Actually felt my first Earthquake today

[Harrison]

It felt like a vehicle struck my house. Not very exciting or scary in and of itself but, I guess we've been getting more and more the past 2 years, and that troubles me a little.

Unofficially it was a 4.2 off the coast. The nearest observatory I can find that registered it was in Boston at 5:48PM EST.

http://aki.bc.edu/cgi-bin/NESN/24hr_heli

Click short range and back one day to see it clearly if you want to.

I'm just worried the increased frequency of these smaller ones is a sign of a coming "real" earthquake, since we haven't had one in hundreds of years. (1755 we had a 6.0 estimated)

Just figured I'd toss this out there. I've never lived anywhere that earthquakes were common enough to pass up commenting on. I've got a friend who moved from here to Japan and he feels this level of earthquake regularly.

[brinstar]

dang man that sounds scary, just mindin your b and suddenly the house wobbles. how'd the neighbors handle it?

i've heard small quake "swarms" have been increasing all over the country and preliminary science seems to point to fracking operations and how they fuck up the rock layers. so far i think it's mostly been happening in more sparsely-populated areas; i wouldn't figure the new england area would have much to frack? hopefully that's not it, and hopefully your rocks calm the fuck down

[Arlos]

Small earthquakes are not scary. Most are no worse than a semi rolling past your house. Most of the time, people just sleep through them.

[Kaemon]

In California where you get multiples a year you sleep through them. In the NE, we're like What The Fuck was that?

[Harrison]

This was no semi rolling by. It was "what just hit my fucking house?!" I live on what's essentially a dead end street with a beach on one end, so I thought intentional rather than accidental. I didn't for one second think, "Earthquake."

The pictures on the walls all tilted. I had music blasting in headphones at the time and didn't hear anything but, you can't miss the movement.

We've been getting a lot of these but, this is the first "significant" one. I think a major one 6+ would seriously fuck the entire northeastern seaboard.

[Arlos]

Well, you had a slightly larger one, then, if it was more than just a semi going by. I've still slept through bigger ones, heh. All in what you're used to, I guess.

I have been in a couple somewhat scary ones too. Back when I was in like 7th grade, we had a really good sized one that happened to hit the resonating frequency of the school building we were in, so it made it feel even stronger. Was on the 2nd floor, and it felt like the top floor was going to shear off the bottom half. Turned out fine, though.

The NE would certainly be far more crippled by a big quake than out here would though, you're right. You guys just don't have the same building codes we do. For example, you simply can't buy a brick house out here. Not legal. The reason is, unreinforced masonry buildings (ie, ones made from bricks) just completely tear themselves to pieces in an earthquake, because they can't flex with the side to side motion. They tear apart, and the whole building comes down. To be honest, we could probably get a 6-6.5 or so out here, and we'd barely even slow down. Same sized quake hits NE, you guys would be wrecked.

(Yet another reason to live in CA: no blizzards, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, 40% humidity in summer, just the tiny risk of a big earthquake every 40-50 years.)

[Jay]

If there is a god, Arlos is poking him with a stick and daring him to give us that earthquake that will seperate us from the continent.

[Menelvir]

New West Coast:

Costa Del Lex.
Luthorville.
Marina Del Lex.
Otisburg.
...
Otisburg?
Miss Teschmacher, she's got her own place.
Otisburg?
It's a little bitty place.
OTISBURG?!?!??

[Kaemon]

Well, you had a slightly larger one, then, if it was more than just a semi going by. I've still slept through bigger ones, heh. All in what you're used to, I guess.

I have been in a couple somewhat scary ones too. Back when I was in like 7th grade, we had a really good sized one that happened to hit the resonating frequency of the school building we were in, so it made it feel even stronger. Was on the 2nd floor, and it felt like the top floor was going to shear off the bottom half. Turned out fine, though.

The NE would certainly be far more crippled by a big quake than out here would though, you're right. You guys just don't have the same building codes we do. For example, you simply can't buy a brick house out here. Not legal. The reason is, unreinforced masonry buildings (ie, ones made from bricks) just completely tear themselves to pieces in an earthquake, because they can't flex with the side to side motion. They tear apart, and the whole building comes down. To be honest, we could probably get a 6-6.5 or so out here, and we'd barely even slow down. Same sized quake hits NE, you guys would be wrecked.

(Yet another reason to live in CA: no blizzards, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, 40% humidity in summer, just the tiny risk of a big earthquake every 40-50 years.)

And forest fires...fuck forest fires.

[Tossica]

New West Coast:

Costa Del Lex.
Luthorville.
Marina Del Lex.
Otisburg.
...
Otisburg?
Miss Teschmacher, she's got her own place.
Otisburg?
It's a little bitty place.
OTISBURG?!?!??