EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!!

oh, man, poor Max looks very freaked out.....poor little guy. glad to hear everyone is OK, and that jade table top is phenomenal!!!

EP

Wow, glad to hear that everbody is OK, a 5.6 ain't bad but I think it depends a lot on which way the energy is moving when it comes to how damaging it is.


The largest quake I have experienced living here on the Juan de Fuca plate so far was a 4.4-4.6 slip type several years ago (BRTH). That one caught me indoors, wanting to get outdoors quick when the whole house suddenly shifted 15-20cm, oscilating down in a few seconds and then it was over.

I believe the GIS survey had determined that a 1cm shift in the JdF plate occured during that event. Ten times the amount of movement normally observed in an average year occured in a few seconds, 1 cm doesn't seem like much but when you look at it like that it's kinda freaky to think that much energy was released in a moment and was just a "little" quake.
We're overdue for a large subduction quake over here too.

The scariest quake I have ever experienced was oddly enough when I was growing up in Prince George B.C. (not a relatively active zone) and that one was reported between 4.8-5.2 and originated almost 200km north and very deep down.

I was about 12 years old at the time but I remember it well. I was outside playing with half a dozen or so of my friends and I stopped for a second when I heard what I thought was the wind picking up but it was more of a hissing sound than a gusting sound. That quickly got louder and became a sound like a convoy, no a FLEET of 18-wheeler trucks fully loaded were passing through town and then the ground started to shake.

It lasted for what seemed like several seconds but there was not a lot of coherent movement in the ground, just shaking like hell it seemed. It wasn't difficult to stay standing but it's not the kind of situation where you want to be ballancing on a ladder when it happens. Some stuff in our house came off the wall and my dad apparently saved the whole china cabinet from smashing when it tipped over by body checking it back against the wall, at the expense of some collateral damage.

I remember running inside to tell them how "COOL" it was and get some credible backing that it was in fact an earthquake and not a "meteor crashing somewhere" like one of my friends kept suggesting.
The mood of the adults was definately not as gleeful as the kids while they surveyed the damages so we went back outside to finish our game.

So glad you all were all slightly shaken but not stirred (up too much!). They said on the news that it was the strongest since 1989? Tony, too bad about the pumpkin, that was way cool! Poor Max, but at least he had you for comfort. Ed, glad your house made it!
I have to say that I think it would be VERY unsettling to have the ground shaking around you! Give me the occasional tornado and thunder and lightning and winds any day! The closest we had to an earthquake was the main street paving project; they had some kind of machine that rumbled our arses in our chairs, it felt pretty strange. I can't imagine a real rockin' earthquake!

Tony, perhaps it shook loose some new jade for you in your ocean spots? And, thank God that big 'ol jade piece is safe!

Thinking of you all!