Earthquake

Had a couple minor earthmovers in HK years back.

1
Was working late in an office building on Hong Kong Island and felt the floor rumble a bit, thought it was a big truck rolling by outside — but then remembered we're on the 14th floor. Asked the graphic designer if she felt anything and she said no. A little while later I felt it again, and again asked her, telling her I thought it was a minor tremor — her desk was right over/under support beams, she didn't feel anything and didn't believe me. My desk was between beams, where the concrete/rebar could flex a little...

Then her husband called to see if she was alright; he'd felt it on a little island (south of HK Island).


2
The other time my wife and I were in our flat, my sister over visiting from her flat (same small island mentioned above)... sitting around the living room, each in a separate comfy chair... The conversation lulled, nobody spoke for about a minute, then...

Each of us said something like "Did you feel that about a minute or two ago?". We'd all felt a little rumble in each of our butts.
No big deal for you people in active plate zones, but for those of us unaccustomed, it was quite remarkable.




Prior to these experiences, I'd always wondered what it would be like to be in an earthquake after seeing live TV footage of people in apartments or offices etc getting shook around heavily — I wanted to experience that. After finding a couple of baby butt-rumblings quite disconcerting I changed my mind. Having the earth shake under your feet at great magnitude is most definitely something I do NOT want to experience.





Then a big earthquake in N Taiwan took out the trans-Pacific Internet data cable... Ensued more than a couple weeks of extremely slow Internet as data got pinged around the world via alternate (longer) routes til the cable was repaired...
 
I'm in the North part of SF Valley, didn't feel squat. I live 0.3 miles from the 1971 epicenter and 3.8 miles from the 1994 epicenter. 6.1-.5ish and 6.4-.6ish respectively. Both caused massive damage and deaths, we couldn't even get out of the house in 71 because all the doorknobs were sheared off inside the doorjam. The 94 was *very* nasty, but cause less damage due to better building code.

Needless to say, after that a 4 doesn't even make me blink. 5, is definitely blinking...
 
Well glad it was a gentle jiggle...
We have about 20000 a year with 250 big enough to notice. Shaky isles.
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There are over three hundred earthquakes in California every *day*. Most are in uninhabited areas. It's a HUGE state and majority of people live close to the coast. Our number one export is food! Bread basket of the world.... If we stopped growing, something like half the planet would starve... Our economy is so large we rate #6 in the world among NATIONS not states.....
 
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