overfull bowl of cereal that someone was trying to carry while running.

For Northridge I was San Diego (~ 150 miles away), also in a computer lab (hm) and you could feel the whole building swaying (8 story building).  Much less significant due to the distance, though.

I've lived in Southern California my whole life and I think of earthquakes as having four individual components...

Frequency - from high "vibration" to low "rolling".

Directionality - Vertical or horizontal or both.

Magnitude - I believe that's the only component measured on the Richter scale.

Duration - Fortunately most are over before you have too much time to get worked up.

The ones that have a large horizontal component are the ones that concern me the most as my a$$ dyno sez' I'm moving a foot plus from peak to peak and that can't be good for my house.

The strangest sensation I've felt was while being on a boat during a Northridge aftershock...it was like a dozen scuba divers were under the boat pounding on the hull with their fists.  If you've ever been on a log ride at an amusement park where the boat gets up on rollers at the end, you've got the basic idea only crank it up to eleven.      

In 56 years, I've experienced one. It was a 4. something that was about 10 miles from my house. At the time I was sitting at my desk in our upstairs office at home. It felt like running over a fairly smooth set of railroad tracks at 30-40 mph and sounded like the soft rumble of distant thunder. You knew it happened, it took you a second to figure out what happened, and by the time you did, it was gone. 

Interesting, but I'll have to pass on anything stronger. Charleston is long past due for one. Our last big one was a 7.0 in 1886.

I just find it odd that I've lived in tornado alley, and many places that have frequent and significant earthquakes, but haven't experienced either.

All the times I crossed through the southwest I remember seeing the dust devils and being excited.  I'm such a poser. :D

The 5.1 six-ish months ago hit way stronger where I am. I was in the second story when it happened and feeling the entire house sway was not comforting. I was half expecting some cracks in the walls, but mostly just some small items fell. Lots of aftershocks too.

This recent one was a quick medium shake. Interesting that I got a notification on my Android phone about 3 seconds before I felt it.

ETA: Most damage or concerns of it since I've lived here have honestly been from fires, Santa Ana winds, and the recent heavy rains.

Only meaningful one I've felt was a 4~5. I'd just stood up after sitting for a while when it started and thought I was getting light-headed for a second, then I realized what was happening. Unless you can see an effect of it near you like a fountain sloshing there's not much to it, it feels kind of like walking in a bus driving on a bumpy road, or walking in an airplane aisle when the seatbelt sign comes on, but the motion is coming from the whole tectonic plate you're on rather than a vehicle.

One thing to note, and that some have implied:  Earthquakes are essentially possible almost anywhere, they are just FAR more likely in places like CA or eastern Tennessee.   

Also of note, at least in CA, they are FAR more prepared for them..... e.g. brick houses and earthquakes. 

Anyone know if eastern Tennessee has any earthquake building regulations / requirements?  (e.g. no un-reinforced brick buildings)  I would think insurance companies at least would be wildly hesitant to insure such buildings there.

In reply to aircooled :

Where did you find that map? They cut off North Dakota. I always thought that ND was the safest place against earthquakes, but Florida and Louisiana look pretty safe also. At least we don't get any hurricanes either. 

I lived on the 13th (14th) floor of a 20 story apartment high rise in downtown Reno NV one winter. I even had 150 feet of rope tied to the balcony railing with loop holes tied every so often in case I had to make a quick escape over the side. I never felt any earthquakes even though they where occurring all of the time.

Curtis, you just need to head down to Universal Studios in Florida. 

I grew up NW of Montreal and we would occasionally have them there. The whole town is built on the foothills of the Laurentians, so bedrock, and you would get a tremor usually, but a thump once in awhile. The thumps were harder to distinguish from the thumps we felt when something went wrong in the local detonator/ammunition factory.

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

This is the USGS map for earthquake likelihood. SC definitely has earthquake standards in the building code. Particularly for multi-story buildings and bridges.