Earthquake

[theacefes]

Well, the other day we had an earthquake. It was like a 5.4 or something but it felt stronger I guess because I wasn't too far from the epicenter. Nothing like Northridge or the big quake up in Northern California in the 80s or any of the ones in Asia recently.

 

I was online, and Skooter starts barking and I told him to be quiet. Then it started shaking and I was like "Oh...crap..it's that big one everyone keeps saying we're due to have." My floor lamp decided to try and kill my monitor so I did the only thing I could and tried to block it but in saving the damn monitor I got hit in the head by the stupid lamp. Finally I grabbed Skooter, who was silent the whole time, and headed for the doorway (though it didn't look trustworthy, and I am upstairs anyway - nothing to hide under) but then the shaking stopped.

 

The funny part is that no one died, and the damage was done mostly to liqueur stores, but the local news stations are making it seem like it was catastrophic or something. Here are some of the things people said during interviews.

 

 

Some mother: I was sitting there, and it started shaking...and it was an earthquake!

Some guy: We were there, and then it was shaking a lot.

Another person: Things fell off shelves.

 

Granted, if you watch the footage (or Judge Judy haha), it looks like a pretty strong jolt. But I'm not joking about the interviews.

[berelinde]

Glad you're OK!

[Seeker]

Hehe well that remind me of the time , well actually the *only* time we had an earthquack from where Im from . Really , in USA it seem something peoples see everyday..but where I come from...it never happen and once it did . It was about 2am, and everyone was asleep (DUH!) then I feel somebody kicking me , there stood my dear mother screaming that we had to get out and all that stuff . At first I recall (lazy as Im) didn't mind , tough it was some subtle way of her to tell me to get up in the middle of the night to do something..I dunno...read her a story and listen to her till I bet for death or something . So , i turned my back with in my mind going back to sleep !

 

But she won't hear of it , so she start telling me that her heart was going to stop and she feel an heart attack coming and that we NEED to go see a DOCTOR NOW!

 

And there , up my feet Im and kicking the door and running down the stair like crazy cose don't want my mama die right away...(well not as long as I didn't say what I want first hehe) so we go and run down the stairs , we lived in the 6 floor so you can imagine the running there . So we go outside and we walk far away , well as far as one can go...and to my surprise there were lot of poeples coming outside at 2am in the freaking morning in their pijama...some had their blanket with them while others had some box or a safe where they have their valuable with them .

 

So we found ourselve a nice little corner , in our pijama and we sit . And then I ask her why aren't we going to see the doctor and in her ''Im sorry I lied'' she tell me that it was an earthquack and that she was just fine . So I remember I said : Oh ARE YOU CRAZY !! I almost dead of worry *grumble, grumble*

 

Anyway , in the end , we sat there until 6am cose my dear mother met another nice lady and both started chatting while I was wondering where god was...I mean the building is like very big and if it fall..well all this folk wont have time to run very far away....sigh...man I sat there while they exchanged their familly name and cooking recipe.....

[Domi]

Glad that you are Okay, and it's good that it was not catastrophic.

[cmorgan]

Time to get out the *really* old good music and whip it into an Urban Grunge remix, Ace... "I feel the earth, move, under my feet..."

[EiriktheScald]

Well, the other day we had an earthquake. It was like a 5.4 or something but it felt stronger I guess because I wasn't too far from the epicenter. Nothing like Northridge or the big quake up in Northern California in the 80s or any of the ones in Asia recently.

 

Someone posted their class notes from Penn State if you're interested in the subject of Quake intensity.

 

Thankfully it didn't cause major damage, or fatalities.

[theacefes]

Time to get out the *really* old good music and whip it into an Urban Grunge remix, Ace... "I feel the earth, move, under my feet..."

 

 

*rock on*

[Miloch]

Sorry to make light of this, but...

the damage was done mostly to liqueur stores

This is, truly, the real tragedy of it all .

we had an earthquack from where Im from

We have these too. Anytime a human appears out of doors, a horde of ducks, hundreds strong, starts pounding the earth in the poor unfortunate's direction. Apparently, the little beggars see humans as their preferred source for food - one way or another. They're not too picky what they eat either. I saw two ducks fighting over a half-eaten chicken leg from the rubbish bin the other day. I have no doubt they'd do the same to a duck leg, the little cannibals. I am *not* making this up - I'll post photos sometime.

[Western Paladin]

Glad you're OK!

 

This.

 

Also, the transcripts of eyewitness accounts reminded me of something my grandfather used to do when he taught law at University of Minnesota. For his evidence class, he would have one of his friends - a tall man in a bright yellow shirt - burst into the room in the middle of the lecture and shout at him for three solid minutes. After he left, he would ask the students questions about him.

 

"John, what color shirt was he wearing?"

"I don't know."

"Mary, how tall was that man?"

"I didn't notice."

 

The point being that people are generally not very observant, especially when things happen abruptly, and that "I saw..." evidence is usually easy for defense counsels to undermine.

[BigRob]

Good to hear thet earthquake didn't hurt you (or anyone else). Better that you get a few little ones over time, as I understand it, it should take some of the pressure off the fault and make a truly big quake less likely. Probably worth listening to Skooter when he starts barking for no reason in future... seems animals really do pick up on things better than we do.

 

The eye witness thing is fair enough, it's not usually very reliable, as you point out Western Paladin, but then again, it's also the media's fault for looking for testimony in the hope of something juicy to broadcast. After all, if it wasn't bad enough to damage or kill anything, what else can you say other than "It started shaking and a bunch of stuff fell down."

 

And people standing out chatting in the street right next to buildings after an earthquake... that's the same faculty that lets us do crazy things like live on the slopes of an active volcano. We're so good at ignoring potential disaster.