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Quake

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by santeewelding

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When it began, it began with a quease-inducing up and down and back and forth. As it intensified, the bay doors began to rattle. Then, really rattle.

"This is it," I thought.

The door out through a block wall is a bare arm's length and a half to the left of where I type. But, it was double-locked. It would take a moment of focus to unlock and open as the shaking grew more violent, the block wall most likely the first to catastrophically fail.

So I scooted my chair directly back while dismounting and slid under my other desk. This being a welding shop, I built the desk. The desk is designed to support two eighteen-wheel tractors piled on top of each other in static load.

Haven't found out yet about dynamic load.

Figured this time, I would.

I've been in Southern California since 1961. This is the closest I've been to something that big.

As it was, a small aluminum shim under my credenza was dislodged and hit my forehead. As soon as I recover, I will file with FEMA.

31 replies

by dr dij

we just finished up flood season, which came after fire season.

Quake season will be followed by riot season, and then fire season again.

Santee -
you may have caused this by working on sunday. (easter sunday too). Regardless of your religious preferences, you should be scarfing jelly beans and chocolate rabbits, to honor the easter bunny's negative rabit test I think (ask homer simpson?)

by santeewelding

A matter of not marking it on the analog calendar hanging by my desk?

I will see to this.

Once "quake season" is properly logged into the little boxes, I will have control over these matters.

Meantime, I drop my pants, bend over, and probitively kiss my ass good-bye.

by drowningnotwaving

So difficult to keep up in these testing times.

Very glad to hear the desk wasn't yet put to the test. At least, not yet in the quakabilty fashion :)

"A desk designed to support two eighteen wheel tractors in static load"? And to think I struggle just to fit the stapler and tissue box. Sometimes I feel so decidedly suburban ...

by hal 9000

You need a good lawyer to sue the person who is responsible for your injury.

Those Aluminum Shims can be lethal so you need to jump hard and quickly on the person who left it lying around and didn't fit it to the device it belongs in. ;)

Now do you need a Engineer to design a proper wall support? :0

Good to hear that it was nothing more than a bit of a shake to you though.

Col

by jamesrl

Live in LA County, in the hills.

They had a granfather clock fall on its face and a few things fall off some shelves.

Compared to fire season, they feel lucky.

James

by av .

I hope you're ok. You must feel really traumatized. I know I would be.

I can't even imagine "quease-inducing up and down and back and forth" if you're talking about the Earth.

AV

by Member 25348569

You and the rest of California! Big quake from what was reported in the news over here - 7.2 according to our papers. Sounds like it was far enough away from anywhere really populated, though.

Breathe again...

:D

by nicknielsen

In my four years in Riverside and Edwards, I suffered only a single noticeable quake. I was at March AFB; the epicenter was in Perris. The 3- or 4-something quake struck at oh-dark-hundred.

I woke up thinking "What is that?"

Answered myself "Earthquake."

Asked "Is the building falling down?"

Answered "No."

"Good"

...snore...

by santeewelding

Occurred as I crossed a street on foot at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, in 1962.

Transfixed, I watched a very large, heavy-trunk palm tree displace sideways and back, again and again, a good 12 inches, while old, WWII-built structures on either side of me rattled like hell. It was a 4.3.

"Okay," I thought. "So that's an earthquake."

I was suitably impressed.

Within days of that, again walking outside, there came an ominous sound from directly below. No motion. Just the sound, as though coming from a thousand miles straight down.

I counted myself as an authentic veteran from that time on.

Personally, I get a kick out of them. It's neat to realize that it's moving maybe a hundred miles in every direction, and there's no place to run to!

by geek3001

When I lived in Southern California I experienced several quakes, including the Whittier Narrows quake, the Landers quake and the Northridge quake. I got to the point that I would start counting the seconds and estimating the magnitude of the quake based on how long it lasted and whether it was a rolling motion or a rough, up and down motion. Then I would tune in to KFWB, the news station that went into 'All Earthquake, All the time' mode. They would contact Cal Tech for seismograph info and field calls from people who described what the quake was like in their areas. You could often get an idea of the epicenter based on damage reports, though there were exceptions caused by local soil conditions.

You get used to them as long as they are a distance away and your area is just experiencing a rolling motion.

On the other hand, if the epicenter is nearby, it can get pretty freaky watching the floor of the house twist in three dimensions. My wife remembers that because she was at home during the Whittier Narrows quake and the epicenter for that was about a mile from the house. (The main damage from the quake was a distance away, in the Whittier Hills.)

The family has since moved out of prime earthquake country, so when there were a couple of little earthquakes in the area, 3.6 and 4, we were quite at home. Oddly enough, the epicenter for the 4 was about half a block from some good friends of hours. They were quite frightened by the little thing.

by santeewelding

I think it's completely opposite.

Although local, the example of an earthquake on the scale of an individual has no "edge" (hence, no edge to run to and escape). In effect, it has no outside.

I could scale this up to the example of a sufficiently large asteroid breaking up and pummeling Earth with 100,000 catastrophic strikes over a 24-hour rotation. Where does the species run to?

"Edge" would only apply to someone far, far away in space sipping nectar, or something, who could appreciate "edge".

by rbull11

I lived in So Cal for a couple of decades, so have experienced some mid-level quakes. The title reflects my feeling after listening to all the Chicken Little reporters ("the sky really is falling") sounding as if the latest cat. 5 or 6 quake was The Big One (the one that increases the value of your beach-front property in Arizona).
I also grew up in So Fla, so listening to the same-minded reporters give a "You are there" broadcast 20 miles away from eye of the storm was always an entertaining experience.
One profound truth: there isn't time to run out and stock up on beer/booze and pretzels when an earthquake strikes. Hurricane parties, yes; earthquake parties, no.
Management quiz: What important management lesson can you find in this story?

by ron k.

Put them underneath something designed to withstand having two loaded semis and trailers on top of it in static load or place your booze in a padded gun safe along with the backup of your hard drive.

by ron k.

You might consider having two gun safes in case one falls into an abyss. You might hurt yourself if your first instinct is to dive after it.

by santeewelding

That's what I thought before I came here: the earth opens, yawns, and swallows you.

I have since learned differently.

For instance, in Michner's, [i]Centennial[/i], he details how the Rocky Mountains, as we know them, are a third iteration. Whether they each appeared in one shot, or took time, I don't know. If in one shot, that would qualify as opening, yawning, and swallowing damned-near everything in a spectacular show.

My booze, my guns, and my tablets might not make it.

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