2006-10-26 04:38:43 · 9 answers · asked by puggas 3 in Environment
Extremely scary. I was in Santa Cruz, California, during the 1989 quake, which went to 7.1 on the Richter scale. I got off work at 5:00 p.m., and the quake hit at 5:04. I was walking beside modern buildings that were pretty solid, but the light poles where whipping back and forth like buggy-whips. I heard a lot of loud noises, but could not see the older buildings in the adjoining streets that were coming down. Then, with a shock, I realized my path lay over a bridge across the San Lorenzo River, and I looked up to see two people walking off the end of the bridge on my side, their faces white as sheets. They said they had been on the middle of the bridge when the main quake hit, and it moved a lot, but they did not think it had cracked. There was another after-shock of considerable force while I was on the bridge, but I still did not think it was cracking. (It did not crack.)
When I got home, I found that very little had broken, but much had fallen off shelves or out of cupboards. Most of the books were on the floor, but undamaged.
We had no water for days, and had to go down to the swamp at the end of the road and bring home water to flush the toilet. We had to buy bottled water to drink, and go to the hot tubs to get clean. Electricity was out for several days as well, and we used our camp cooler and blocks of ice for which Steve stood in line for long hours to buy. We cooked on the deck on a camp stove and a Webber kettle.
Then we found that the building had cracks, and was to be sold to a non-profit that would renovate it for housing for disabled people, and we would have to move.
Downtown was years getting back to something resembling normal, and there are still a couple of holes in the ground where buildings came down that have not been replaced.
2006-10-26 04:56:10 · answer #1 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've been in a fairly weak one. It's a unique and unpleasant sensation.
A 4.9 that happened in 2003 in northwest Georgia. Made the house rattle in a deeply worrying way. Three distinct lurches over a few seconds. Didn't quite feel like close thunder, I thought it might have been a series of explosions at a nearby factory after I established that it wasn't raining, but I lived in sight of the factory and I didn't see anything outside to indicate a fire.
I guessed that it might have been an earthquake having eliminated the other two possibilities. Didn't consider an air burst meteorite to be a likely enough possibility. But I wasn't sure about it, having never been in one before.
2006-10-26 12:29:12 · answer #2 · answered by corvis_9 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can be scarey, can be exciting, a lot of times it just feels like you're standing in a construction site next to a big earth compactor and every once in a while the ground will seem to move sideways under your feet as it is vibrating. If it is strong enough, it is impossible to stay on your feet. Most only last for about 15 to 30 seconds but I've heard of them lasting minutes and the aftershocks can be more powerful than the initial quake.
The first thing through your mind your first couple times is, "what should I be doing?"
2006-10-26 11:49:17 · answer #3 · answered by wreck_beach 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Irritating. I live in Los Angeles, California, and went to school in Pasadena. For most of the earthquakes, I was either lying down or sitting on my bed.
There's a low rumbling sound, and the bed shakes back and forth. The walls make noise, and you hear the clatter of things falling down. It's over in a couple of minutes. Then you spend the rest of the day commiserating with your sister, whose bottle collection fell down, and your neighbor lady, whose commemorative plate collection fell down.
The Northridge quake of 1994 was the worst. There was the usual moderate shaking... and then there was a huge BIG JERK. Oh man.
2006-10-26 14:15:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its a pretty crazy thing. Your whole house starts to shake everything is falling to the ground and there is nothing you can do about it. Your just hoping the house doesn't fall on you. After its done you still have to get you butt up and get to work. And you better hope the freeways did not get destroyed.
2006-10-26 11:51:23 · answer #5 · answered by jesseoo323 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Unnerving
2006-10-26 12:32:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It feels similar to being in a moving bus that is driving on a straight but bumpy road.
2006-10-26 14:04:57 · answer #7 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like standing in a shaky(very shaky) bus.
2006-10-26 12:42:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's not that bad. especially when someone from out of state is around. they tend to panic
2006-10-26 12:33:16 · answer #9 · answered by kapute2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋