Our California Earthquake

[Porky Pig]

Greetings and a late Merry Christmas to all of you.

Petunia and I left one day before the quake struck in Paso Robles .. we live just 5 miles to the south in a small town called Templeton.

I was on I-5 in L.A. listening to the news when the quake struck .. and as the reports came in I began to get sick to my stomach.

Unable to get ahold of anyone .. as my cell phone would not connect .. all I could do was listen and worry .. worry .. worry.

Finally, I got a hold of Petunia who was with her mother in Burbank .. and had her call our neighbor (a Sheriff) to check our house.

The report came back that a bunch of stuff could be seen tipped over and on the floor ... but no structural damage. A sigh of relief .. and we decided to continue with our Christmas in L.A.

We got home tonight to survey the damage .. and took some photos. I'm really glad we weren't here to experience this one .. it was pretty bad.

The bottom line for us ... our family and friends are all safe .. the damaged items can always be replaced.

This is how we found the kitchen:

[qqq]

That's the way my kitchen looks all the time

Hart

[Silvertwinkie]

Glad to hear all was well Pork....

On a positive note, the Airstream you have on order will have a suspention so the galley should not look like that way should another one strike...

Eric

[Porky Pig]

Gee ... I should have anchored that bookcase ... lucky for us the chair blocked the fall ... however, this is where Petunia always sits ... glad we weren't home ... or someone would have had a big ol' noggin on their head.

[Tinsel Loaf]

Glad to hear you were in a safe place.
I stood outside our house during the quake of 1989 and watched the house crumble. It was all we could do just to stand upright while the earth shook under our feet, we lost everything and there was no insurance. Fortunately no one was hurt.

[Porky Pig]

Tinsel ...

1989? Where were you living at that time?

[Tinsel Loaf]

Porky
We lived outside of Watsonville just a few miles from Loma Prieta, the epicenter of the quake. We could hear the ground BOOM deep below the earth with the aftershocks and watch the ground wave as it moved toward us. We were like drunken sailors trying just to stand, and of course there was a cold rain the next day. It was a scary and miserable experiance, we hope it will never happen again but earthquakes go with the territory. The good part is that if it ever happens again we will have our Airstream to keep us warm.

[canny_banjo_man]

Hi Porky...
Glad 2 hear U guys all O K...& U got no major dammage, over here in the U K, we don't get that kind of thing, well maybe jus once in a blue moon, but it is'nt anything to write home abt.
Sorry to hear it ruined one of the most special days of the year...a bad, bad time happen....let's jus pray that the new year will bring better luck 4 U & Yr Family...
All the best...Chris.....

[Creampuff]

Case in Point!
We keep our A/S stocked as a mobile
earthquake /firestorm/mudslide kit- all the 'goes with the territorý' stuff we get down here!

[overlander63]

Originally posted by Creampuff
Case in Point!
We keep our A/S stocked as a mobile
earthquake /firestorm/mudslide kit- all the 'goes with the territorý' stuff we get down here!

Speaking of mudslides, anybody live in the area that got "slid"?
Reports seem to confirm 7 dead, nine missing.
I know a few people that live around there, and of course can't get hold of them.
Terry

[Pick]

Back in the mid 1980's, we had a quake here in NE Ohio. We were moving CATV headend equipment racks when it hit and they almost fell on us. I ran outside of the buildiing and watched the antennas shaking on the tower. What a site. I then looked towards Cleveland, expecting to see a mushroom cloud. We walked around the building looking to see if a truck hit it. Sirens were going off all over the place, people were very confused as to what happened. We suffered no real damage, but some folks reported that their water wells went dry after the quake. There was some speculation that a brine injection well was the epicenter of the quake, but I do not think it was ever proven.

As a funny side note, my wife remarked "I thought you left something on in the house and it exploded", when I returned home from work that evening.

[Pahaska]

I experienced several minor earthquakes near Tokyo in Japan, but small ones are pretty much a normal thing there. The hotel was built to withstand quakes and I never worried much about them.

The strangest ones were the man made earthquakes in the Denver area back about 1967. They were destroying nerve gas at the Redstone Arsenal by diluting it and pumping it down a well several miles deep. At first, the earthquakes weren't linked to the pumping. Someone at the Colorado School of Mines finally figured out that the pumping was lubricating rock layers several miles down and allowing them to slip. At first, no one would believe them; later, the pumping was halted and the earthquakes soon stopped.

During the worst quake, I was on the second floor of my farnhouse north of Lafayette. I couldn't stand up, so I dropped to my knees and leaned on a bed which was heaving like a ship at sea. It was a very long 30 seconds.

[qqq]

A Real serious earthquake (30000 dead) is what happened in Iran

Hart

[thenewkid64]

earthquake - shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane of from volcanic activity.

I believe that the California one mentioned in this thread fit the description above as does the one in Iran. Unfortunately the one in Iran happened in the wee hours of the morning and the buildings there had not been built with the seismic activity taken into account. Sadly, these two issues made it so deadly.

[Porky Pig]

The tragic Iran quake was a 6.6 ... the San Simeon quake was a 6.5.

The biggest factor for loss of life in Iran was the composition of building materials and population density.

In California we dodged a bullet ... in Iran ... they took a mortal wound to the heart.

Nevertheless, both quakes were quite serious.

People may send a donation to:

American Red Cross - San Luis Obispo County Chapter
225 Prado Road Suite A
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Iran Relief Fund
P.O. Box 224
Whitehall, PA 18052