A little shakin' goin' on

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hey Pd's,

We just had a moderate earthquake here in So. Cal.  It mearured 5.4 magnitude and was about 52 miles (84 km) southwest of my residence. No damage here, just some good swaying. I hope no other PD'ers have been affected. 

If you're into this kind of thing, visit, http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm

Randy

[Eddy Matthews]

Good to hear your okay and there was no damage Randy..... I've never experienced an earthquake, and to be honest I think it's one thing in life I can live without! 

Regards
Eddy

[Dinosaursoupman]

Thanks Eddy,

I lived through both the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake and today's was nothing in comparison to the other two. While I live in Sylmar now, I didn't during the '71 quake. I lived around 25 miles away from the epicenter then and there was a lot of rolling from that one. For the Northridge quake, I did live in Sylmar about 8 miles from the epicenter. In that one, the bed (it was 4:15 am) was bouncing straight up and down! The TV fell off the dresser and landed in the bed beside me. Had my wife not been sick and sleeping out on the couch, it would have landed right on her.

While they can be terrifying, I've been through enough of them to be more thrilled than scared. Almost like the feeling you get riding a rollercoaster for the first time. Then after a number of rides, you know what to expect and take the necessary precautions.

Randy

[Harold H. Duncan]

Hi Randy,
Happy to here your ok.
Here in NZ, we get the odd shake now and then. First ones B***y terrifying, after that not so bad, and you do whats necessary.
My first was in 1968, was at work, 10th floor, when a 5.5 centred 20 miles out in Cook Straight hit. Was just about to open the glass door from our office and looking down the passage way, where all the engineers offices (and these guys designed this 2 year old building), when it hit. Well what a sight, never seen engineers move so fast or in mass before or since, every door flung open, engineers running into the core of the building, before I could swing the door open.(and I had the door handle in my hand when the quake hit, and about to swing it open). Talk about faith in their design, it was a slip-form concrete core, with jacked up concrete floors which where poured on the ground and lifted up the core and fixed into place with steel columns around the perimeter. When asked later, they admitted they didn't know if the floors would all slide back down to ground level. Building stiil stands to this day, but did dent my confidence in engineers abilities at the time.
Our floor swayed about 12inches according to the measurement devices, and was something I will never forget. No damage done anywhere, apart from the odd cracked wall and a few things  falling of shelves.
Been in a few since, so appreciate what damage can be done, and the feelings you get
Once again, happy you and yours are all ok
Kiwi

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's.......& yes good Randy that all is ok with the people........ back to 1963....& the east coast or and most of Australia is most stable


Saturday in June [63].... [second year @ high school]........I fell off my push bike  ...lots of stiches...... ...spent a few days in Wollongong hospital......came out of sugery for a smashed face ...& during the post surgery anesthetic waking up bit Wollongong experienced a very minor tremmor

I thought it was our Lord    taking me away  

[Roderick Smith]

In the early 1970s, our Australian prime minister survived an earthquake in Beijing while on an official visit.
In what was seen to be a very risque cartoon in that era, a major Melbourne daily newspaper showed the pm and his wife in bed in the morning, with one saying: 'And did the earth move for you too?'.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Randy posted: ...I did live in Sylmar about 8 miles from the epicenter. In that one, the bed (it was 4:15 am) was bouncing straight up and down...

[Roderick Smith]

From www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/about.php, which describes the career of cartoonist Peter Nicholson.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Fred Graham]

Hi Randy,

The only natural phenomena we get here seems to be wind and rain and plenty of the latter this year. Pleased to hear that you and yours are ok but you colonials seem to take such things so casually.

No damage to your workshop I hope!!!

All the best, Fred Graham

[Dinosaursoupman]

Hello Fred,

Compared to the 2 major earthquakes I've been though already, this was nothing. Every point on the Richter scale equals 1000 times more energy released. so the 6.7's of previous earthquakes were considerably more powerful than the 5.4 of a couple of weeks ago. And to top things off, all of these will be nothing compared to the "BIG ONE" (possible 8.0) that the experts place a 99% chance of occurring in the next 30 years!

I could move to the central states, but then you have to deal with tornadoes, I could move to the East Coast, but then you have to deal with hurricanes, I could move to the upper midwest and die of boredom. I'd rather stick to what I'm familiar with and prepared to deal with.

There was absolutely no damage to the entire home and the only evidence of the earthquake was all the drawers on my machinist's tool chest had opened.

Randy