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Earthquakes

Have you been in an earthquake?


  • Total voters
    74

diachi

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cool_story_bro.jpg
The following is not a joke:

I was 13-14 years old.
I'd always wondered how an earthquake would feel like.
Suddenly one day, the flat I was living in started moving sideways (back and forth). Imagine my astonishment "WUT". I could confirm it was not in my head since there was a maraca (musical instrument) nailed on the wall which was going back and forth as well.

I even called a friend on some lower floor but he didn't feel anything. Guess it only happened on the highest floors (I was in the 6th).


Of course, you may be thinking, "but there were no earthquakes on Buenos Aires 6-7 years ago"... and you're right!

What was it? That night, a Metallica/ACDC (or other, I don't remember, I just know it was a known band = huge) concert was taking place like 20 blocks away.

The jumping up and down from fans made my freaking flat shake.

And I don't mean a mini shake like a vibration. No. I even measured it (with what I could at that time... I used the maraca as a pendulum) and I obtained a 2 second period.



Awesome.

But scared sh*tless.
 





Ears and Eggs

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no earthquakes in Spain :(


lolwut? You WANT to experience an earthquake? :p I have to admit though, the 4.5 earthquake we had here in Ottawa was kinda cool, since no damage was done and it was just some mild shaking and rattling of things. Sure as heck would not want to be involved in anything stronger though.
 
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We have earthquakes here in Slovenia from time to time, some do a bit of damage.

The strongest one that I remember happened close to ~15 years ago, middle of the night my bed started literally jumping within my room banging against the walls.

No real damage was sustained by the house and I think it was like that for most of the area - cosmetic damage only, but it scared the sh*t out of me as a kid. Wasn't too strong of an earthquake imo, have no idea what its magnitude was, so I didn't vote.

Otherwise, the last earthquake I "missed", I had been drinking til the AM hours, I woke up after passing out for 5-6 hours at around 2 pm...I went to make some coffee and while walking through the hallway practically faceplanted into wall after "tripping over myself"...I ended up laughing it off, thinking to myself that I must still be hammered...next day I found out we had an earthquake...:beer:
 
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Mine was right here in cville Oklahoma. It was a 2.something where it originated, under OKC, but here in cville (150-ish miles NE) it measured around a .5, so I don't really remember feeling anything. :)
 
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Living in the San Francisco Bay Area they are fairly common. Most are small enough that you don't feel them. If it's small and you busy driving or walking you wont usually notice.
The big one we had back in 89 was a 6.9. I sure felt that. I was at school in the gym. We had a bunch of acoustic tiles come crashing down all around us. Our gym floor was a floating hardwood floor so it intensified the motion. I remember that it literally pushed my feet of the ground.
They say that the bay area is still supposed to have even a bigger one at any time. Kinda sucks because you get no warning what so ever until it hits.
 

roosl

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Grew up in Memphis, TN, and lived in the St. Louis, MO area.

Both are affected by the New Madrid fault. I've felt several, though none I recall were very strong.
 

ixfd64

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I still have vivid memories of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It was quite scary!

I've also felt quite a few earthquakes when I was in college, since my dorms were built right over the Hayward Fault Zone!
 
D

Deleted member 8382

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don't get me wrong, I don't want to die, but experimenting how an earthquake feels would be cool. I can't imagine how could the whole floor move!

yes, I know it's dangerous and that I shouldn't joke about it, but anyway :D
 
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Been in a few. In order of feeling it. California. 7.1 felt odd as it was the middle of the night but magnitude and soil conditions play a role. Alaska roughly 4.? a few times but noticeable. Lajes Field Azores. Not sure the magnitude but as I was 3 stories up felt like a lot. Saint Louis, Missouri about a 3.6 if I remember but that was awhile ago. Late 60's? First one I remember.

So yea been in a few.

They do scare you a bit as it always takes a second or two to to register what is happening.
 
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don't get me wrong, I don't want to die, but experimenting how an earthquake feels would be cool. I can't imagine how could the whole floor move!

yes, I know it's dangerous and that I shouldn't joke about it, but anyway :D

I know how you feel, I wanted to see how a tornado would feel as well. I experienced a weak one >10 years ago in a country club. Talk about "ultra scary sh*t", it's nothing compared to the movies, IRL it's seriously much darker and powerful than Twister :p





















Also, @diachi: Cheap shot. The game.
 
D

Deleted member 8382

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oh god no, tornado no, that's more scary stuff. But a "light" earthquake that doesn't harm anyone would rock :)
 

HIMNL9

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We had one in New England when I was 13, 30 years ago. It was mild but scary. All the glass in the house chattered, but nothing fell. I felt really insecure on the third floor.
 
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I'm just wondering what the hell of actuators they use, for move that table ..... if you notice, the camera in the video is not attached to the structure under test, but also it is shaking ..... this mean that, other than the test table, those actuators was shaking a bit also the rest of the building :p :D

Yeah, I noticed :D It's like they simulate magnitude 7.5 earthquake on the platform and have magnitude 3-4 earthquake around it LOL So you don't even have to be inside the building to get a good shake ;)
 
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Was in a M6.7 in Nagoya in 2007.03 that had an epicentre in Noto hanto (Kawasaki-shi).
The Earthquake destroyed most of the coast from Kawasaki all the way to Kanazawa where it blew out windows. At the Epicentre the quake measured 7.2M.
I remember the quake set off all the car alarms around Nagoya and surrounding Aichi-ken.
Also was in the 2001 Quake in Victoria, who's epicentre was in Olympia. Victoria shook like crazy. No serious damage...
 




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