Jan 09 2010

Yikes

Published by at 5:30 pm under Country Life

There was an earthquake about half an hour ago. It lasted about half a minute, which seems like a really long time when you’re listening to the characteristic rumble and watching your house shake around you. I have to admit that I have more safety concerns in my hippie hovel than I did in my gracious Pacific Heights apartment, but the house and I are fine.

The cats were completely unperturbed, and both Lucky and Luna wandered by a few minutes afterwards, so no ill effects were felt and nothing seems to have broken or fallen down.

Rob stopped by a few minutes ago and said that they were fine, too. We agreed that it was the strongest we’d felt in a long time. Preliminary reports say that it measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, which is considered “strong”. In comparison, the 1906 quake that destroyed so much of San Francisco was 7.2, but keep in mind that a quake measuring 7.0 is ten times stronger than one measuring 6.0.

Just a little reminder that we’re living on a fault line.
Update: We were lucky here. 18,000 people in Eureka, near the epicenter, lost power and there was damage. Residents also commented on the sharpness as I did.

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3 responses so far

3 Responses to “Yikes”

  1. Joyon 09 Jan 2010 at 6:15 pm

    WOW!!!!!!! Glad everyone is OK….

    jx

  2. Guyon 10 Jan 2010 at 5:26 am

    Earthquake. wow, must be quite a feeling sitting out there not being in control of what happens next, glad everyone is ok. Now you just have to wait for the after shocks.

  3. suzyon 10 Jan 2010 at 8:52 am

    It’s over fast, but it’s scary! There were a couple of little aftershocks, but nothing like the actual quake. We’re lucky to all be OK.