Earthquake hits the east coast !!!

[jessica]

I really should be sleeping...I usually have insomnia, even if I tried.

[Hector]

WOW! Did you Bay Area guys feel that small earthquake?

magnitude 3.6 2011/08/23 23:36:54 37.748N 122.137W 9.1 4 km ( 3 mi) NNE of San Leandro, CA

Ha!

You beat me to it...

[Hector]

Wow...we just had a little earth-shaker ourselves...just now...lol.

Sharry, Scott, Jess?

Bloody heck...why can't you East Coasters enjoy your earthquakes by yourselves just at least this once?

[jessica]

WOW! Did you Bay Area guys feel that small earthquake?

magnitude 3.6 2011/08/23 23:36:54 37.748N 122.137W 9.1 4 km ( 3 mi) NNE of San Leandro, CA

[Hector]

The newscasts were saying comparing an East Coast earthquake to a West Coast earthquake is like comparing apples and oranges ..... Basically because the East Coast is solid rock underground --- and the West Coast is more spungie.

It said a 5.8 quake on the West Coast would be way more subtle than here in the East.

For the most part...you are right...the East Coast is older, colder, and denser than the West Coast....as far as soil is concerned.

The seismic waves travel much farther in the east than in the west.

But "spungie" is a lot more dangerous that solid rock...that's why Mexico City's earthquake was so bad...because it sits atop an ancient lake...that's as "spungie as you can get.

San Francisco is solid rock....the entire city sits on rock-based hills.

The reason I'd say the West Coast takes a better earthquake...is because its infrastructure is more suited for earth-shakers...I think that's key.

But the reason we are in more danger than you...it's because California has major fault lines under the earth.

Landfills is a major issues...that stuff will sink in a major earhtquake.

"Bedrock absorbs more wave energy than sandy soils or landfill, so buildings on solid rock will be much less affected than those built on softer soils. And if softer soils have water in them, they can become a little like quicksand during an earthquake. When seismic waves pass through saturated soil, they give it a strong squeeze. The soil loses its strength and behaves like a liquid, a process called liquefaction. Buildings on top of liquefied soil sink, and often
topple."

Exploratorium: Faultline

[Mikey]

The newscasts were saying comparing an East Coast earthquake to a West Coast earthquake is like comparing apples and oranges ..... Basically because the East Coast is solid rock underground --- and the West Coast is more spungie.

It said a 5.8 quake on the West Coast would be way more subtle than here in the East.

[kingdom warrior]

Earth is a living/breathing planet...its center is nothing but magma and fire......continents perpetually shift ever so slowly...earthquakes are nothing but Earth farts...

Eeeeeeeeeeew

[Hector]

Earth is a living/breathing planet...its center is nothing but magma and fire......continents perpetually shift ever so slowly...earthquakes are nothing but Earth farts...

[Marty.N]

There was also an Earthquake today in New Mexico, Close to Colorado. It was a 5.3.

[Hector]

I understand that it must be strange & scary for the East Coast to experience a quake of this magnitude, especially post 9/11, and I can can completely empathize with individual reactions.

However, some of the hype & hysteria I see coming from the media & public officials would be borderline comical if it wasn't actually scaring people. It's almost as absurd as when L.A. gets a rainstorm projected to drop 1/4" of rain and the news crews switch to "STORM WATCH" mode.

Sleep soundly East Coast. The first aftershock is usually the worst, and I believe that one came in at 2.8? There is no threat of a Tsunami, the quake happened far enough inland and was not 7.5 or greater.

The good news is that it will probably be another century or so before the next one!

This is true.

But us, in California...we are going to get a MASSIVE one sooner or later...it's not going to be pretty...

[Hector]

5.9 is nothing to sneeze about...it's a pretty good earth-shaker.

I'd still get uneasy with a 5.9, but I've been through the Loma Prieta earthquake which was a 6.9...one of the Oakland double-decker freeways collapsed...and 50 people were crushed to death. One of the sections of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge roads collapsed...it's a miracle only one person was killed.

To put it in perspective, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a 7.8, yikes.

I also was in an earthquake in Mexico back in the 70s, I don't know what magnitude that one was...but it was scary.

Also, I had visited Mexico City back in 1984...I was lucky...because one year later (1985)...that city got hit with a monstrous 8.0, holy smokes.

Yes...any earthquake is scary...I myself don't like them...lol.

[johnmiic]

LOL...How did I know that was going to happen John...LOL

Joking aside...whenever stuff like this happens, I have 911 flashbacks and the 1st thought in my head is run home...I was outta there!!!

I have shelves of books, toys, DVD's, collectable figures and not a single item fell down. I didn't even wake up. By comparison when the 2nd plane hit the 2nd Tower on 9/11 the building where I worked was hit by a shock wave from the explosion. The windows wobbled like jello and everything seemed to get blurry as we were shook.

[HardyGirl]

Just got home a little while ago. I hope all the East Coast Megoheads are OK.

[VintageMike]

I barely felt it as I walking around but my co-workers who were at their desks definitely noticed. I called home dreading if any my stuff fell particularly my detolf full of Megos.
Luckily everything was fine!

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I expected to come home and find action figures all over the floor.... Hope everyone else's collections went unscathed!

Ironically the only one who fell off the shelf was my T2 Spider-man. The other non-wall-crawling Megos stayed where they were.

^I know there have been a lot worse earthquakes in the world, but my concern would be the fact that most everything built on the east coast is not designed to stand up to a shaking earth. Cracks found on Wash Monument