1/07/2011

QUAKE!!!

This afternoon, around 4:15pm, the Bay Area experienced an EARTHQUAKE that measured 4.1 on the Richter Scale. This is the first time I've been in an earthquake and while it was "cool" it was very, very weird. I was sitting at my computer when I heard a dull rumble and my chair slightly shook. I thought, "man that's a big truck going by" but then I realized that my office is nowhere near a road so I wouldn't feel a truck going by. Then the rumbling got louder and I felt the building shift slightly, it felt like I was dizzy or drunk but then so was the ground I was sitting on. Very weird feeling. I got up and then realized that people were pouring out of there offices talking about an "earthquake" and sure enough a few minutes later reports came in that a 4.1 magnitude earthquake had occurred. Wow...

It lasted only seconds but it felt a lot longer and as excited as I was this afternoon to actually be in an earthquake, I dread the thought of being in a larger one. If buildings moved that much in a 4.1, how much would they move in "the big one". Whoa!

4 comments:

F said...

Are you from the Bay Area? My husband and I are from San Jose, CA and live in Singapore right now. I hope there are no earthquakes in Singapore!

Flora

BEADLE said...

Yikes ! Glad you guys are ok ! Natsuko and I experienced a few smaller earthquakes in Japan. One of them I managed to sleep through :)

your pal,
Beadle

Tio Victor said...

After looking at your picture, I thought it had been a bigger one. 4.1 is NOTHING... I've been in two BIG Ones (7.8 in Acapulco/'78 and 8.5 in the Bay Area/'89)

CAMacKinnon said...

It also depends on how deep the hypocenter, or focus, of the quake is. A 4.1 near the surface would be worse than a 4.1 300km down.