Northern California - Wow, good shaker

+1.... after Loma Prieta, this one was nothin' ;)

Not to mention Northridge and Sylmar. I've hit the trifecta on CA quakes - little ones don't bother me so much.

I guess all of us who experienced Loma Prieta didn't feel it was such a BFD

Yeah, except Loma Prieta started out the same way.
A short little jolt is "fine" as these things go but every time one of these starts up, the first question, the FIRST question is: How long and how strong will it go?

Maybe going through a 5.3, 3 miles from my house when I was 4 was enough that I refuse to be jaded.
And that was preceded by 3 or 4 4+ quakes and followed by numerous 3+ and 4+ magnitude quakes over the next month. Things were falling of the walls and crashing, the tape in the corners of all the walls in the house ripped as I hid until the table my mom threw me under. When you're 4, this makes an impression.

Blase' is not in my vocabulary when it comes to the earth moving around on me.

I was in Upper Reserve, Section 11, Candlestick Park, when Loma Prieta hit. Now, that was exciting.

Not to mention Northridge and Sylmar. I've hit the trifecta on CA quakes - little ones don't bother me so much.

hmmm ... my trifecta is Northridge, Sylmar, and Whittier (the one in '87, where the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium and the San Gabriel Mission started to fall apart).

Yea, I'm a SoCal transplant ...

Okay, who just shoved my chair?!

3.7 aftershock not too long ago.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc51189819.php

We felt it in the office in Sunnyvale

Little "aftershock" a few minutes ago: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/nc51189819.php

I felt it on my 6th floor office here in Downtown SJ.

Anyway FYI:

A magnitude 5.6 EQ has the equivalent energy of around 80 kilotons of TNT. So it's essentially pretty close to the energy release of the Hiroshima atomic bomb!

Just like an explosion, the energy release from an EQ will dissipate with distance.

Imagine you were 30 miles from Hiroshima vs. at the bomb site.

Even 10 miles makes a big difference in the intensity vs. at the epicenter.

I mean an 8.0 EQ s like ONE BILLION TONS of TNT. So even many miles away you're going to feel that!

Sure you may not feel much of anything from a 5.6, but right at the epicenter, I am sure it was pretty strong.

I was in Upper Reserve, Section 11, Candlestick Park, when Loma Prieta hit. Now, that was exciting.

I was in Etcheverry Hall at Cal; like I was standing on a skateboard and someone kicked it out from underneath me.

I was in Upper Reserve, Section 11, Candlestick Park, when Loma Prieta hit. Now, that was exciting.

Upper Reserve, Section 25 for me. Upper deck, down by the right field foul pole.

Frickin' pansy-ass players and their wives - wouldn't even play the game afterwards. :D

Back in '89, I was working in my lab at Genentech in South City. The other guy in the lab and I ended up trying to occupy the same doorway. It felt like someone grabbed the building and shook it, HARD! The lights went out, then came back on (I didn't realize it just then, but it was the emergency generators - that part of the building was ALL wired into them, not just selected outlets.)

I tried to go back to what I was doing but my hands wouldn't stop shaking. Then somebody came from another part of the building and said the power was out, and maybe we should think about going outside....

I was in Etcheverry Hall at Cal; like I was standing on a skateboard and someone kicked it out from underneath me.

We weren't too far away. I was in the basement of Hearst Mining Building. I really didn't think nothing of it as I stayed a little late to finish my lab work. It wasn't until I got out and saw plumes of smoke off in the distance, BART was closed, telephone service was intermittent, and reports on the radio that the World Series was affected, the Cypress Structure was damaged, and the Bay Bridge had collapsed that I realized this was starting to be a big deal :eek:.

This was the first time I was near an epicenter of a quake.. the jolt was quick and sharp.. best I can compare with is a washing machine that is off balance during spin.. just a quick.. thump thump thump thump.. then nothing.. I guess everybody else got some good rollers.

hmmm ... my trifecta is Northridge, Sylmar, and Whittier (the one in '87, where the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium and the San Gabriel Mission started to fall apart).

Same here, Spingineer! Me 'n' the missus moved to Sactown from Altadena in '97. Survived the same Big Three shakers as well as quite a few smaller ones in between. (On a side note, do you ever get back down there & ride Angeles Crest Hwy, or along San Gabriel Cyn, or Glendora Mountain Rd? Ahh, good times...)

Same here, Spingineer! Me 'n' the missus moved to Sactown from Altadena in '97. Survived the same Big Three shakers as well as quite a few smaller ones in between. (On a side note, do you ever get back down there & ride Angeles Crest Hwy, or along San Gabriel Cyn, or Glendora Mountain Rd? Ahh, good times...)

hoo_koo,
Great to meet another SoCal transplant :D ... One of my usual morning rides, on Tues/Thurs, was starting from San Marino, going up Sierra Madre, then up Altadena, eventually down into the Rose Bowl. Maybe I passed by your place on the ride.

In fact, I do go down to LA once a month, to visit dad (with my bike, of course). When I go down, I do ride with SoCal BF'ers. However, I haven't rideen AC, but always do Mt. Baldy, from Hwy 39 side, then bomb down GMR. Yes, it is fun! :D

Not a bad shaker. My daughter was home with me. I told her that it feels like that on a ship in 25 rollers at sea.

hoo_koo,
Great to meet another SoCal transplant :D ... One of my usual morning rides, on Tues/Thurs, was starting from San Marino, going up Sierra Madre, then up Altadena, eventually down into the Rose Bowl. Maybe I passed by your place on the ride.

However, I haven't rideen AC, but always do Mt. Baldy, from Hwy 39 side, then bomb down GMR. Yes, it is fun! :D

Yup, you probably did ride close to my house when heading through Altadena if you were on New York Dr heading west from Sierra Madre... We lived one block north of NY near Lake Ave.

Re: ACH-- If you get a chance, take a ride from the Rose Bowl and west & north through La Canada and up Angeles Crest Hwy to Mt Wilson. That was one of my favorite routes, especially after it rained. The views of the city on those rare clear days from Mt Wilson were pretty spectacular.

Sorry to get off topic there, folks. Thanks for letting me reminisce a little...

The best EQs are the ones where you're looking down the street and the ground movement looks like water. Too bad this one was at night.

I was in Etcheverry Hall at Cal; like I was standing on a skateboard and someone kicked it out from underneath me.


We weren't too far away. I was in the basement of Hearst Mining Building. I really didn't think nothing of it as I stayed a little late to finish my lab work. It wasn't until I got out and saw plumes of smoke off in the distance, BART was closed, telephone service was intermittent, and reports on the radio that the World Series was affected, the Cypress Structure was damaged, and the Bay Bridge had collapsed that I realized this was starting to be a big deal :eek:.


Too funny! I was in Barker Hall (biochem building) at the time. The lab was shaking pretty well. gah.

I missed it. I was commuting home on my bike. Darn, I love a small quake where no one gets hurt.

We never felt a thing, and our animals remained calm, as well.

Loma Prieta, Northridge, and that one in Napa a couple years ago -- now those were some "oh sh*t!" kind of quakes.

Like others, I prefer the rockin' and rollin' to hurricanes and tornadoes any day.

Our daughter in SF said it was as though a clothes dryer was off-center -- really not much to speak of.

I didn't feel anything I was walking to the store, when I got back my wife was semi freaking out.
89 quake I was on the Bay bridge top deck SF side, just had gone through the Cypress, Phewww close one.

I was in Etcheverry Hall at Cal; like I was standing on a skateboard and someone kicked it out from underneath me.


We weren't too far away. I was in the basement of Hearst Mining Building. I really didn't think nothing of it as I stayed a little late to finish my lab work. It wasn't until I got out and saw plumes of smoke off in the distance, BART was closed, telephone service was intermittent, and reports on the radio that the World Series was affected, the Cypress Structure was damaged, and the Bay Bridge had collapsed that I realized this was starting to be a big deal .



Too funny! I was in Barker Hall (biochem building) at the time. The lab was shaking pretty well. gah.

We were getting ready for a student ASME meeting, everyone ran outside, then it was over and we all went back inside, then I went to work on a lab report on the first floor, didn't realize it was a big deal until after 7pm when I tried to get home on BART (not!)

Originally Posted by DiabloScott I was in Etcheverry Hall at Cal; like I was standing on a skateboard and someone kicked it out from underneath me.

Originally Posted by alainp We weren't too far away. I was in the basement of Hearst Mining Building. I really didn't think nothing of it as I stayed a little late to finish my lab work. It wasn't until I got out and saw plumes of smoke off in the distance, BART was closed, telephone service was intermittent, and reports on the radio that the World Series was affected, the Cypress Structure was damaged, and the Bay Bridge had collapsed that I realized this was starting to be a big deal .





We were getting ready for a student ASME meeting, everyone ran outside, then it was over and we all went back inside, then I went to work on a lab report on the first floor, didn't realize it was a big deal until after 7pm when I tried to get home on BART (not!)


My sister was at Cal then too. She was in her dorm room in Clark Kerr (also known as Dwight Derby to you Old Blues). I remember that there were rumors going around Candlestick that Doe Library had collapsed.

Brother was between the stacks in Cal's library during Loma Prieta.

I ran into the parking lot at my work in Los Gatos and had a gret time watching the cars jump up and down.

I'm starting to sense a pattern here... the next time all of us Cal Alumni, who were on campus that fateful day, get together for a BF ride, is when the next "big quake" is gonna hit :eek:.

I'm starting to sense a pattern here... the next time all of us Cal Alumni, who were on campus that fateful day, get together for a BF ride, is when the next "big quake" is gonna hit :eek:.

We should have a jersey!