I've been in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once and have ridden out three 7+ earthquakes near their epicenters (and several lesser ones).  Only once did I feel the need to get into a doorspace, on all the others I jumped up on a couch and "surfed the quake" (something I learned from my first roommate).

jack,

It appears you chose to interpret my attempt at levity in my first post for sarcasm, which is never my intent on this forum.

My second post was serious.

BigBen


Keep yer knickers on Jackie-Boo. It was a 5.8 Earthquake, a bit frightening, and unsettling but you don't need to start panicking and making it a bigger deal than it has to be. I've been through a lot worse earthquakes & tsunami's where 1000's of lives were lost and we didn't have time to do much but save ourselves.....let alone make a comment in the coffee house.
So, take a deep breath, keep yourself calm, and rationally deal with the situation.
 

Wasn't panicking. A quake of magnitude 5.8 hasn't been felt on the East Coast for over a decade so yeah - it's a big deal. It may be squat to those living in Kalifornia but to us here it means something.

35 miles from Mineral -- lots of shaking/rolling action for most of a minute, several cracks in gypsum wallboard, some small things fell over, kitten frightened for hours after, especially when the occasional aftershocks hit.

jackn2mpu

Danny Danzi


I'll share my experience for what it's worth...

So I'm sitting here typing an email to a client. My monitor on my computer desk is moving, so I think it's my hand on my mouse. You know...sometimes you rest your hand a certain way and it makes you shake, right? Well I take my hand off my mouse and see my monitor is still shaking....how weird?!

Well, the shaking gets worse and all of a sudden, I feel/hear like a huge gust of wind smash into my house like the microburst Jack mentioned, but then the entire house started shaking! I see my guitars swaying back and forth on the racks, my ceiling shaking.."my God...we must be having a tornado" I thought. I run to steady my guitars and it hits me...this ain't no tornado, it's a fookin earffquake!!!!!!!!!!!

What the heck is happening to this earth?! We never get earthquakes over here. Ok, we've had a few little guys...but sheesh, a 5.8 in Virginia that sent tremors up the entire coast and inwards all the way into Chicago?! I'm still sitting here in awe....I can't fathom what a full blown quake must be like and I don't wanna know. I'm not even sure what the tremor was that we felt, but it was scary and lasted for about 20 seconds...maybe more. I felt a few tremors in Bulgaria after the big quake in Turkey in 99 or 2000...whever that was, I can't quite remember when I was there. I felt a few little things in Cali when I was there...but this was definitely more intense. One heck of a tremor I'd say.

My cabinets opened up, some stuff fell off the shelves and my phone was dead for about 30 minutes but other than that, we're ok over here. I hope all of you are ok as well. Anyone from Virginia or close to Virginia have anything to report? Whew that was scary!

My dad was asleep and woke up yelling at me to stop punching the walls. LMAO! I get blamed for everything I tell ya! When he saw the cabinets all open and stuff scattered on the floor, he knew it wasn't me that did it. LOL! I still can't believe what I felt today...just wow!

-Danny

Where in NJ are you? Trenton here and I could feel the sine wave pattern of the earth moving. Wasn't fun. Reminded me of the California quake of 1989. Luckily we didn't have (yet) the aftershocks they had out there. I was going through some paperwork in the hotel in Lompoc when the aftershocks hit; didn't think much until I went outside and saw the cracks in the walkway on the floor I was on that weren't there an hour ago.

I'm in South Jersey in between Philly and Atlantic City. Like I said, I've felt little tremors before, but this was definitely a bit more intense than a tremor. I wonder what it registered on the scale? I can still feel that weird feeling if I think about it. The tremors I've felt were like walking on a bridge and a big truck passes by. You feel the rumble. This was different. A left to right motion that made my stomach churn to the point of nearly jumping out of my skin while praying to God to please make it stop. It seemed like a long 20-30 seconds that's for sure.
 
I was told by a friend of mine that is a really into this stuff, that I felt it a bit more intense because I was in my basement which is under ground. I was a bit scared to see my studio...but it was perfectly fine. With every little burst of wind I get now, I'm looking at my lights and stuff hanging thinking it's going to start shaking. This was definitely something that has put a sense of fear in me that I have never felt before.
 
That said, and please forgive me as I know this is a sore subject for you, but as you can see, this has affected me pretty bad. Knowing Ed (bapu) personally as one of my VERY good friends, he'd fly here to help me or you if he was needed. Don't think for a second he had any malicions intentions bro. He'd book a flight right now if I needed him. Yes we took this thing very serious over here...and yeah, there's a time and a place for humor...but then there's Ed...the one guy I know that would never turn his back on a living soul or wish any ill feelings towards anyone. If you knew him like we do, you'd see why he gets away with the stuff he gets away with. Nothing but love in the mans heart for humanity, trust me when I tell you. :)
 
-Danny

I forgot to mention in my above post.....that said, each one of us has a different threshold in which we handle things. We can't be upset with an individual who (like myself) was a bit traumatized by this even though there was no loss of life or loss of property on my behalf. This was a serious thing for us on the East Coast because it's just not something we have had to deal with nor are our structures built to codes for any of it. There are quite a few of my friends that are absolutely sick over this. I'm not sick over it, but I can tell you that it has affected me way worse than I thought it would. Why? Simple...I never thought I'd ever be faced with feeling an earthquake in NJ in my life. LOL!

It would be like getting hit by a tornado here. We get alerts for them...we get intense wind...but we never see a physical tornado like some of you see with the big spout that is miles wide. So for us, this was a pretty big deal. Now, I'm a humor guy myself...and I like to look at a situation and talk about it...and even laugh about it at times especially when no harm was done to anyone. I'm not saying this is a laughing matter, but to my knowledge, none of my friends, family or structures were damaged by this. So to some of us, we can joke about it only because we survived it to joke about. Not that it's a joking matter nor are we making light of it...but it came, it went, it didn't hurt us. For those it may have affected in a bad way, it's no laughing matter and my heart goes out to them as well as my prayers. But here...we're happy to be alive and sometimes a little humor as a celebration of life is a good thing. Just my take though. :)

-Danny

Danny Danzi

I never thought I'd ever be faced with feeling an earthquake in NJ in my life. LOL!

Remember a while back I mentioned an ancient volcanic island out in the Atlantic that's getting ready to crumble in to the ocean? They say it will cause a tsunami that will come so far inland it will cover parts of PA.

All it takes is something 'little' like this and the entire east coast of the US and parts of Canada will be gone.

Just a lil' bundl'o' cheer ain't I? :)

By far, the weirdest earthquake related thing I can remember is getting back to Orange County after the Northridge quake (6.6 in 1984) and watching the news out of Los Angeles.  Whenever they got a big aftershock (5+) it still took a few seconds before it reached OC.  Earthquakes by themselves feel unnatural enough, but KNOWING that one was about to happen before it does was very, very eerie!

Didn't feel anything 15 miles west of Boston. Office buildings in Boston were evacuated. That city's built on pilings, could be interesting if something significant happened. Lots of brick buildings around the city too. Hoping my pup starts acting all strange like to give me a heads up... you know, runs around in a circle, does a load of dishes, scrubs the toilets, that sort of thing.

Bub

Danny Danzi

I never thought I'd ever be faced with feeling an earthquake in NJ in my life. LOL!

Remember a while back I mentioned an ancient volcanic island out in the Atlantic that's getting ready to crumble in to the ocean? They say it will cause a tsunami that will come so far inland it will cover parts of PA.

All it takes is something 'little' like this and the entire east coast of the US and parts of Canada will be gone.

Just a lil' bundl'o' cheer ain't I? :)

Well, you did hear them say that...



I had the weirdest feeling being on top of steel silos welding bits of conveyor systems together...and the ground starting to move....we actually saw 3 silos bumping into each other up there....

craigb

craigb


I've been in the wrong place at the wrong time more than once and have ridden out three 7+ earthquakes near their epicenters (and several lesser ones).  Only once did I feel the need to get into a doorspace, on all the others I jumped up on a couch and "surfed the quake" (something I learned from my first roommate).

Wow, I was just thinking about this and realized that I have to call BS on myself!  I've somehow been near so many of the big ones I thought for sure that at least three of them were over a magnatude 7, but I'm afraid I just did some actual research (gee, that helps to do once in a while, eh?) and only ONE of the quakes was above 7...  That said, I have been way to near a lot of biggies!
 
Sylmar - 1971 - 6.6  (visiting an Aunt - felt like a bizarre roller-coaster)
 
Superstition Hills - 1987 - 6.6  (Staying with a friend after playing in a dart event the prior weekend - had a plaque come off the wall and graze my head before scoring a direct hit on my shoulder)
  
Landers - 1992 - 7.3  (On vacation near Big Bear - kind of smooth and the entire metal rail along the lodge units went BRANNNNNNNNGGGG!!! and woke everyone up)
 
Big Bear - 1992 - 6.5 (Same day as Landers so still there - this was, by far, the scariest for me - I was just starting to doze off back to sleep when this one hit with a big thud then kept getting worse and worse.  Even my room back in OC was trashed when I got home!  Everything on two opposing sides of the room had been tossed into the middle of the floor...)
 
Northridge - 1994 - 6.7 (I was staying at my friend's place on Sepulveda near that famous Galleria for the weekend and was up early so I could drive home when this stupid woven art piece "jumped" off the wall, we stared at it for half-a-second wondering "what the...", then all hell broke loose - I ended up surfing the couch while my friend peed himself in a doorway - half the bulbs in his chandelier broke by swinging into the ceiling - I had to take a very long way home to OC!)

I remember a few of those.  I think the scariest for me on was Whitier--86 I think.  It happened while I was in the shower. 

Jack,
 It's my personal observation that you are often times picking for a fight.

 You may choose to present your self to the world in any manner you wish.

 If you don't want to temper what you say... no one else will be any the worse for it.

best,
mike

Bub

julibee


O55, yeah... And "crusty" meaning that the East isn't as fractured and broken up as it is out West, which also makes a difference, according to the LA Times. Makes sense to me, too.

I always considered CA to be crusty from all those damn hippie communes.







Too soon?

Baps! Get me out of this! HEHE!

When they said crusty, I thought they were talking about Bapu.  LOL

When my parents moved to Sylmar that was my first exposure to earthquakes...I remember riding my motorcycle down a street and then getting knocked off the bike..then watching the dirt just rising off the ground in waves...I was very wobbly for a few days after that...and not just from the aftershocks either!!

jackn2mpu


I knew people here would close up ranks and defend Bapu/Ed (not that's bad although I think he can defend himself). I understand humor of all kinds but sometimes it's just not warranted, and for those of us on the East Coast who don't routinely experience these things it wasn't welcome. I can make all kinds of comments and jokes about things but I've learned through sad experience to temper what I say. Won't bore you with the details but it damned near cost me my marriage. Now I tailor what I say to the situation; it may not change what I think internally but it affects what I put out to the world at large.

 
Fair point Jack, and I fully understood your original objections.
 
I wouldn't 'blindly' defend Ed, or anyone else for that matter, but it's my opinion that he meant no ill-will in his light-hearted comments. Maybe if you'd called him out on his post for being "inappropriate" instead of "sarcastic" (which I've never known him to be), the reaction might well have been different.
 
Steve