Earthquake in California

[Jedi Master Carr]

Luckily it was in a very unpopulated area

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20031222/ap_on_re_us/california_quake_11

It was over 6 on the richter scale in a city like LA it would have done a lot of damage.

[CMJ]

Yep...it could be felt here(though somehow I didn't). My brother's office building swayed. It's been all over the news of course.

[JMK]

Good to see nobody was killed by the quake. :thumbup

[AmazonBabe]

The odd thing is that I didn't feel it at all where I was, and yet my sis felt it in the building she was in across the street.

Weird, these earthquakes be. o_O

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Looks like 3 people were killed..

[CMJ]

Originally posted by AmazonBabe
The odd thing is that I didn't feel it at all where I was, and yet my sis felt it in the building she was in across the street.

Weird, these earthquakes be. o_O

Practically my story...retold. ;)

[Jinn Fizz]

Yes indeed, it was an interesting day for those of us in this part of California :eek: . I've been through quakes like this in LA, but this is the first time there's been anything like this in this area, and it was definitely kind of frightening, especially since the ground just kept shaking and shaking for the longest time.

I work in Lompoc, which is a little over a hundred miles south of San Simeon. But we still got a hell of a shake...the first indication we had that something was amiss was when the lights went out briefly. I was kind of laughing, thinking, oh yeah, if we have a blackout, maybe we can go home early!, then I went back to what I was doing, which involved moving around some. It was only when someone behind me in the doorway to the employee breakroom said, "Oh my God, I think we're having an earthquake!" that I stopped and realized that the building was definitely starting to shake. All of us...doctors, nurses, office staff, medical assistants, and patients...huddled together in every available doorway. One medical assistant crawled under a desk. And we just waited it out. It seemed like it finally stopped at one point, so I took off down the hallway because I wanted to get my cellphone ASAP, but people started yelling that it wasn't over yet, so I jumped into a doorway with one of the pediatricians and stayed there with him until the building finally stopped swaying. I think it was close to a minute before it was all over.

Then we all started yelling, "Outside!" and we got everyone out into the parking lot. It was funny to see all the cellphones that suddenly popped into existence in people's hands :D . But we were all having trouble getting signals, so almost no one could manage to complete a call. After about 10 minutes, we were sent back into the building, and we had to go back to work, although at that point, nobody felt like working :p .

We muddled through as best we could until lunchtime, with everybody trying to make phone calls and finally succeeding. Lots of employees were worried about getting in touch with their children, who were home since it's Christmas break, and all children reported in safe. It took me a while to reach my parents in Santa Maria (about 86 miles from San Simeon), but I finally did reach them, and their only major problems were their power was out and all their pictures on the walls were at 45 degree angles now.

I finally got home to Santa Maria just before 6, and I've got quite a few things to put back in their rightful places, mostly action figures and dolls. The only "damage" I've seen in my apartment so far is the Mickey Mouse Sorceror's Apprentice figure I've had for years has been decapitated. But I figure the head will glue back on just fine :) . And my cat was none the worse for wear...she seemed more concerned about getting her dinner than anything else :D .

I haven't felt any aftershocks yet, although there have been plenty of them. It's been very sad seeing the pictures out of Paso Robles (60 miles north of Santa Maria)...the downtown area has suffered so much damage, and that's where the 2 confirmed deaths have occurred. So sad, just 3 days before Christmas :( .

But if there's a silver lining to this, it's that it didn't happen in a densely populated area, like San Francisco or LA. If it had, the damage and loss of life would have been much, much worse.

[TCM'74]

I live in the Inland Empire and didn't feel anything while working all day long. How sad acts of God and misfortunes has to strike during this joyful holiday season. December is not the month for tragedy. :(