Californians have a saying, "we don't get out of bed unless its a 6.0 or higher".
But I understand how scary it would be for a first timer.
Ok, I am watching more on the news and I have to stop watching or I will laugh. And that's not nice.
One of these days California is going to get the BIG ONE, its inevitable. I'm prepared but could be better prepared.
Oh, and its important to know that the difference between the levels of an earthquake, its not a point system, it works like this:
The Richter scale is logarithmic, meaning that whole-number jumps indicate a tenfold increase. In this case, the increase is in wave amplitude. That is, the wave amplitude in a level 6 earthquake is 10 times greater than in a level 5 earthquake, and the amplitude increases 100 times between a level 7 earthquake and a level 9 earthquake. The amount of energy released increases 31.7 times between whole number values.source: How Stuff Works
The largest one I've been in was a 7.2. I can't even imagine what an 8 would be and they say that the Big One will be at minimum an 8. Yikes.
Feel free to laugh! It hit when I was at work, and for some odd reason I didn't feel anything at all so when a customer came through my line and said worriedly, "Was the store shaking a few minutes ago" I gave her a weird look (and wondered if she was on something)...but then a few other people around us chimed in saying that there definitely was something...and the entire rest of my day that's all I heard people talking about.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, it was really annoying but I'm kind of jealous that I didn't actually feel anything.
East coast here. Er enough so that we felt it here. And by "we" I mean people around me but not me because I was in bed and probably if I did notice something I figured it was a contraction. Anyway, I'm not taking it too seriously myself. I mean, there have been a lot of major earthquakes of late, so any earthquake should be looked at as a whole with the others, or something like that. And I don't take any quake lightly because that is some serious shit, yo. But... yeah... the damage I've seen of this one is my friend in Baltimore had the books on the shelves in her room fall to the floor (she finds it funny) and a turned over patio chair. Hard to take seriously.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note: this quake was only about 1km or less below the surface which makes me wonder if maybe it was human influenced and not Earth influenced.
The true indication of my attitude towards this was shown in a facebook post I made that I'll copy here:
"If we are timing mood swings and hot flashes, it's way past time to get to the hospital. I seem to have had a hormone spike. That Virginia earthquake? Cute you are giving the Earth credit. Totally me and a mood swing. Sorry bout that. I'll try to keep it together."
I think it would be extra sensitive for people in New York to feel anything out of the ordinary :(
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies for sharing your thoughts!!!
Karen, can you do anything about the weather? Can you stop the hurricane headed for the Carolinas???
It's funny you should say that... About 4-5 years ago (right before I conceived my youngest who is 3.5) I was going through a really rough time. Rock bottom rough time. And it always seemed that on my worst days it rained the hardest. Like I'd reach my worst and within an hour it would be POURING. It freaked my husband out to the point where to this day he is convinced nature gets me.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, a lot of people have their mood reflect nature, but this really did seem to be the other way around. I'd be sobbing, it would start raining. I'd cheer up, the sun came out. Either I was emotionally psychic or nature was a copy cat. Plus my emotional state was 100% legit to what was going on in my life, and wasn't a seasonal thing.
We had some really weird storms that season.
That said, if I ever get this kid out of me, the Carolinas might just be spared. lol
Oh, and I have a friend up in East Coast Canada who felt it. I had a really rocky day mood swing wise, what can I say...
Well shit. Apparently there was some damage to the National Cathedral which is like one of my top 10 favorite buildings in the country. Nothing they can't fix with some time and money. No major loss. Japan/New Zealand/Haiti/etc is rolling their collective eyes at my sorrow. But, there was damage.
ReplyDeleteThis is something we don't experience in the UK.
ReplyDeleteYou have a special mention on my latest blog post btw. :)
Thankfully er don´t have in Germany either. I´d die of fear, I guess...
ReplyDeleteI can´t at all picture it, though, certainly, Fukushima was shown all the time.
But when I look out of my office window in 5 1/2th floor... oh, boy, back to the second sentence...
Great post, I loved the explanation of the Richter scale. I've never been in an earth quake. It surprised me after the Fukushima earth quake, there were several smaller ones and they filmed it happenning in the streets, and people simply stopped walking and waited for it to stop. No panic, no nothing. I can tell you it wouldn't be like that in France!
ReplyDelete