How many of you have been through an actual earthquake?

[Don Draper]

As we all very well know, what is happening in Japan is an awful, destructive moment in their history. It's serious business being in an earthquake. When I was a little boy, I survived through one with my Mother, Grandmother and Uncle. The house fell down around us and my uncle was badly hurt but without permanent damage. I remember people screaming in the streets and what I recall most vividly is the crying wails of parents calling for their children. That's a sound you never forget, let me tell you.

It can be desensitizing watching such catastrophe only via a TV screen. There is no way to actually comprehend the magnitude of it unless you're present in it. My heart goes out to the people of Japan and I will do whatever I can do in my limited capacity in order to help in some way.

Here is a quick glimpse at what it might actually feel like in a quake:

It starts around the 10:00 mark.

 

[rt-24]

none, only been in fake ones

 

[69Shooter]

There is no way to actually comprehend the magnitude of it unless you're present in it.

I am sure the same can be said about any disaster, natural or otherwise. Fortunately, I've never been in any such situation, nevertheless, I apperciate each day that I'm alive. It can all be gone in the blink of an eye!

 

[Anynym]

I've experienced a 5.0. No real damage (a chess piece fell and broke, no big deal). That was the one that hit the Ottawa area last summer, and was big news for about a week.

An 8.9 would be almost 10,000 times as much energy - unfathomable.

 

[69Shooter]

There was an earthquake in Toronto about nine months ago I think, coming from Western Quebec I believe. Now, I'm in no way comparing it to what happened in Japan, I know the difference. What I can say is that it had a pretty major affect on me (though I think I took it a lot worse than others). I felt rattled and nausea for about half a day afterwards. I felt my whole world shifting, which was an interesting, angry and terrifying experience. As such, I can only imagine what they went through for about six minutes of one of the strongest earthquakes on record. I've seen the videos of people in high buildings yelling in terror - chilling.

I'll bet you're right about that! Many people that I talked to when that happened did not even know there had been an earthquake.

 

[JohnC]

5 years ago in Tokyo. Everything shook for about a minute and then a series of minor aftershocks. Not pleasant!!

 

[blackrock13]

A couple of short one in the R5 zone, but nowhere near this scale; Scarey shite.

 

[someone]

I went through several small ones when I lived in NZ. They get them all the time. I remember the perfect timing of one when I was watching a movie in a theatre.

I even remember a couple of very tiny ones in Toronto.

A better question would be how many people have lived through a big one (e.g. one that resulting in loss of life).

 

[Aardvark154]

Nothing over a 2.5 so by “ring of fire” standards no.

 

[Moraff]

well if you're in the GTA there's been about 8 quakes in the last 5 years alone but just minor ones in the 2-3 range. The one that we felt last summer was centred in Ottawa and was ~5 I think.

Biggest one I've personally felt was 6 something where I was and that was good enough for me.

 

[GPIDEAL]

I've only felt earthquakes in Ontario that originated from outside Ontario, but as others have said, those were small.

My prayers go to the people of Japan. The devastation is horrific and unimagineable.

 

[trm]

I was in San Francisco in 1989 when a big earthquake hit. I just did a google search to refresh my memory and was reminded that it was 6.9 on the Richter Scale. The earth shook for about ten seconds and I fell to the ground. When I got back on my feet most of the store windows were shattered and the city had no electricity. I survived and managed to get to the Oakland airport the next day and get back home.

 

[GrandBlasterK]

I sincerely hope this was not a man-made disaster. Americans have already developed advanced tech weaponry straight out of sci-fi (like tectonic weapons) and you never know when one of these will backfire on you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonic_weapon

I would also encourage people to read the late Michael Crichton's techno-thriller called State of Fear, where a tectonic weapon was planned to be used by a rogue organization to create a 'natural disaster.' You can't make this stuff up folks. Where is 007 when you need him?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Fear

I hope there's a way for the Japanese Meteorological Agency to determine whether there was any abnormal seismic activity before the massive quake. Just saying.

 

[danmand]

I was in the Bay area in 1989 when the eartquake there struck and in Los Angeles during a 4.2 earthquake in 1976.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

I lived through a 4.5'er back in the 90's.

You can hear it before it you feel it

 

[shack]

I was in San Francisco in 1989 when a big earthquake hit. I just did a google search to refresh my memory and was reminded that it was 6.9 on the Richter Scale. The earth shook for about ten seconds and I fell to the ground. When I got back on my feet most of the store windows were shattered and the city had no electricity. I survived and managed to get to the Oakland airport the next day and get back home.

I think I have the best story. I was also in SF at that time, but I was on a tour bus right in the middle of The Golden Gate Bridge when it hit. It shook like crazy but being a suspension bridge, it did not collapse like the Bay Bridge did.

 

[Gyaos]

I've been in about 12 of them. 10 in Japan, including one (1) 6.4 JMA about 80 miles away in the sea......will never forget that shaking. A 6.6 JMA about 150 miles away (that was the Niigata one). And a 4 JMA from a 5.2 JMA about 8 miles away (in Metropolitan Tokyo).........yes the building shook in all of them. Another one in Japan was just a quick, loud "brooom"! I remember looking at the front desk clerk the next morning in the hotel.....he felt that too. I'm not counting those where the Shinkansen, the JR, or the Tokyo Metro had to stop. Many, many times.

Oh yeah, then there was that earthquake inside a Thai soapie. They called that one a sandwich.

The Typhoons in Japan are more fun.

Gyaos Baltar.

 

[escortsxxx]

As an aside the measure of Earthquates is not in a normal scale - R 2 is 10 ttimes more than R 1 adn R 3 is 10 times more than R 2 etc. So, R 8.9 is about 10 times an 8, 100 times a 7 and 1000 times a 6 and since toronto has had about a 5 10,000 times what we had in Toronto. Just something to think about.

 

[5hummer]

How many of you have been through an actual earthquake?

If you were in the GTA this past spring/summer(?) you experienced an earthquake

 

[DocOdd]

I was about a hundred miles away from the big Northridge earthquake in L.A. in the 90s. Woke me up in the middle of night, everything was shaking for about a minute, and the place I was living lost power for several hours, but there was no real damage at the distance where I was.