To those who have experienced an earthquake..what does it feel like?

[NY Disney fan]

Can you share what it feels like? What were you doing when it happened?

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I've been through a few. I can remember one from when I was a kid that felt like somebody was just shaking the entire house. We had a few things fall off of shelves but no other real damage. A few years ago I was at my sisters and DH was just dying to be in an earthquake - he thought it would be cool. Well DSis and I were up getting breakfast when it happened. I swear you could almost see the ground roll just like you were on the ocean. She lost about 2 feet of water out of her pool from it sloshing around. And DH slept through the whole thing. He got up just in time to see the water still sloshing back and forth in the swimming pool.

 

[minniecarousel]

Can you share what it feels like? What were you doing when it happened?

Sometimes it feels like a truck has hit the side of your house, other times it's the the house has wheels, but you're not going anywhere. Light fixtures will swing. Sometimes things on the wall or on the edge of a shelf will fall off. Sometimes I'll feel one upstairs, but DH won't feel it downstairs. We were very close to the epicenter of one a few weeks ago, and we really felt it. Other people didn't, as they were in the same valley, but further away from the epicenter.

 

[disneyhand]

Many here in Southern California. So far never one that caused more than minor damage near me. Depends on where it's centered and the magnitude.

The ground ground sort of rolls, if you're standing. You sway sort of like that feeling when you drink too much. Many times I've been asleep in bed and by the time you wake up, it's over and you're thinking what was that? We've been lucky that ours were minor or especially lucky that we were far from the center.

 

[SDFgirl]

I've only been in one. DH and I were sound asleep and at about 5am, it felt as if someone as at the end of our bed, lifting the bed and letting it fall quickly back to the floor. It only lasted 5 or 6 seconds. By the time we realized what was going on, it was over.

 

[emma'smom]

I was in one in Hawaii a few years ago. It wasn't a major one (no deaths, etc), but it was big enough that it knocked out power to the island the rest of the day.

Anyway, it was at about 7:30 in the morning and we were at a hotel on right on the ocean. I was standing at a breakfast buffet when the floor just started to rock. I reached out to try to steady myself by grabbing on to the edge of the buffet, but it was rocking to--so it wasn't much help. The PP is right, it felt a bit like being a little tipsy. Anyway, everyone just sort of yelped and the lights blinked on and off--and then out.

Of course, being from Ohio, we were clueless about the potential dangers and just thought it was cool. My colleague and I just finished our breakfast (we were sitting right next to huge plate glass windows overlooking the ocean--so plenty of light) and couldn't figure out why the staff looked so concerned. However, they were clearly rattled. We were blissfully ignorant!

Of course, it was because the whole restaurant was lined with huge, plate glass windows overlooking the ocean, and they were waiting for word about potential aftershocks and tsunamis.

Finally, they cleared the restaurant for safety's sake and moved everyone inside the main lobby (or you could just leave). No elevators working meant that we couldn't easily get to our rooms (on the 20th floor) and the conference we were attending was delayed. The lights in Honolulu didn't come back on until late evening, so it was an odd day of wandering around with mostly other tourists who were just as out of their element as we were. Eventually we walked the 20 flights up to our room for the night----and then the lights came on.

 

[Heidict]

Never been in any major ones, just the small ones. You see things swaying, stuff falls off of shelfs and you feel the ground moving. As BriarfoxinWA said, you feel the house shaking.

Family that have been in bigs ones say that it's hard to mantain your balance and that you can and often do get knocked to the ground from it.

 

[mickeyboat]

I was in one in Vermont about 25 years ago. It was about 6AM and it woke me up. It felt like someone was pushing the bed back and forth. I thought it was the train going by vibrating the house, but realized it was a much larger movement than the train.

 

[daisax]

I felt one in downtown Boston about 20 years ago. It was the day after Thanksgiving, I think, because I had gone to the fridge and gotten a slice of pie. Sat on the sofa and just as I did so, felt a jolt. Thought "maybe I don't need this pie after all." Then the closet door across the room opened on its own, and the whole room seemed to move away and then move back to me.

Naturally, I picked up the phone and called my mother who lived 20 miles away and said "are we having an earthquake?" She thought I was drinking or something (and I don't drink) and said "no." I hung up, decided I was NOT imagining things and ran down the stairs to the street, where I was the only American who had come outside -- the others were all foreign students, asking me what the heck had just happened.

Apparently right after we hung up, they had come on the news and confirmed that Boston had a small earthquake. Since I was in the Back Bay, on landfill, our building would have felt it more than some other areas built on firmer ground.

 

[noodles]

We had a big one here about 8 years ago. My entire house was shaking and rolling. It lasted a full minute and I had to grab my 2 year old and stand in a bathroom doorway because I though for sure something was going to fall down around me. We were in a new housing development and after it was all over I went outside the the roofers across the street were scrambling down of the roof. That is not where I would have wanted to be!

The earthquake was bad but not being able to get ahold of my DH or kids cause the phone lines were down was really hard.

There is a video on youtube that shows how it felt. Search Nisqually quake and click on the Seattle Quake video by National Geographic. They have video from that day.

 

[MosMom]

I've been in a few. Nothing over a 5.6. It feels like you're standing on jello and someone is wiggling it. It is the most bizarre feeling.

One I was standing in the front door holding 2 suitcases and it rolled through me. Another I was sitting at my computer desk and everything started shaking and shifting. The third was just about a year ago and I was in the bedroom when the lamps started shaking then I felt the rolling.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I've been in SO many!

I think the feeling starts in your legs and quickly jumps to your stomach. You just feel the earth move. Things around you sway and sometimes you feel a jolt and then movement. Imagine being on a cart being pulled by a donkey...it goes in spurts and jolts yet there is movement under your feet.

Then, in about three seconds, your brain wraps around, "Oh, earthquake." Then you immediately go into "Is this a big one or a baby?" and you are HYPER aware for about 5-20 seconds, depending on how long it lasts.

Then, your brain goes: rocker or roller?

You want a roller. Rockers cause damage.

And then you think: Oh, should I go under something and then you do, just to be safe. (And take your cupcake with you! ~See tag~)

And then it is over and then you get really excited and worried. Is anyone hurt in your immediate area? How wide-spread is it? Does anyone need help? Gas lines, flashlights, fish tank, check, check, check.


I'll take earthquakes over ANY other natural event, just because I think I have it all down to a science. (And many safety kits all over my immediate areas, too.)

 

[momrek06]

Can you share what it feels like? What were you doing when it happened?

NY Disney Fan, just curious, why are you asking?

I felt one in downtown Boston about 20 years ago.

Wow, lived my whole life in Boston...until 2008...I don't remember this at all but Wow!


Being new to Southern CA...(1 year), I had just moved here 07/01/08 and SoCal had a 5.3 earthquake at the end of July. = ME! I was really really freaked out. The entire apt shook. All the paintings on the wall shifted. A few picture frames on the end tables fell over. That was about it. It was all of maybe 30 seconds but to me it felt like 30 minutes! I did NOT like this at all. Well since then we have had a few minor ones and I am adjusting.

 

[biolabetty]

Been in too many to count. It's got to the point that if it isn't over a 4.0, no one even pays attention to it. We live very close to where the center of the Northridge quake was in 1994. That one wasn't a gentle roll but more of a severe jerk. I couldn't even get out of our bed. My sewing machine literally flew across the room and went through my large standing mirror. I know of some people who had a grand piano flip over on its top.

We had quite a bit of damage from that one, and had no electricity or water for days. Preparation is key in earthquake country. I had created earthquake kits that we kept stored in different places around the house that had emergency supplies. We used them, but they were difficult to get to because of the damage. What I thought was interesting was that my son, who was 5 at the time, slept through the entire thing.

 

[krcit]

NY had a small one a few years ago. I was in bed and felt the whole thing shake. It was over pretty quickly but I said to my DH "I think that was an earthquake." He looked at me like I was nuts but sure enough it was on the news that it had been. I can't imagine how scary a big earthquake is. I hope I never find out!

 

[bicker]

I was in a 2.5 in SF about 15 years ago... I was up on the 45th floor of a skyscraper, and it was a little, uh, interesting, but not anything unlike what I expected it to be: A little vibration, and a little residual swaying afterward.

I was sure glad that it was a building up to SF code.

 

[Freyja]

The last big earthquake we had here was 6,3 on Richter and it felt like the entire house was riding the waves (on the ocean). It was kind of loud and it felt like I was being pushed down onto the couch where I was sitting. My then 3 week old baby was in his car seat just a couple of feet from me but I couldn´t stand up to get him. His car seat was rocking so bad that I thought it would flip over. Doors and chandeliers were swinging and the whole things lasted for about a minute. Seemed like an eternity though.

 

[Heidict]

I'll take earthquakes over ANY other natural event, just because I think I have it all down to a science. (And many safety kits all over my immediate areas, too.)

I know. I'm the same way. I grew up in California so I have all the drills from school drilled into my head so I feel "prepared" in an earthquake, but a tornado.................FORGET IT!! Those things scare me!!

Even though I'm in CT now, I still won't put my bed under a window or hang anything heavy or breakable over above me bed. I'm positive we are going to get one here at sometime and I don't want things falling and breaking on me in the middle of the night. My DH thinks I'm crazy, but one day he may thank me.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I was in a minor one once. It felt as if a big animal were crawling under the apartment building, making it kind of roll and shake. My roommate was in the bathroom, which shared a room with my bedroom. The quake started and before I could even figure out what was going on, she yelled out, "Quit it!" She thought I was pushing on the wall against the toilet to scare her.

 

[Imzadi]

The ground ground sort of rolls.

It's like surfing on a wave. I was sitting at my desk looking at the computer. I felt a very small tremor, but it was the way it happened that was scary. I saw & heard the right side of the desk shake, then it moved to the center (and me) and shook, then it slide to the far left of the desk, then I heard the rest of the room tremble a bit as it kept moving left and away. The tremor was like a wave, it literally surfed through the ground.

NY Disney Fan, just curious, why are you asking?

Are you preparing for Dec 21. 2012?