They say that the tremors from the earthquake in southern Illinois this morning could be felt in Chicago. We’re due west of Chicago about 80 miles. Building in Chicago were supposed to have swayed. (But then again, don’t the skyscrapers sway anyway?)
We were sleeping at 4:30 a.m. and didn’t feel a thing. The last quake we were supposed to have felt happened in the late '80’s. We missed that one, too. But we did have a fish that committed suicide by jumping out of it’s tank when the quake was supposed to have been occurring.
However, my parents and my sister and her family live about 70 miles from the epicenter of today’s quake. In an email today, they say they did feel it. No damage to the homes, though. I received an email from my bro-in-law (I call him BIL…he calls me BIL, too) just before 10:30 a.m. this morning:
From: Andersen Family [mailto:********@???.net]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: Did you feel it?
I just mapped the lattitudinal and longitudinal coordinates and found that, as the crow flies, the quake’s epicenter was 77 miles away from our corner lot.
Ooops. Just NOW, as I type, there’s another quake happening. Maybe an aftershock?
Earthquakes are pretty cool, we get them every now and again.
It’s not as cool when they drop a tv on your foot, though.
It’s a little bit disorienting the first time, you really don’t expect the ground to move. I mean it’s the ground, it’s solid, it’s always there. It’s the ground! But there you go, it moves. And you have to live with it. I suppose it changes you somehow. Maybe just slightly, but changes.
In my part of the world (Rhine river delta / coastal plain) we never have earthquakes. As long as I would be safe, and my property wouldn’t get damaged it would be interesting to experience one.
You guys should have gone to NAUCC/Unicon 11 in 2002 (Washington state). I don’t remember the date, in terms of whether it was during NAUCC or Unicon, but there was something like a 5 earthquake right in Snoqualmie (not sure where it was centered) that actually caused a slide on Mt. Si, the mountain that serves as a backdrop to the towns there. It happened during the early evening so you would have been awake, and it was very noticeable!
NO WAY!!
That same earthquake reached here!!
It was a 5.4 but I was awake and moving so I couldn’t feel it. But a lot of people at school that were sleeping felt it.
D’oh! Well, don’t wish for one too hard, you may get more than you want. My wife Jacquie was on Pier 39 in San Francisco when the 1989 'quake hit. She got the experience of watching the pier (a mall on a pier) ripple up and down, see buildings on fire, and spend several hours trying to get off the San Francisco peninsula and out of the danger zone (the Bay Bridge was damaged).
I was awake this morning when I heard my house making strange creaking noises. I thought maybe it was an earthquake even though I did not feel any shaking. I checked my clock to see what time it was. Found out later it was in fact an earthquake.
I have felt 3 or 4 earthquakes while living in this area since the 1960’s. None was serious and none lasted more than 2 or 3 seconds. One time, I was sitting at my computer when one hit. It felt like the floor shifted left about 3 inches then shifted back to the right and it was over in about 2 seconds.
I was once woken up by a tremor of sorts.
It was reported on the news but I can’t remeber the detail.
Living in Johannesburg does mean you’re basically living on hollow ground as the place has been mined rather extensively.
I was living in Southcentral Alaska at the time of the “Great Alaskan Earthquake” in '64. Damaged our home so bad we moved.
Alaska has over 100 earthquakes/day…just not felt.
The Nevada earthquake a month or two ago was felt very strong here.
Felt too many of them and prefer not to feel any more
I felt it, my alarm clock fell off my headboard and gave me a bit of a bruise on my head. As I awoke cursing and angry, I noticed the pictures were moving on the walls. I had no idea it was an earthquake till later that day.
I rememeber my parents used to have a large painting hanging over their bed head. My mother was worried it was going to fall and injure them, Dad refused to believe this, joking ‘it would take an earthquake to knock that off the wall’.
Early that next morning there was an earth tremor.
needless to say, that picture now hangs in the hall.
