Earthquakes

RoyalRaccoon · April 2010

How many people on VP have experienced them? I live in SoCal, so I'm used to them. In fact, a lot of people in Cali find them exciting and fun(well, at least went they aren't close enough to cause damage). Today there was a really big 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Baja California. It started out soft, got really strong, and then slowly faded. I swear it had to have lasted at least 30 seconds, if not longer. The ones we normally get are just strong jerks/shakes that last only about 5 seconds, with maybe a few small aftershocks, so I was surprised today. So that got me thinking about a Japanese TV show I watched(actually quite a few) where foreigners are exposed to the earthquakes in Japan(either the real ones or simulation), and they always seem to get really scared. I find that fascinating since the locals just continued to do their jobs and what not. I'm like the locals. I might spend 30 seconds going "that was cool" but over all I'm not affected by it. I don't know why, but I find it really fascinating to see how foreigners/outsiders/tourists react; especially when it's a big reaction. If you don't live in an area that gets earthquakes, how would you react to everything around you suddenly shaking? What do you think of earthquakes(scary, exciting, fun,etc)? Got any earthquake stories to share?

SirPopcorn · April 2010

Dad was in an earthquake last week when he was down south O.o He said he got annoyed because he dropped the hammer on his foot because he wasn't ready for it xD But I've never been in one, we don't really get them here in Australia being on one big tectonic plate. The only natural disaster I've been in is bushfires >.> and a fair few of them xD Oh and there are landslides not far from me but that's it. I'd probably be stupid in an earthquake making jokes and being an idiot >.> depends how bad it is and where I was.

DeathWish · April 2010

I'd run around waving my hands in the air screaming we are all going to die

Britain doesn't get natural disasters. Well i know we have a freak mini tornado/hurricane thing once. And a few tiny earthquakes. But unless you consider rain and snow a natural disaster, we are pretty safe here

Well that being said, the rain and snow, and the flooding they cause have killed a few people.

RoyalRaccoon · April 2010

.clozobozo. wrote:

Dad was in an earthquake last week when he was down south O.o He said he got annoyed because he dropped the hammer on his foot because he wasn't ready for it xD But I've never been in one, we don't really get them here in Australia being on one big tectonic plate. The only natural disaster I've been in is bushfires >.> and a fair few of them xD Oh and there are landslides not far from me but that's it. I'd probably be stupid in an earthquake making jokes and being an idiot >.> depends how bad it is and where I was.

That sucks for him! Oh, we get a lot of bad wildfires in California too. <a href="http://i24.tinypic.com/2vkng1v.png"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">Picture</a>. That's a picture I took in October 2007, at 3 in the afternoon. At that time I think arsonists had set a whole bunch of fires. I also grew up next to the Santa Ana river, and the fires down there go crazy because of the bamboo. Even after I moved, we were almost evacuated once. Compared to earthquakes, wildfires are scary! I see. When we went through the training in school while growing up, everyone would always goof off and mess around once we got under our desks. Even when the real deal happened, it was often easy to laugh because the shaking sometimes makes you get butterflies in your stomach.

SirPopcorn · April 2010

I have the firebrigades "Current Incidents" map bookmarked xD I've used it a fair few times too. It's interesting to see where the fires are. Back in 2000 on Christmas day there was a fire 1km away from me, we didn't notice until we drove past it. The scrub is still growing back o.o Then they're were the Victoria fires last year.. they were nasty and we got the ashes about a week later.. I live in the next state up. Shows how bad these things can be. Another thing we've had which I just remembered were the dust storms last year. I remember waking up to a red sky, scary as hell. Everything was thick orange all day. <a href="http://travelblog.viator.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/sydney-dust-storm-1.jpg"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">This is what Sydney looked like</a>

RoyalRaccoon · April 2010

ellary wrote:

I'd run around waving my hands in the air screaming we are all going to die Britain doesn't get natural disasters. Well i know we have a freak mini tornado/hurricane thing once. And a few tiny earthquakes. But unless you consider rain and snow a natural disaster, we are pretty safe here Well that being said, the rain and snow, and the flooding they cause have killed a few people.

lol Last year we had a tornado warning in certain counties of SoCal(not a county where I live). I dunno if they ever turned out to be labeled as real tornadoes. In my area that closest thing we get to tornadoes are dust whirlwinds. They were annoying when we would walk home, and they would blast right through you, so that you walked home with sand in your eyes and mouth.

.clozobozo. wrote:

I have the firebrigades "Current Incidents" map bookmarked xD I've used it a fair few times too. It's interesting to see where the fires are. Back in 2000 on Christmas day there was a fire 1km away from me, we didn't notice until we drove past it. The scrub is still growing back o.o Then they're were the Victoria fires last year.. they were nasty and we got the ashes about a week later.. I live in the next state up. Shows how bad these things can be. Another thing we've had which I just remembered were the dust storms last year. I remember waking up to a red sky, scary as hell. Everything was thick orange all day. <a href="http://travelblog.viator.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/sydney-dust-storm-1.jpg"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">This is what Sydney looked like</a>

That picture is so cool, but that must have really suck!

SirPopcorn · April 2010

PrinceSushi wrote:

 That picture is so cool, but that must have really suck!

There's better photos out there, I was looking for one that showed just how thick it was ;P It sucked for cleaning everything once it went, and when I say everything, I mean -everything-. There is probably still dust on our roof from it. It was meant to be a school day too.. but I got the day off cause of my asthma :twisted:

SunnyDaysDontLie · April 2010

PrinceSushi wrote:

How many people on VP have experienced them? I live in SoCal, so I'm used to them. In fact, a lot of people in Cali find them exciting and fun(well, at least went they aren't close enough to cause damage).

Until one of them causes the San Andreas Fault to take off a huge chunk of California. :P Ahh. We don't get earthquakes o.o But, I'm pretty sure that if we did, people would be building bomb shelters. They can't even salt snow properly. They put down a salt mix, that has some sort of mineral or stone in it -_- People from the north get mad, because the ice won't go away. Oh, and it starts snowing a bit, and they flip out and cancel school for a week. Then make us make it up on a Saturday. And we flip out in a downpour. Yes, I know water makes you hydroplane. That doesn't mean you come to a dead standstill stop in the middle of the freeway. Woo. Welcome to the south -_- /minirant Sorry xD If we got an earthquake, there'd be several choice words coming out of my mouth, then I'd check to see if my lava lamp was still standing. ;D And I think Japan reacts that way because they're an island, and they have a lot of tall glass buildings. And if they get one strong enough, it can send them sinking [maybe? o.o] or kill them all with the buildings. Sorry if my facts aren't straight xD

tarnish · April 2010

We've had a couple here (in Ohio) but they were never much. Last couple times they were at night and majority of people slept through them. We had one though back over ten years (not sure how many) and it was during a school day. Most people felt that one because it shook things off the shelves and it was more powerful. But yeah, we get them one in awhile but its usually nothing special. We wake up in the morning and see the news and go, "there was an earthquake? o.0"

Cybergirl · April 2010

Ive only ever been in one. It woke me up at like 4:30am and I went and jumped in my parents bed because I thought the world was ending XD

Kaylynncov · April 2010

ellary wrote:

I'd run around waving my hands in the air screaming we are all going to die Britain doesn't get natural disasters. Well i know we have a freak mini tornado/hurricane thing once. And a few tiny earthquakes. But unless you consider rain and snow a natural disaster, we are pretty safe here Well that being said, the rain and snow, and the flooding they cause have killed a few people.

I would be doing the same thing

I have only experience fires as well and hail storms (not really natural disasters )

Cybergirl · April 2010

Everyone at school still makes fun of me from the aftershock. I had gotten up out of my desk to get something and I fell over when the ground starting moving x]

CORY · April 2010

tarnish wrote:

We wake up in the morning and see the news and go, "there was an earthquake? o.0"

Haha. Thats how the one we had here in pa like last year. Most people slept thru it xD and was like there was an earth quake? xD

RoyalRaccoon · April 2010

Until one of them causes the San Andreas Fault to take off a huge chunk of California. Razz Ahh. We don't get earthquakes o.o But, I'm pretty sure that if we did, people would be building bomb shelters. They can't even salt snow properly. They put down a salt mix, that has some sort of mineral or stone in it -_- People from the north get mad, because the ice won't go away. Oh, and it starts snowing a bit, and they flip out and cancel school for a week. Then make us make it up on a Saturday. And we flip out in a downpour. Yes, I know water makes you hydroplane. That doesn't mean you come to a dead standstill stop in the middle of the freeway. Woo. Welcome to the south -_- /minirant Sorry xD If we got an earthquake, there'd be several choice words coming out of my mouth, then I'd check to see if my lava lamp was still standing. ;D And I think Japan reacts that way because they're an island, and they have a lot of tall glass buildings. And if they get one strong enough, it can send them sinking [maybe? o.o] or kill them all with the buildings. Sorry if my facts aren't straight xD

lol, it will never happen(ok, maybe it millions of years). I honestly don't know how the whole California-is-going-to sink/break-away-from-the-US-during-the-next-big-earthquake-thing started. It's a fun thought though. However, I have heard that they are really worried the San Andreas fault is going to cause a very destructive earthquake some day. Hydroplaning=BAD!

I want a lava lamp! I always had the stupid glitter lamp thing. Japan and the west coast of the US(among other areas of the Pacific) are part of the Ring of Fire, which is why they get so many earthquakes. Earthquake prone areas build earthquake grade housing/buildings. I believe the buildings are actually made to sway correctly during an earthquake so they don't crack or sway too much. I believe even the foundation had to be done in a specific way.

We've had a couple here (in Ohio) but they were never much. Last couple times they were at night and majority of people slept through them. We had one though back over ten years (not sure how many) and it was during a school day. Most people felt that one because it shook things off the shelves and it was more powerful. But yeah, we get them one in awhile but its usually nothing special. We wake up in the morning and see the news and go, "there was an earthquake? o.0"

I used to be able to sleep through them, but in the past 5 years or I seem to always wake up from them. Half the time I don't even realize it was an earthquake, so I go back to sleep, and find out in the morning on the news or from family. I think it's because of my aquarium. The filter makes loud noises when we get earthquakes strong enough to shake it.

Ive only ever been in one. It woke me up at like 4:30am and I went and jumped in my parents bed because I thought the world was ending XD

Aww! It'd definitely be scary to have it happen in the early hours of the morning when it's still dark.

Zagari Wolf · April 2010

Umm... Indiana doesn't get many earthquakes. Last year we did get one. Pretty big for this area. I think it was like 5.0. I don't remember. I had no idea it even happened. I slept through it. Didn't feel a thing. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't really get to experience it. Later that day at school, we had an aftershock. I saw the projector moving and everyone else said they felt it. Again, I didn't feel a thing. I must be earthquake proof. lol

ImportsandLines · April 2010

California is getting quite alot of aftershocks close to 200 on on Monday alone. And Guadalupe Mexico is getting alot of 4-5 magnitudes very frequently check this website out: <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada_eqs.php"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... da_eqs.php</a> It updates evey few seconds with atleast 4 new quakes. What out Sushi

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Earthquakes

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