I've been thinking about doing this post for a while, but due to the recent earthquake in Turkey, I thought I would post this today.

What are some of your experiences in earthquakes?

During my lifetime I've only been in a few. I was in a couple 3 pointers, and maybe a 4. These weren't really bad. They were a little scary at the time, especially since Mount Ranier wasn't too far away.

A couple years ago, I was in the 7.1 pointer near Tacoma, Washington. Does anyone remember hearing about that one? Now that scared the hell out of me. I was sitting in my room doing my schoolwork when I heard a distant rumble. It only took a couple seconds to start rattling the windows, then the whole house started to shake violently. It didn't take me long to get to a doorway, and then decide that since it didn't look stable because we lived in a mobile trailer I started running through the hallway, which had bookshelves along the walls. As I was running though that hallway, books were literally flying off the shelves at me. It didn't take but a few seconds to run acrossed the house and out the door into the yard, which was also violently shaking like crazy. It felt like forever, but in actuality, it lasted for almost a minute!

That was the last one I've been in, thank God.

How about all of you?

Well I live in a geographically sound area, but apparently I was in one as a kid in California (v.small), and all I did was look after my little sister who was crying like mad, and then ask when we would have lunch (some things never ever change with me! Even after having 6 teeth out in one go I still demanded a full roast lunch, and ate it!)

Ozzy

Has anyone been in one as big as the one I was in???

Well, I have been in one. (Yes. in jolly old cornwall too!)

It was a few years ago and about 5 on the richter scale i believe. Sadly I was in bed at the time so I missed the whole bloody thing!

LOL!

the only real earthquakes where i live are caused by gas drillings. they only are Richter 3 or lower.

the heaviest SIMULATED earthquake i experienced was in a museum in New Zealand, it simulated the infamous 7.5 earthquake in Alaska

LOL, cool thread.

I've been in one real Earthquake, in England of all places. Not sure how big it was (3 ish I think) but it was really odd.

I was watching Casino on telly, and my window blind started to rattle - and I thought " "The the whole house "wobbled" (shook is too strong a word).

It was really strange.

There was some stuff on tv the next day about it, some guy's house collapsed - unlucky!

We don't get anything major here, just tremors really.

I've felt a simulated Richter 7 in Australia, in a museum in Canberra. I can only imagine what it must be like to be in a big one - a good time to be up in the air I think! 

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The 7.1 earthquake in seattle a couple years ago?

What I want to know is how can a 6.4 quake kill hundreds of people in someother place, but the only casualty I know of from the one I was in, was an old man had a heart attack???

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Yep,

but
after travelling through the ground it was only 6.8 up here in BC.

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dito! 

Hi Andrew,
  I was in that 7.1 Seattle quake you were in.
  I was at work in West Seattle and had just finished replacing a hi-limit fill switch in a carbon silo.  I started the refill sequence to check operation when the quake began.  I thought to myself, "Boy this thing is filling hard, I think I'll wait outside til the cycles done."  Now this silo is about six feet wide and forty feet tall so I thought being outside was a good idea.  As I stepped through the silo's door I thought, "Man, its filling so hard its even shaking the (silo's concrete) pad!!"
  That's when violent shaking started.  I'd been throught a few earthquakes in California and knew enough to be aware of my surroundings, so my attention was 100% focused on that carbon silo.  Which ever way it fell I was going the other!!   Fortunately the silo stayed put, but it was still quite a ride!!

Never felt the earth shake, but I can attest to watching a Tornado go through the backyard a few years ago..... I was living on a ten acre lot at the time and this twister missed the house by a couple of hundred feet.....too close for comfort if you ask me......I checked for damage down the field and found "new" trees had been planted without any roots.......the farm next door, a half mile away was not so lucky. Their drive-shed roof was lifted off in one piece and re-deposited after being turned 90 compass degrees---tops of their two silos were removed and several farm implement vehicles were tumbled across the fields like Tonkas...........what a day ! Best news...............nobody hurt  

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Andrew, I should have been more clear.  When that storm passed by me, I was living in Ontario.

This shot, although not shot by me, was of the actual tornado which passed through here and did quite a bit of damage to a small village called Violet Hill.

i remember when i lived in medicine hat, it got rather warm in the summer especially on the plains. dont know if its the same in ontario and vancouver though
that tornado looks to be what An F2 Maybe F3 on the scale

alberta, not to far from calgary

Foz,  my friend, get out your trusty little map once again and take a look west of the ciry of Vancouver......there is an island off the coast called Vancouver Island.......thats where I now reside (Comox Valley), and the weather here is very much different from the mainland. and as for Ontario, well thats a province. If you have enough detail, look northwest of Toronto, on a line that is south of Lake Simcoe, and you may see Orangeville, Shelburne, and Grand Valley.  I lived in the country in the middle of that triangle.

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Brings to mind a song................ " Shakin' all overrrrrr "  8)

Back to earthquakes and tornados....
Was anyone caught up in this today, Monday, 5th. May?

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Posted: May 5, 2003 at 12:18 p.m.

PIERCE CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Swarms of violent thunderstorms and tornadoes crashed through the nation's midsection, killing at least 32 people in Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Eight people were missing in this hard-hit town.

Houses across the region were blown apart by Sunday's storms, trees were uprooted and power lines and other debris blocked roads. Travelers were evacuated from the terminals at Kansas City's main airport and given shelter in tunnels.

In Pierce City, not a home or business was left untouched in the town of nearly 1,400, and wreckage made it impossible to walk the streets.

Two bodies had been pulled from the rubble of the town's nearly leveled National Guard Armory.

Officials initially feared the eight missing were killed in the armory, where several people had taken shelter.

But after sunrise Monday authorities had found no sign of anyone else, and regional emergency official Glenn Dittmar said he was "99 1/2 percent" sure that no one else would be found there.

"I've never been in anything like this. It was absolutely terrible," said Pierce City clerk Julie Johnson, who rode out the storm in the armory bathroom.

President Bush, visiting Little Rock, Ark., said the federal government would move as quickly as possible to help the storm-damaged areas. "Nature's awfully tough at times and the best thing we can do right now is to pray for those who have suffered," he added.

The storms were blamed for at least 14 deaths in Missouri, seven in Kansas and 11 in Tennessee. One tornado carved a 65-mile path across West Tennessee, said meteorologist Gene Rench at the National Weather Service in Memphis.

They were part of a huge weather system that rolled across the Midwest and parts of the South, and also spawned twisters in Arkansas, South Dakota and Nebraska. Damage in Arkansas included wrecked homes and businesses, power outages and overturned trucks.

Hail as big as baseballs hammered parts of South Dakota.

An apparent tornado also damaged several homes in a rural area of extreme northern Mississippi early Monday, state and local officials said. No injuries were reported.

By midmorning Monday, thunderstorms were racing eastward through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. Some 24,000 homes and businesses lost power in Louisville, Ky., utility officials said.

In Tennessee, a state of emergency was declared in Madison County, including the hard-hit city of Jackson.

Eleven bodies had been taken to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, said spokeswoman Jan Boud. Much of Jackson had no power Monday and the hospital was operating off a generator, Boud said.

"It's like downtown Baghdad," lawyer Joe Byrd said of the damage in Jackson.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared seven counties disaster areas.

Eighty homes were damaged or destroyed in Kansas' Crawford County, at least 20 of them in the Franklin area, said county emergency management director Edlon Bedene.

"It wiped out a third of the town, I hate to say it," Bedene said. "The trees are like somebody came in and cut them off 10 feet above the ground. It's a mess."

Several homes were severely damaged in Kansas City, Kan.

"My daughter's room is gone, but she's OK," resident Jodee Nirschl said, her voice breaking and tears coming to her eyes. "As long as I have my kids and my husband, I'll be OK."

In the southeast Kansas town of Franklin, about a third of the town was wiped out, said Eldon Bedene, Crawford County emergency management director. Dogs were brought in from Wichita to search through the debris.

At Kansas City, Mo., International Airport, officials stopped all flights and evacuated the terminals. Passengers were ushered into tunnels leading to parking garages until the storm passed.

Missouri Gov. Bob Holden toured Northmoor, a small town in Platte County, where 25 to 30 homes were damaged or destroyed. The town's City Hall and police station also were damaged.

"I had to hold on with all my strength," said resident Charles Tholl, who was with his girlfriend and five children when the storm hit. "It was scary. It felt like the house was twirling."

Courtesy of Associated Press and KRON4 .com
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Cheers...
Paul.
(England).

that's sad.