Trauma – PTSD » PTSD » MB shaking like a leaf, what the hell was that?????

MB shaking like a leaf, what the hell was that?????

Question:

Not to worry, folks.  A 5.2 is just enough to get your attention…Consider it practice for that fabulous vacation in So. CA!!! Mary Beth, stunned

Response:

I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole  house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

I don’t know whether to be glad for you that you didn’t imagine it or not! is everyone ok? — wolfbitch Laz Spashett "damaged people are dangerous, they know they can survive"

Response:

here, coming from PA. my first seattle earthquake (5.5) confused the hell out of me too. first thought the upstairs neighbors were being extra noisy, then noticed the ceiling sort of…   flexing. by the time i realized i should be under a table or something, it stopped. then my first sanfrancisco earthquake was a wee little quick shock followed by another wee little quick shock. sounded like the neighbors were playing catch with an anvil and occasionally dropping it. startling at first, aren’t they? Erik is getting used to them now.

The ones we’ve felt in Atlanta have been pretty mild, so mild I thought I was just feeling symptoms of a panic attack until a seismologist said we should feel the tremors from Kentucky/Tennesee based tremors, which are more frewquent than most realize. After I read that, the next time I felt the odd feeling of a floor shifting under my feet for just a few seconds I checked the papers next day and sure enough, buried in the paper, there would be a notice of a mild earthquake in the Southeast… Sandra

Response:

Everyone is ok, it was just so strange. I mean we don’t get earthquakes around here. I believe this is the first one ever here. Now I wonder what this means? Are we going to have another one? And do all of them have aftershocks and when do they happen? Mary Beth, with spinning head

We used to live on a major fault (for Massachusetts), and while we lived there we had three earthquakes that I can remember.  I think the biggest was about a 3.2; it made a noise like a clap of thunder. There were tiny aftershocks for these.  You might not even notice them.  The East Coast is fairly old geologically (that’s why our mountains are so rounded), and not nearly as active as the West Coast. Bluebird

Response:

fine, didn’t affect our area.   "They cry in the dark so you can’t see their tears.  They hide in the light so you can’t see their fears.  Meanwhile love & pain become one in the same in eyes of a wounded child."

Response:

Bluebird, When I was in Mass, they said there were three earthquakes.  I didn’t feel ‘em.  But one happened when I had my youth group on retreat in Groton, Mass.  We were in a cbin, in a discussion session, when all of a sudden the gutter pipe all around the cabin came falling down, making a terrible noise.  The camp manager came a little later and said there’d been an earthquake, and he feared the cabin’s structure may have shifted, since the gutter came off.  So, we had to move to another cabin.  And I never felt a thing! — Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about things that matter.                                         Martin Luther King, Jr.

Response:

<snip Five minutes later, the news stopped the here, coming from PA.

I just heard about it on the news. We didn’t feel it here but apparently they picked up some vibrations, in Toronto anyways. I’m still waiting for the details. Hope everyone is OK. Naomi

Response:

-snip- here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

I didn’t feel it here.  But when I lived in San Diego for 5 years there were a few.  Once the bed started to shake in the middle of the night, and I jumped up out of bed and ran to stand in the front doorway of my condo. I had heard that doorways are one of the more stable areas of a house, and of course the front doorway allowed quick access out of the house in case of a collapse or something.  After a few seconds I looked around rather sheepishly to realise that I was the only guy around standing at a doorway in his underwear.  :-) Sincerely Stewart — The Metaphor Man  *and*  The Great Defender of the Self (remove the SPAMBLOCK)

Response:

Going outdoors can be just as, if not MORE, dangerous, depending….  If you’re under of a wall of glass (office buildings are frequently like that), or an old building with decorations, or near any power lines that could fall….  etc.  

You’re right of course.  I was just thinking of being in the suburbs. I’ve been through a few where I was in the land of one story buildings and big yards.  But yeah, in the land of multi-story buildings, *no* yards and power lines/ electric bus lines etc. right over head, stay indoors and in a doorway. It might be best to be IN a doorway.  Possibly an outer door?  I *think* the outer doors have support around them because the outside walls support the bulk of roof’s weight, right?  (ANY HOUSING ARCHITECTS AROUND HERE?)

Other than that, I think *under* tables and desks are the prefered locations doorway.  Doorways are pretty good places if stuff’s gona drop on you. Outside in the open is best.  It’s pretty cool to watch the ground roll by like waves on the ocean. Not something you see every day.  :^) Unless you go through earthquakes frequently, it’s probably not a good idea to think first of going outside….  because of things falling off the sides of tall buildings, which can gain the speed of a projectile after a certain length…  Perhaps it’s better to think "outer doorway"….  then you don’t have to try to determine if outside is safe enough in the heat of the moment….. eh?

You’re absolutely right…. Like I said, I was thinking of being in the suburbs.  stay indoors, they don’t last that long anyway. I was in SF for the big quake in `89 and that was an 8.2. The intensity and destructive power goes up by orders of magnitude, so an 8.2 is *exponentially* bigger than what you just went through.   Do you know what the exponent is?  Is it a full 10?  as in each one is 10 times stronger?  n=10(n-1)?

Good question, I don’t honestly know.  An exponent can me any number, but as they use it in earthquakes I’m, not sure.  I know that there is an *immense* difference between an 8.2 and an 8.9.   The upper floors of a skyscraper out here can whip back and forth over 20-30 ft arcs. It’ll send full filing cabinets flying around room.  There’s an E-Ticket ride! In which case, stay more towards the center…?

Boy, I don’t know if you get much choice in a situation like that.  I remember the ‘89 quake was just  booooooooom  and you were in it.  Mostly I remember that it really lasted a long time, lot’s longer than usual.  I was on Russian Hill, at the time –pretty solid ground– so it didn’t feel so much stronger, just longer than what I’d ever been through.  I didn’t believe it when I heard that the Bay Bridge had been seriously damaged or that the freeway had come down.   How you experience one really depends on the type of ground under you. Out here a 5.2 is like feeling a big truck drive by.  Nobody even bothers to get up out of their chairs in a resturant.  It’s like, "Oh, did we just have an earthquake?  Waiter, I’d like more bread please." This is true.

I wonder how long it’s been since there’s been a quake in ohio?  Anybody know — greg :: Bodhisattva with a real bad attitude         Take the *JUNKMAIL out of my addy to reply by email

Response:

here, coming from PA.

my first seattle earthquake (5.5) confused the hell out of me too. first thought the upstairs neighbors were being extra noisy, then noticed the ceiling sort of…   flexing. by the time i realized i should be under a table or something, it stopped. then my first sanfrancisco earthquake was a wee little quick shock followed by another wee little quick shock. sounded like the neighbors were playing catch with an anvil and occasionally dropping it. startling at first, aren’t they? Erik  is getting used to them now. Erik Martin Schneider rhetorician of sorts http://www.concentric.net/~catdoc ErikTrips on AOL instant messenger

Response:

We had one here in Toronto too, it was very small though, I don’t think there were any injuries or damage. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the not here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – However they are predicting one before the turn of the century that is suppose to register 7.0 or higher. Ick. Anyway, hope your ok. Missy Missy, remember when some scientist had predicted a specific date for a major quake in the New Madrid Fault? I moved from Chicago to Atwood the very day he said the quake would happen.  I kept thinking, "I would pick this day to move downstate!"  But it was as disappointing as the Pres’s videotaped testimony :)

    Yes I remember that.  I was in the Air Force at the time stationed in N. Dakota and  was watching live newscasts from this area.     Missy – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – — Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about things that matter.                                         Martin Luther King, Jr.

Response:

Unless you’re not used to it, eh? That is it. No, nothing even came off the shelves. No damage in the whole area and no reports of any injuries. BUT around here, it is just so weird. I mean I never felt it before.

It made the news out here, I just saw it.  The news anchors said there were no reports of damage, and made a few comments about how folks were taking it, never having experienced it before. In realted news, they are just finisihing rebuilding the Cypress Freeway in Oakland, which got knocked down completely during the ‘89 quake. I remember that all the lights in the city were out for several days.  I lived on Russian Hill at the time, and everyone was having parties on their roofs while we watched the fires in the Mariana burn. It was a pretty amazing evening. You guys are too funny. Yes, it is an aftermath of the Buffalo meet! Pretty powerful group we are!

I heard it was a real "rock ‘n roll" party. I haven’t felt this way since the first time I went to bed with Terry….. Mary Beth

BWAAHAHAHAH… Soooo…. between you and Terry, it’s been all done hill from there, eh? — greg :: Bodhisattva with a real bad attitude         Take the *JUNKMAIL out of my addy to reply by email

Response:

However they are predicting one before the turn of the century that is suppose to register 7.0 or higher. Ick. Anyway, hope your ok. Missy

Missy, remember when some scientist had predicted a specific date for a major quake in the New Madrid Fault? I moved from Chicago to Atwood the very day he said the quake would happen.  I kept thinking, "I would pick this day to move downstate!"  But it was as disappointing as the Pres’s videotaped testimony :) — Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about things that matter.                                         Martin Luther King, Jr.

Response:

MB, we’re glad you’re OK!  Just saw it on the news, it was centered just outside of Sharon PA.  Ed and I didn’t feel a thing, and the cats were both sleeping all afternoon (and you know they’re supposed to be sensitive to earthquakes and danger), so nothing to worry about here.  I know how you feel though…I felt a minor earthquake a decade ago in NJ, one that was centered in Quebec.  The bed was shaking and the hangers in the closet were jangling together…it is NOT a pleasant feeling, especially for us easterners.  Once again, glad you’re OK. melody (wonder if it was just MB and Terry making the earth move again) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the not here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

Response:

Unless you’re not used to it, eh?

That is it. No, nothing even came off the shelves. No damage in the whole area and no reports of any injuries. BUT around here, it is just so weird. I mean I never felt it before. You guys are too funny. Yes, it is an aftermath of the Buffalo meet! Pretty powerful group we are! I haven’t felt this way since the first time I went to bed with Terry….. Mary Beth

Response:

Wow, are you ok?  I know that can be scarry. Even way down here in Southern Illinois we get earthquakes also. The first time I ever expierenced one scared me very much. It was in the middle of the night and I was in bed. My bed started shaking and all I could think of was that someone was under my bed and they were gonna get me. Every one else in my family slept through the whole thing. Since then we have had numerous "little" ones.  They have never gone higher than 5.0 However they are predicting one before the turn of the century that is suppose to register 7.0 or higher. Ick. Anyway, hope your ok. Missy – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole  house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

Response:

MB, My friend lives in LA and had horrible PTSD after the Jan 19 Northridge earthquake cuz they had like constant aftershocks that were strong. But a 5 pointer shouldn’t have too many aftershocks, especially if it isn’t an area of major geographic activity. Hope you are ok. Love, Nik "So it’s Rorschach and Prozac and everything is groovy"  Nick Cave, Murder Ballads  Home Page – http://members.aol.com/niknik7/main.html

Response:

Everyone is ok, it was just so strange. I mean we don’t get earthquakes around here. I believe this is the first one ever here. Now I wonder what this means? Are we going to have another one? And do all of them have aftershocks and when do they happen? Mary Beth, with spinning head

Mary Beth, A 5.2 is just a little baby quake, I bet you didn’t even get anything dropping out of your cupoards, or sliding off your shelves. You may or may not get some after shocks, but they are usually all *smaller* than the first big slip.  So I wouldn’t worry too much, just enjoy it. You know that what you want to do is either get outside, or get in a doorway.  Doorways are pretty good places if stuff’s gona drop on you. Outside in the open is best.  It’s pretty cool to watch the ground roll by like waves on the ocean. Not something you see every day.  :^) I was in SF for the big quake in `89 and that was an 8.2. The intensity and destructive power goes up by orders of magnitude, so an 8.2 is *exponentially* bigger than what you just went through.  The upper floors of a skyscraper out here can whip back and forth over 20-30 ft arcs. It’ll send full filing cabinets flying around room.  There’s an E-Ticket ride! Out here a 5.2 is like feeling a big truck drive by.  Nobody even bothers to get up out of their chairs in a resturant.  It’s like, "Oh, did we just have an earthquake?  Waiter, I’d like more bread please." Now lightning —  *that’s* scary!  We don’t have lightning storms out here that often, so I’m not used to it.  I hear a big crack, and I jump out of my skin.  Particularly when I’m backpacking up above treeline.  Lightning up there at 11,000 ft with nothing but granite around me is a real hoot! NOT. But a 5.2 earthquake? Just roll over and go back to sleep, it’s no big deal. Unless you’re not used to it, eh? =8^0 — greg :: Bodhisattva with a real bad attitude         Take the *JUNKMAIL out of my addy to reply by email

Response:

Everyone is ok, it was just so strange. I mean we don’t get earthquakes around here. I believe this is the first one ever here. Now I wonder what this means? Are we going to have another one? And do all of them have aftershocks and when do they happen? Mary Beth, with spinning head

– I went through an earthquake once in New Zealand. Very unsettling. Nothing Broken? From my experience the after shocks are very minor after the main shake. The first was after an hour or so and it was like a truck passing. The rest were less than that. Laughed at your story about the phone call. Glenn The beginning of wisdom is the ability to say "I do not know" – Gandhi

Response:

Oh my god!  When I lived in San Francisco, I was only through a few earthquakes (not the big one in 89, thank god), and it was the *scariest* thing in the world, because I grew up in NY, the earth just does *not* move. I hope everyone is ok!! Minx

Everyone is ok, it was just so strange. I mean we don’t get earthquakes around here. I believe this is the first one ever here. Now I wonder what this means? Are we going to have another one? And do all of them have aftershocks and when do they happen? Mary Beth, with spinning head

Response:

I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole  house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the before, not here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

Oh my god!  When I lived in San Francisco, I was only through a few earthquakes (not the big one in 89, thank god), and it was the *scariest* thing in the world, because I grew up in NY, the earth just does *not* move. I hope everyone is ok!! Minx

Response:

I thought for a brief moment i was hallucinating again. Scared the shit out of me. I was sitting on my couch and the couch started to shake, then my whole  house started to shake, the windows rattling, the earth moving. I looked outside, no rain, no wind. I thought oh my God this is an earthquake. I jumped up, grabbed the phone to call the local news and stopped. I could hear it "Local mentally ill women calls frantically to news delusional over earthquake and we have never had any here." I didn’t call. Five minutes later, the news stopped the here, coming from PA. Hey Stewart, hey Braworker, he Becky…. you guys ok over there?????? Mary Beth, stunned

Response:

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