You guys seeing this crazy bullshit? Seems the deathtoll will be fairly low- in the hundreds certainly, but not anything like what happened in Hati.
Strict building codes and the money to follow them saved thousands of lives.
Anyone been in an earthquake? I live on the extreme east coast of the U.S. so I dont know what that's like. Hurricanes, I know, though. Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
I wonder what Pat Robertson will say this time. He had a mouthful for Haiti....
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
My best friends wife comes from Peurto Montt, and her family are all in Concepcion, all of which is in the earthquake zone. I called and she's happy that her family are all safe, and it's purely because of the building codes down there. When you live right on the ring of fire you need to know your stuff isn't going to fall over easily. I cant imagine what it must be like to be in an earthquake, to just have everything around you shaken like toys.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Saltah'na: I wonder what Pat Robertson will say this time. He had a mouthful for Haiti....
Pat Robertson will say it's a result of a deal with the devil. Danny Glover, meanwhile, will say it's a result of our failure to curb global warming at Copenhagen.
Both sides will laugh and point, but the people who think they're both crazy will get double the fun by laughing at both of their stupid asses, while also being disgusted with them for ignoring the human toll in Chile and Haiti.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I've felt one before, but nothing very big. I live in Michigan, and one night my wife and I both sat bolt upright in the middle of the night as our bedroom door and dresser started rattling back and forth for about 10 seconds. It was weird. But like I said, nothing very big. Being in a big one must be terrifying.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
While I've never been in an actual earthquake, they did blow up the big satellite dish at the LANDSAT station just outside of town a few years ago. The force of the blast was enough to make the walls rattle and the desks started moving at school.
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
I was surprised to notice that Haiti is sending aid to Chile... what the hell?
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
I was in the Loma Prieta quake of 1989. And it knocked me on my ass. It was terrifiying. But it was only a 6.9. I can't even imagine what an 8 would be like. Very glad to learn the death toll in Chile is so low.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: While I've never been in an actual earthquake, they did blow up the big satellite dish at the LANDSAT station just outside of town a few years ago. The force of the blast was enough to make the walls rattle and the desks started moving at school.
I live near an artillery range and what you describe happens so often here it barely registers any more. From what I gather, being in a proper quake is like a cross between having the carpet pulled from under you and standing next to a jet engine at full throttle.
My grandmother was in Quetta in the 1935 quake, which according to wikipedia was a 7.7. I grew up hearing her stories of how she woke up in the middle of the night to the sight of her house falling down around her.
The nastiest thing I've ever been out in was the storm of '87. I was only 5 at the time but I clearing remember nearly being bowled over walking home from school, the roof tiles flying all over the place, the roof being ripped of the barn and a great many, very large trees being uprooted. Some still lie where they fell. Scared the crap out of me.
[ March 02, 2010, 12:32 AM: Message edited by: Reverend ]
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
Actually, back in the 80's we had a quake here in Scotland which I technically lived through. It was just under 5 on the Richter scale, so not a biggy by any means. Unfortunately, since it happened in the middle of the night most of us slept right through it without noticing. My uncle was the only one who awoke to see everything swaying, but as he was drunk at the time he thought he was seeing things and went right back to sleep.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Luckily Australia lies in the middle of the continental plate and most of the populated cities aren't near any major fault lines. There are the odd earthquakes around the place though. We HAVE though had a small earthquake near home once. The epicentre wasn't too far from my house and I was watching Stargate - and I was lying on the couch. O'Neil and Carter were on screen and talking and then I hear this noise like a space ship roaring in the atmosphere (on the show) but they were still talking - there was no reaction to the noise - it was bizarre - then I pulled my attention away from the screen and realised that the noise was coming from all around me. Cause I was on the couch I didn't really feel anything - but I could definitely hear a dull roar. Bizarre.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Rev you live near an artillery range? Wow, I sure hope they don't miss...
I bet that it would be pretty similar to what they did at the sat station, the contractor who did the demo "overestimated" the amount of explosives it would take to drop the big dish and tower. The video was pretty spectacular, the tower blew sky high and the big dish was just suspended over this huge cloud of dust for a second before falling. I wish I could have been there, but most of the people there had their vehicles (parked over a kilometer away) damaged by debris.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Well obviously the range is out on the Plain, well away from populated areas. What we get down here is a dull, rhythmic thudding, like if someone downstairs were whacking the ceiling with a sledgehammer, except you're on the ground. Occasionally they'll get a new toy with a lot more umpf, those things will make your teeth rattle from three miles away.
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)