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That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:07 pm
by Tompicks
About 10 minutes ago an earthquake hit up near Richmond and we felt it here. Earth was jerking around under my feet...weird feeling

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:26 pm
by smokymtguitar09
Tom,

Where are you located? The quake is now reported to be 6.0 and rattled the Washington, DC area. That part of Virginia is were Chet-boarders Phil Hunt and Eddie Estes are located. Maybe they can update us. It was also felt in upstate S.C.

Re: That was weird - OT Phil and Eddie

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:34 pm
by Tompicks
Yes - Phil and Eddie live up there in Culpeper, you guys okay?

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 2:45 pm
by Tom Workman
O.K., so I'm not losing my marbles! Guys, I'm located in Southwestern Pennsylvania and I was right here on the Chet Board and my monitor started shaking back and forth and I could feel the vibration through my chair and I could then feel the house shaking a little. I thought a car had run into the side of my house or something and didn't know quite what to think until I read the preceding posts about it. I then checked for local breaking news and sure enough, we had a tremor. It was very short but, it sure got my attention! -Tom W.

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:09 pm
by RandeDager
I was eating lunch with my wife and saw this on C-Span or one of those, and after living for so many years in California this seemed strange to me. They also said that cell phone service in Virginia was effected.

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:31 pm
by PhilHunt
I was upstairs in my bedroom getting ready for work. The house was shaking back and forth, pictures were falling off the walls, drawers in the dressers all started opening, my movies in my basement started falling off the shelf.
Definately the scariest thing I have encountered. It scared the hell out of me. It lasted about 5-10 seconds. I thought the whole house was going to collapse.

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:02 pm
by thenorm
Nothing makes you feel as helpless as an earthquake...

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 5:33 pm
by RandeDager
Phil, I'm glad you're okay and survived. I know it is unnerving. Have you heard from or about Eddie?

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:44 pm
by David Elliott
My daughter felt the 'quake in Pittsburgh and my nephew in Utica, NY also!

As earthquakes go, (and by California standards) that was a fairly mild one, but they're all pretty unnerving! We're right in the "swath" of the 1994 Northridge (California) quake, and according to CAL-TECH we actually got hit harder than the area of Northridge itself! Total damages to our home were around $60,000 (1994 dollars!) The four bedroom house on the corner from me was moved to a 45 degree angle on it's foundation!

What really determines the severity of an earthquake, is the depth at the epicenter. The Northridge quake was nearly 11 miles from the surface, while this one today, was only 3-1/2 miles deep! Bad news! Also,Southern California has many "fissures" (cracks or faults) so a quake is dissapated rather quickly. When a quake hits back in your area, it is much more severe, as the earth is harder and has more layers of solid rock and hard material...(it's older). I'm amazed that there hasn't been more damage reported! If you want to see real devestation, go to Google and type in Northridge Earthquake!

David

Re: That was weird - OT

PostPosted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:54 pm
by thenorm
I was in the Loma Prieta quake which was right around the time of David's and everything he says is pretty much true.

Re: depth of the quake... true enough but with the "big ones", what also does the damage is the shaking goes on for a longer period. If you have a trayful of bottles of beer (or soda pop) and you just give it one qucik sidewise shake, odds are you can keep the bottles upright but if you shake them side to side for fifteen seconds or more they're going to go over.

Oversimplification? Of course. But David will back me up in remembering our 'big ones' as seeming like they Just Would Not Stop. Ten or fifteen seconds is a long time to be standig on what used to be solid ground and feel it moving and hearing things crack and fall.

And for the next few hours and days you can get 'aftershocks'... lesser (usually) quakes as the newly moved earth settles.