I have personal experience with earthquakes. Living on the north coast of the Dominican Republic there was one 10 years ago which hit Puerto Plata with 6.4 and it was strong enough to crake the walls of my home and we live 35 miles away. We have had a few small ones that we felt. The one that hit in Port-au-Prince in Haiti we felt it here which is over one hundred miles away. We are on the Caribbean plate which is always acting up just north of Puerto Rico where they have two or more earthquakes per day.
Are there special preparations to take for earthquakes @Martin Alonzo? And do you live with any stress from knowing they can happen basically anytime?
We just accept and don’t worry I told my wife that 95% of the time the first is the strongest and if you survive it don’t worry. I had a few laughs that some of the people here after an earthquake they will not go back in their house for a few days out of fear. When we built our house it had extra rebar and I put in vertical bars as well which they do not normally do.
One of the worst earthquakes in the history of the United States was the New Madrid quake, which happened in the early part of the 1800's (don't remember the exact date offhand) . It caused repercussions all the way from the Great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and even the rivers ran backwards for a short time. Back then, very few people lived in that part of the country; but they have been saying for a while now that we are overdue for another large quake on that fault-line. If that does happen, and it is as severe as the last ones were, then a good share of the eastern part of the country will be affected directly, and travel from east to west could be completely cut off, should that happen. Of course, the other big one to worry about, would be the Yellowstone Caldera, and if that erupts due to a large quake at the new madrid fault, then most of the US will be covered in ash, some of it very deep, like a bad blizzard would do. I just listened to this video that is about a FEMA meeting that just took place after the earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan, and if what this man is saying is even close to true, then we all need to be getting prepared. He shows a map at the end where he says they are sending the FEMA troops, and the parameters look like it could involve either New Madrid, or Yellowstone, or both. Just an afterthrought........ This would definitely put the whole country under martial law, no elections period.
We mainly heard about the three large earthquakes in Japan recently; but there were actually over 600 earthquakes in a week's time. It was what is called an earthquake swarm, and they are apparently still concerned about the nuclear plants there. The quakes have also affected the volcanos, and Mt. Aso is erupting now, as well. It seems like earthquakes and volcanos are always directly related. In Washington state, they were working on the bridges near both Mt.Rainier and Mt. St. Helens because they were concerned about earthquakes collapsing the bridges and cutting off travel into the areas. https://www.rt.com/news/339788-japan-volcano-eruption-quakes/
I lived in California during the 71 and the 93 or 94 not sure which year the second one was, but I can tell you they are frightening. They leave you feeling totally helpless. You can't stand and walk you have to crawl. Things are flying out of cabinets and off shelves and walls. Furniture tips over, broken glass is everywhere. Certainly wouldn't want to do it again.
Here are a few images, Feb. 1971. Quoted excerpts. "The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California." "The event affected a number of health care facilities in Sylmar, San Fernando, and other densely populated areas north of central Los Angeles." From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_San_Fernando_earthquake My Aunt and Uncle lived then in Sylmar, over ten years. As chance would have it, they were in Las Vegas the day the quake occurred, and upon returning home to Sylmar, found their chimney had collapsed, and a large, very heavy glass mirror which had been hanging on the wall above the headboard of their bed, had crashed down on top of it, shattering on the headboard. My Uncle thought they might have been seriously injured, had they been home in bed. So it goes...... Frank Collapse of four buildings at the Veterans Hospital complex Interstate 210 / Interstate 5 overpass collapsed onto San Fernando Road Damage to the Lower Van Norman Dam
Yes, the 2011 quake wsa centered is the county where I live. I was not home at the time, but at a Starbucks several miles away. There was lots of damage in this county, but a lot of it was to structures and not necessarily visible to the naked eye. What was really scary was the after shocks as some were quite intense. One happened while we were in bed, and was seriously concerning. I don't envy anyone living in an earthquake prone zone.
More earthquakes near Yellowstone Park, where the caldera is at that will be so bad if it erupts ! ! My son in Idaho posted on Facebook that they felt an earthquake last night, so I went to the earthquake page to look and see exactly where and how strong it was. It turned out that the quake was in Lincoln, Montana, and was about 5.8-5.9. There was about 5-6 quakes, most of them just a little weaker; so a small swarm of quakes there. Lincoln is just northwest of Yellowstone Park, and close enough for this to become worrisome. Here is the alert from Dutchsinse about the quake.
Lots of folks, living in states outside of California, are always teasing people that live there about earthquakes. Whereas, earthquakes have been reported in other states, like Montana. I had never experience one until I was in the Navy, staying at the Armed Forces YMCA in San Diego. I was woken up on either a Saturday or Sunday morning with my bed shaking fairly bad. The shake was pretty short, but it sure got me out of my bed. I actually thought someone/something was under my bed. Later I found out it was a earthquake. Was in another one when living in Anaheim, California, staying at a motel. It was in the morning, I was up and the room started to shake. I knew what was happening and walked fast out the door and onto the walkway. My room was upstairs. I looked out and could see some electrical transformers sparking on the street next to the motel. Quake didn't last long and no major damage, that I heard about. Another time, I was in the restroom (on the toilet) at work. The room started to shake and I knew what it was. Came out of the restroom (fully dressed) to some co-workers laughing. Since moving from California, haven't experienced another earthquake.
Yvonne Earthquakes are very unpredictable and the science on earthquakes is questionable. I live in an earthquake area not saying I expect one. One hit Puerto Plata a few years back that cracked the walls in my cement block walls I needed to have them put in special reinforcement in case it happened again. We live on the North coast of the DR and we felt the earthquake that hit Puerto Prince Haiti it is on the south part of Haiti. When we had the earthquake here people would not go back into their homes in fear of another. I had to educate the locals on earthquakes 95% of the time the first is the most deadly and then you have aftershocks that are less intense. So I would tell them if you survived the first and did not have damage to your home you ere petty safe. Lots of people make a big fuss over earthquake swarms I have seen earthquake swarms north of Puerto Rico for 15 years and still nothing even Puerto Rico has daily earthquakes. Yellow stone have been over due for a gigantic earthquake for hundreds of years and ever so often someone will bring that up and start a panic all over again. Here is a earthquake map of just the last 7 days north of Puerto Rico and this has been the same for 15 years.
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Experienced a 7.75 quake on the Island of Shemya, AK Feb. 1, 1975. We lost the only way on or off the island, the runway, for quite awhile. Lots of watermain breaks. Put a damper on us watching the 'other guys' during the cold war. Was living in Moreno Valley for the Northridge quake in 1994. That one throw us out of bed at 4:30 am and made the house unlivable. Think I'm pretty much done with those things. ( I hope... )
Never been in a earthquake. Once as a child felt what they called a tremor. However about 25 miles from where we live they have been having earthquakes fairly regular . I know someone who works at the oilfields in various areas. He over sees fracking machinery. He told me without doubt that fracking enables the cause if earthquakes. If you could see what they are doing and pumping the earth full of...you to would have no doubt. He hates this job that he and his crew work sometimes 36 to 40 hours straight.Which is unlawful but they get away with it. Once he gets some personal issues taken care of he hopes to find another job.
I live in Oklahoma and we have many small quakes, the largest was a 5.3 or 5.4 but our quakes are not like the major quakes in the mountains or along the coasts. Ours are not major faults. I was in a quake in California on the fourth floor of a hotel, sitting a a table, sipping a vodka tonic planning my work schedule for the following day, when the glass started vibrating toward the edge of the table. I put it back studying a map of the LA area. the glass vibes to the edge of the table and I caught it before it fell to the floor. I looked up and my light fixture was swaying about three foot ark. I hurried down the stairs to the bar. Everyone was having a good time. Everyone laughed at me. I was on a bridge inTokyo, Japan, standing on a river bridge in 1953 when the bridge started shaking, I looked around to see everyone running off the bridge, I don't know how large it was but even armed forces radio was talking about it. I suppose I'd not like to live in California. I don't know the science of these tectonic plates but I thought when one tried to dive under another or did, it could cause a quake. Many others on here have a better grasp than I.