Buddy's and Earthquakes

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 1:56 am

So I had my first (noticeable) quake in 37 years of being in DC. This town PANICKED. When I was leaving at 4pm, it was total grid lock. Streets were shut down all around NW DC around the hospital near where I was parked.

Threw my burkenstocks in the saddlebags and threw on my boots and walked the buddy down hill to Constitution/Highway 66. One they way the cars moved a total of 1 foot. One poor lady totally lost it and started screaming uncontrollably in frustration and was beating her steering wheel with her hands. Oh well! Sucks to be you cager, I have my buddy!

I HOVed it home and got to my house 30 miles away in less than an hour. Buddy to the rescue!

peabody99 · Post by **peabody99** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:09 am

Born in DC and raised in NOVA, I have found Washingtonians to have an under developed skill set for dealing with a lot of different scenarios. For instance, 1 inch of snow results in pandemonium. I cannot imagine the quake. I am a bit of a nerd and keep hoping to experience a MINOR quake (where no one is hurt of course) and keep missing them. Cleveland, DC, my former locales got them, and now I am in CA...not even a quiver

Plisar · Post by **Plisar** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 5:37 am

You missed all of those EQ's last year?

mattgordon · Post by **mattgordon** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:44 am

peabody99 wrote:?.... and now I am in CA...not even a quiver

a matter of time is all.

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 1:58 pm

mattgordon wrote:
peabody99 wrote:?.... and now I am in CA...not even a quiver
a matter of time is all.

We're seriously overdue. Which reminds me, I gotta freshen up the ol' EQ preparedness kit.

pdxrita · Post by **pdxrita** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:52 pm

peabody99 wrote:Born in DC and raised in NOVA, I have found Washingtonians to have an under developed skill set for dealing with a lot of different scenarios. For instance, 1 inch of snow results in pandemonium. I cannot imagine the quake. I am a bit of a nerd and keep hoping to experience a MINOR quake (where no one is hurt of course) and keep missing them. Cleveland, DC, my former locales got them, and now I am in CA...not even a quiver

You will certainly experience an earthquake if you stay in California for long. You probably already have lived through a number of them, but it's hard to even notice any quake that registers less than 4 or so on the Richter scale. If it's a 4, you might have a moment of, "huh - what was that?" before you even realize it was a quake. A nearby 5 or greater will get your attention and you'll realize it's a quake pretty quickly. My biggest quake was Loma Prieta in Northern CA back in '89. It was a 6.9 and was one of those "tell your grandkids about it" type of experiences.

BootScootin'FireFighter · Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:53 pm

it was an exciting day, let me tell ya!

I watched an interesting video about quakes.. "Deadliest Earthquakes" from the NOVA series on PBS, it's available on Netflix instant stream. Never understanding how earthquakes happen, nobody has successfully laid it out to me on street level like this video did.

This was quite an interesting commute back in January. Can you imagine being stuck in your car for 13 hours?? No exit for miles and no way to turn around. I don't understand some people's logic when they blindly commit to the Parkway or I-66 during incliment weather. Like brainless cattle.

peabody99 · Post by **peabody99** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:03 pm

Plisar wrote:You missed all of those EQ's last year?

yup. I was not here for the Easter quake. My husband was out interviewing in May of last year and felt pretty strong aftershocks....and then more or a new quake later when he was living out here before me (I was 3 months behind him). Then Cleveland had one last year-but I did not feel it where I was located-but spouse and coworkers downtown did.

Stormswift · Post by **Stormswift** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 5:04 pm

I was happy to see my Dobby still standing after the quake. As for the hurricane - I solved that problem of no garage by putting it in storage for a couple of days. We have people panicking here in Baltimore also any time they see a snowflake. I want at least one of my vehicles safe in case the cars that sit outside get damaged.

jrsjr · Post by **jrsjr** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 5:17 pm

Stormswift wrote:I want at least one of my vehicles safe in case the cars that sit outside get damaged.

Good thought! I just moved my car to the far end of the property from where my scooter is garaged. Now it'll take two trees to immobilize me. Course, we have lots of trees...

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:37 am

Ho hum...what was that...another quake? Whatever...back to what ever it was I was doing...

Roose Hurro · Post by **Roose Hurro** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:47 am

pdxrita wrote:You will certainly experience an earthquake if you stay in California for long. You probably already have lived through a number of them, but it's hard to even notice any quake that registers less than 4 or so on the Richter scale. If it's a 4, you might have a moment of, "huh - what was that?" before you even realize it was a quake. A nearby 5 or greater will get your attention and you'll realize it's a quake pretty quickly. My biggest quake was Loma Prieta in Northern CA back in '89. It was a 6.9 and was one of those "tell your grandkids about it" type of experiences.

Can't remember the date, but I remember when a quake took down the freeway overpasses, way back when I was a kid... saw the mess that quake left behind. Luckily, my grandparents, who lived close enough to the area to get hit, only suffered minor damage to their home, with no injuries. I remember some were not so lucky (my grandparents lived in a trailerpark, and I believe one of their neighbors had their trailer slide off its foundation).

lilguy · Post by **lilguy** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:16 pm

I'm from CA, experienced the Loma Prieta quake, and have been living in MA for some years now. It was part comical and part annoying how freaked out everyone was here about the earthquake.

mukaiboston · Post by **mukaiboston** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:52 pm

Don't forget to mention the hurricane that swept through DC and made its way past Boston. I tied my Buddy down, afraid it would be blown away.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 7:56 pm

poor buddys

Drum Pro · Post by **Drum Pro** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:18 am

I was in that big North ridge earthquake. Living in California you get use to them fairly quickly. I happen to live not too far from the San Andreas fault so I make sure I'm properly planed for "the big one".

Stormswift · Post by **Stormswift** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:21 pm

Anyone who really wants to prepare for the "Big One" should start practicing yoga. Makes kissing your tail good-by much easier.

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:37 am

Speaking of earthquakes, we just had another one today (2nd one today) a few minutes ago. Only a 3.9, but felt a bit stronger because it was very abrupt and sharp. At first I just heard a creaking sound and was in the middle of wondering what it was when the whole building shook vertically. Oh well, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Lostmycage · Post by **Lostmycage** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:23 am

I think the big difference is you San Andreas folks are used to it. Us Mineral folks are used to our fault minding it's own business.

I missed this thread when it happened, but I was at work in Hanover when it happened (in an old plantation house from 1803). That was definitely a new experience for me and everyone I know.

I just hope everyone is and remains safe, but I have never heard recounts of riding a bike during a quake. It's bound to have happened, but where are the stories?!

babblefish · Post by **babblefish** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:38 am

Lostmycage wrote:I think the big difference is you San Andreas folks are used to it. Us Mineral folks are used to our fault minding it's own business.

I missed this thread when it happened, but I was at work in Hanover when it happened (in an old plantation house from 1803). That was definitely a new experience for me and everyone I know.

I just hope everyone is and remains safe, but I have never heard recounts of riding a bike during a quake. It's bound to have happened, but where are the stories?!

Heh, when I first read your thread I thought you were saying that you felt an earthquake at work in Hanover in 1803. "Geez, I didn't know Lostmycage was that old..."

No one was hurt during this one as far as I've heard, but then, a 3.9 is pretty small. If you were driving a car or even a bike, you'd probably wouldn't have felt it.

Lostmycage · Post by **Lostmycage** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:46 am

Hah! I should clarify. The old plantation house that we have our office in is from 1803, not me. I'm almost 2 centuries newer. Well, two centuries minus a few decades.

LunaP · Post by **LunaP** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:59 pm

peabody99 wrote:Born in DC and raised in NOVA, I have found Washingtonians to have an under developed skill set for dealing with a lot of different scenarios. For instance, 1 inch of snow results in pandemonium. I cannot imagine the quake. I am a bit of a nerd and keep hoping to experience a MINOR quake (where no one is hurt of course) and keep missing them. Cleveland, DC, my former locales got them, and now I am in CA...not even a quiver

It's the same way here in Richmond... except maybe worse. Even a heavy rainstorm can make the general populous act like they forgot how to drive- god forbid the weatherman tell us we may get snow or a trop storm/hurricane. Then everybody runs to the store to buy milk and bread- because putting a new milk gallon in your fridge is totally what you should do if you think the power might go out

Boyfriend made lots of fun of it right before the hurricane we weren't sure about hit us- right up until it hit us here, there was still speculation on whether it would hit us or not, how hard it would, and if it would do any damage at all. I had just lost my car, didn't have my buddy yet- but we woke up hours before we needed to to HOWLING winds and decided rental office be damned, we were rolling the Stella into the apartment building and putting her on the elevator so she could be in his hallway for the duration of the storm. Then, when most of Richmond was out of power for a week+, he wasn't making fun of us anymore. On the large, our overreaction to storms is as about as ridiculous as it gets- until there's that one storm where it turns out we were right about it.

As for the earthquakes... we occasionally experience them here, but I have never felt them- except for that one that was 5.9, that was felt for states and states around us and centered just a bit away from here. I felt that one. It was awesome. To be able to actually understand what an earthquake felt like, anyway- not that we had one, or sustained damage from it (some places did, although from what I understand nobody was hurt or killed).

Natural disasters have always fascinated me in a particular way... I graduated from cartoons directly to the weather and discovery channels.

BlueMark · Post by **BlueMark** » Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:36 am

I live in a part of the country where a really big quake is one you can actually feel. Been through a few of those. The garbage truck emptying the dumpster is worse.