Truth be told, most west coasters aren't being honest about earthquakes.

[Xithras]

Yeah, It's a bit fun to give our east coast brethren a hard time about "a little shake", but as a West Coast native who has been though many earthquakes, I have to be entirely honest: When the ground starts shaking, we freak out too. I was on the 8th floor of a Sacramento office tower putting in a late night with a team trying to finish a major programming project when the Yountville quake hit in 2000, and people came unglued. As the building bucked and shook, people were shouting, running and tripping as they scrambled for the stairway. These weren't transplants either...most were California natives who had been through earthquakes before. It's natural that they freaked out...nobody knew how long it would last, whether it would get stronger, or if the building would fall. You realize that the quake may be nothing, but you're also cognizant of the fact that you might be enjoying your last few seconds of life on this planet. People, naturally, get terrified at that prospect.

We may like to play it cool afterward (we're Californian's after all...being cool is in our nature), and we tend to get over them pretty quickly because we're used to them, but when the dirt starts moving, we're no different than the rest of you.

So, to all of you east coasters, please pardon our friendly ribbing. We may be smirking, but we get it. Enjoy your freakout, and remember that terror the next time you hear about a big quake out here on the Left Coast.

[Demeter]

1. My neighbor moved from California to Michigan to Get Away from

3 major quakes, 2 wildfires, and more...she freaked a bit that she felt this one...on the second floor.

[roguevalley]

22. we have earthquakes all day long every day. I feel some and

not others. It would take a big one to scare me. We have had the biggest. Over nine that lasted five minutes. That is an earthquake. I hope all is well back east. Those of us on the ring of fire send you good wishes.

[FourScore]

32. It's Shake 'n Bake in CA.

Quite seriously, I used to purposefully never sit in traffic under an underpass. And I know others who don't either. When a quake would hit, I didn't want to be sitting under all that concrete.

[Lebam in LA]

36. I am right there with you.

Sitting under an overpass scares the bejeezus out of me. there is also a connector bridge from the 405 over to the 10 that I will avoid at all costs. Hope I am at home when the next one hits.

[Solly Mack]

2. I'm not gonna poke fun at anyone over it. The ground beneath starts shaking

and I'm going to be less than thrilled. (to say the least)

[villager]

3. Quite seriously -- and this comes from living in an active earthquake zone - it's the length of time

...that triggers your internal alarms.

in other words, past a certain point, a few seconds in, when the rumbling doesn't stop, you think "uh oh," and start planning which table to get under, etc.

I don't know how you'd even develop that if you didn't grow up going through temblors -- if I'd never been through any quake, I'm sure a 5.8 for the first time would seem pretty terrifying...

[Parker CA]

15. So true. At about 4-5 seconds max the "oh shit, this might be bad" instinct kicks in. Usually it's

over just as fast as it came on, but '89 is still a very vivid memory. Definitely not fun.

Totally depends on what kind of quake it is too. The very harsh jolts are the worst, especially when they don't quickly stop. The slow rollers not so bad.

[villager]

16. Yup and yup. Though I've been in a few slow rollers where I've thought "shouldn't this be over now?"

and they went on -- just a wee bit long... ;-)

[FirstLight]

25. +1000!

that was exactly what i remember most about '89 in the Bay...at first your ready to 'ride it out' ...then... :scared: :hide:

[abelenkpe]

4. True words

:hug: for the eastcoast

[liberal N proud]

5. I was in an all day meeting we knew something happened just were not sure what

I was training employees all day and was running a video when I noticed the video on the screen was bouncing up and down.

I held my hand up to a straight line on the video and others confirmed it. We could not figure out why until after we were out of the meeting that we learned of the quake. It was the projector hanging from the ceiling shaking with the quake.

A bit surreal when you think about it.

We live on the west side of Cleveland.

[RKP5637]

6. I found it very uncomfortable when living in CA. To me it was the unknown, that

they happen without warning. The preparation of "just in case" got to me too, everything secured, wondering if the older frame house would survive, things like that. And watching Bay Bridge rebuilt.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Lovely post

Well played.

[jwhitesj]

8. Just 10x stronger and you get to the strength of some of the worse CA earthquakes

Of the last 30 years.

[Raine]

9. As a native Californian I agree. It must be

terribly frightening to have never felt one before, even when you have it's scary. As someone else posted when you're used to them you may give it a second or two longer before you panic. You know from experience when to move. If it goes a second longer you think "this IS the big one" and you go into survival mode and get out of danger! One that's a second or two heck you can go back to sleep but a longer one, you might tremble long after the earth has stopped moving. :scared:

[MorningGlow]

10. At least you guys move quickly

When my family and I were visiting my brother and SIL in California many years ago and a (small) earthquake hit, my SIL, a California native, was out of her chair and braced in a doorway while us East Coasters were sitting there going "Duh...wazzat?" ;)

[October]

11. Great post! Thanks!!!!

It's a bit daunting in our heavily populated 100-200 year old brick buildings.

These old buildings sometimes fall WITHOUT an earthquake!

[ohheckyeah]

12. Thank you and yes

once it goes beyond beyond a few seconds you realize it may get worse and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Hurricanes never shook me up particularly because I could prepare or leave but this was a whole different thing and I don't know how you stand it in California. I admire you and also wonder if you're crazy. ;-)

[Skinner]

13. Thanks for this.

I must admit, once it dawned on us that we were experiencing an earthquake, I was pretty damn scared. I'm 40 years old, and I've never felt a quake before.

[Xithras]

17. I've experienced them my entire life.

The first quake I ever experienced was the 5.6 Oroville quake in 1975. I don't remember it, but it hit on my first birthday. According to my mom, my grandmother was just starting to light the candle on my birthday cake when the room started rolling.

Like most Californians, I've experienced earthquakes all my life. And yes, I still get damn scared when a little jolt turns into a real rolling quake. That's something nobody ever gets used to.

[Booster]

14. I'm in CA also and everytime we have a good one and I live

through it I always find myself saying "damn, that was fun". The old adrenalin rush. lol

[AsahinaKimi]

18. I remember this..Like most San Franciscans, we were hip deep in it.

1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake TV Coverage (Part 12 of 15)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM6SoCMyeeQ

The quake killed 63 people throughout northern California, injured 3,757 and left some 3,000-12,000 people homeless.

[Hissyspit]

21. That was horrible. The two-level highway collapsing and crushing people in their cars.

I have lived on West Coast and East Coast and ANY earthquake could be the death of you. You don't REALLY know until the shaking stops.

[AsahinaKimi]

26. I am re watching video on Youtube right now

of the coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake TV Coverage (Part 1 of 15)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGxCD55fEQ

much of it was sketchy to me, but a lot of the footage is bringing it back. 21 years ago!!!

[Trajan]

19. We ?

Speak for yourself ....

[Curmudgeoness]

20. To be honest, it is scary, but the media is making more of this

than we are. Thanks for understanding, and the ribbing is not so bad. But remember that the media is the one that is all over this. We will be over it soon too.

[baldguy]

23. And when LA or San Francisco have a 5.8, do they feel it in Las Vegas?

[jeff47]

27. Usually not, thanks to geology.

The west coast is littered with faults that prevent the energy from propagating as far. In addition, the plates on the west coast are hotter, due to the constant earthquakes (there's 1's and 2's all the time, you can't feel it until about 3). Hotter plates are more flexible, which again dampens the energy propagation.

The plate on the east coast is cold, stiff and has few faults. So an earthquake happens in one place and the plate rings like a bell - the energy can travel very far.

[jeff47]

28. Self-delete (nt)

[LeftyMom]

24. Of course people freaked out in Sacramento. I've lived here all my life and never felt one.

No doubt I would have felt the '89 quake if I hadn't been in a car at the time, but since we're not on a fault or anywhere near a decent-sized fault, we only feel the really big ones elsewhere. I didn't even feel the one you mentioned, likely because I wasn't in a high-rise at the time.

[Xithras]

30. It was at 1:30 in the morning.

Most people either slept through the Yountville quake, or woke up as it was ending. Being wide awake in a high-rise, we felt it. A LOT. Most people in Sacramento woke up to the pictures of the destroyed houses on the news and said "There was an earthquake?" My wife was in Davis at the time, which was technically closer to the epicenter, and didn't feel it at all.

It was also interesting because, at 1:30 in the morning, the tower was dead quiet except for the clacking of about 20 keyboards. When the building started swaying, it also started GROANING. You could hear the popping, groaning, and squealing of the building coming from every direction as it flexed and twisted. The noise was disturbing enough, but the realization that there were more than 20 floors of steel and concrete perched over my head...that's what broke me.

[jeff47]

29. I disagree slightly

(Grew up in CA, now on east coast)

People who have not experienced many earthquakes are indeed "troubled" by any large one.

If you've been through enough, you can feel the difference between a large and a small quake. I am unable to describe the difference, it's just the nature of the shaking. A big one far away feels different than a little one under your feet, despite the fact that the ground is shaking the same amount where you are.

Anyway, since big ones feel different, you can quickly tell if it's a big one far away, or a little one. That can reduce panic, since you know it's big but far away. But you'll have to have experienced multiple 3's, and multiple 6+'s to really figure out the difference in feel.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. I avoid giving people any ribbing because of that

the last one... coffee starbucks, starts shaking, moved THAT FAST from the over head and window...

:hi:

Though the parrots fared well. I think they have gotten used to them

[PurityOfEssence]

33. Hell yes, they're scary...

I met my neighbors on the street in Hollywood after the Whittier Narrows quake in the late eighties. That was a bit rough. I was in the the second floor of our house in East Hollywood when the Northridge quake hit. Having refinished the floors, I was a bit fascinated by watching the rippling patterns in the 1930s wood of the floor, but it was quite a ride. It was quite surprising who didn't show up for work that day...

Yes, they're terrifying.

People who say they aren't are silly.

It's funny to imagine an Angeleno encountering a Hurricane, but having been through one myself, it's not really that funny. Imagine a Tornado; hell, that'd be a NIGHTMARE out here: we don't have basements.

Hopefully people are taking the japes and jabs with good spirit, and hopefully there aren't too many who seriously want to ridicule those facing such things.

Earthquakes are irrationally terrifying, even to those of us accustomed to them. Blah blah blah.

At least I've never been in one where one of my children was at risk; the last one we had here in Silver Lake (two miles NW of downtown L.A. two years ago) was in the afternoon and our house rode it out just fine.

Don't take the blather seriously. Anyone who isn't a bit scared is weird.

[LooseWilly]

34. Actually got one here (outside SF) tonight too... maybe a 4 tops... pshah.

Unless they last 20-30 seconds or more... I don't really think too much of them.

Odd to have them on both coasts on the same day though... maybe the Mole People Are Coming?!?!?!

[Warren DeMontague]

35. If East Coasters will agree to stop being so friggin' uptight about my LONG HAIR (see, I'm a MAN!)

every time I go out there, I'll shut up about the earthquakes.

I know, it's hard, when confronted with... a MAN.... with LONG HAIR!

No, see, a MAN!

With -get this- LONG HAIR!

Imagine that!

Go ahead, total stranger, ask me if I've got any WEED, since I'm a MAN with LONG HAIR! :hippie:

Sorry, my good sir, I must have left it all back in my sticker-covered VW Bus.

Happens every god-damn time I go to the East Coast, too. You'd think the fucking Dead didn't play some of their best shows ever in MSG, given how fucking flappy-handed and freaked out some of y'all apparently get around hippy-looking people.

[kentauros]

37. Earthquakes are also known sources of infrasound,

auditory vibrations below 20hz. Some of the effects on humans include feelings of anxiety, fear and panic. So, it's perfectly natural for anyone to react this way.

Here's the wikipedia source on Infrasound, and the University of Hawaii Infrasound Laboratory with sound samples :)