MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and
chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.
29 July 2008
My first Southern California earthquake. 5.8 on the Richter. Our whole building rumbled around for about ten seconds. That was fun!
I'm 100 miles from the epicenter, and have the LA local news on. There's no reported injuries or major damage yet. There's a ruptured water main south of the 10. This was a broken windows and minor damage type deal.
we just moved into a place not 10 miles from the epicenter. our building is from 1910 and there seems to be no real damage -- lost some plaster in the hallway. other tenants had a lot of breakage but we're not unpacked yet so we didn't. this is my 4th earthquake but definitely the longest and strongest and scariest.
my emergency plan didn't really happen. instead of going straight to get under the table i ran around chasing the dog because i was freaking out that she was under the skylights and by the 10ft pane of glass! by the time i caught her, it was all over and i forgot what i was supposed to do.
excuse grammar and spelling. i'm still shaking. eep.
A friend of mine on the L.A. Burners Tribe only acknowledged the earthquake by saying that his air-conditioning installation held up perfectly. Then I remembered that I'm the type of guy who does the "Put in window, close window" installation. Now I'm wondering if I'll come home tonight to find it in the back yard!
Ah, fun! Big enough to really get your heart pounding, not big enough to cause any lasting damage. I'm glad everyone is safe and sound so far.
Is it sick that I sort of miss California quakes? Yeah, probably. Damn, looking at the location I would have totally felt that, if I was still in college...
Yup, I just looked at my phone and saw I had a couple of emergency notification system calls from my college, which is about 15 miles away from the epicenter. I also got a Earthquake Notification System text from the USGS that I'd signed up for earlier this summer and forgotten about.
This was my first earthquake as well. I'm in Santa Barbara, so far enough that it wasn't strong enough to actually do anything but close enough that you could definitely feel it. Good to hear that everyone's okay.
I was driving through the ATM on the way to pick up some lunch and had just shut off the car when these massive rumbling sounds came from what I thought was the engine...it sounded like it was going to explode! Then I looked up and saw the lightpoles across the parking lot swaying and thought, "whew, just an earthquake."
When damage to your brother's purple Neon is more frightening than an earthquake, I think that means you're a local. :)
I was at a memorial service this morning in Pasadena when it hit... just as someone got up to speak, the rumble came. A large urn of flowers started teetering on the altar; being on the aisle of the second pew, I went into a crouch to dash forward to try to catch it in case it tumbled to the floor. But it just swayed... kept swaying... and then righted itself.
It lightened the moment, in a strange way. From that point on in the service, there was a lot more laughter.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
