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You Shook Me! British Earthquake measuring 5.2


MHD

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I was in bed, but only just, so was just going 'over', when....an almighty rumble, bed shaking, walls wobbling. Jumped out of bed and looked out the window as I thought a huge juggernaut lorry was driving along out tiny little lane!

Checked out the house...all OK. Jasper fast asleep in his bed. Lazy dog, and some guard dog!!

You sure that wasn't the curry kicking in fella? Sorry couldn't resist.

Well didn't feel a thing in S Wales. Apparantly they are warning of aftershocks too.

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Didn't know you had earthquakes in Britain! Wow, 5.2 is respectable, it would get my attention. Glad everyone's ok.

Herb Caen, who used to be a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, said that earthquakes are like orgasms - while they're happening you're breathing hard and you can't think of anything else...

:lol:

Nobody's fault but Englands. :D

I went through the Daly City quake of 1957 (I was 6) and the '89 Loma Prieta.

In 2000 here in Washington we had one that lasted 40 seconds. I think it scared me more than all the ones I went through in Calif. :o

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I was driving between San Jose and Santa Cruz when the '89 quake hit. It felt like all 4 tires went flat. Oddly enough, the song on the radio was the Stones' "Terrifying". No shit. :lol:

It was scary though. Luckily, only a small glass broke in the house. I would have lost the stereo but the 521 cables held it to the wall. :P Talk about furniture rearranging though. Gawd.

A week earlier I had been on the freeway that collapsed. That gave me the chills to say the least...

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1971. I had just left L.A. for San Francisco, but my brother and his wife went through it.

Scared the hell out of them. :(

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure. Apparently my tiny little mom had one of those superhuman strength moments, and lifted my dad out of the way to get to me. All I remember is the glass (from the window over my crib) cutting me. My parents threw me and the animals into the car (!) and took off for I don't know where. I need to ask one of them about this, like why the hell they did that and where we went. My mom's friend lived up high in the hills and saw the roads dancing around like ribbons.

We get extreme cold and sometimes exreme heat here in MN, and awesome thunderstorms with the occasional tornado. But I think an earthquake would scare the living shit out of me.

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I was driving between San Jose and Santa Cruz when the '89 quake hit. It felt like all 4 tires went flat. Oddly enough, the song on the radio was the Stones' "Terrifying". No shit. :lol:

It was scary though. Luckily, only a small glass broke in the house. I would have lost the stereo but the 521 cables held it to the wall. :P Talk about furniture rearranging though. Gawd.

A week earlier I had been on the freeway that collapsed. That gave me the chills to say the least...

Geez, you were practically at the epicenter! Wow!

I had quit my job in San Francisco one month before the '89 quake. Would've been in the tube under the Bay when it happened, otherwise... :o

After that one, anything 4.5 or under is just kind of... cute.

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1971. I had just left L.A. for San Francisco, but my brother and his wife went through it.

Scared the hell out of them. :(

I can't even imagine driving under those circumstances. I can drive in any kind of weather, but that? Cripes.

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I was driving between San Jose and Santa Cruz when the '89 quake hit. It felt like all 4 tires went flat. Oddly enough, the song on the radio was the Stones' "Terrifying". No shit. :lol:

It was scary though. Luckily, only a small glass broke in the house. I would have lost the stereo but the 521 cables held it to the wall. :P Talk about furniture rearranging though. Gawd.

A week earlier I had been on the freeway that collapsed. That gave me the chills to say the least...

That is unbelievable- I was on that freeway a week earlier, also! I was visiting my family out there.

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Geez, you were practically at the epicenter! Wow!

I had quit my job in San Francisco one month before the '89 quake. Would've been in the tube under the Bay when it happened, otherwise... :o

After that one, anything 4.5 or under is just kind of... cute.

Oh yeah, I was used to those little 3.0 shakers, and even a 4.5 was merely entertainment. But two months before the big one a 5.9 woke me up in the middle of the night and nearly threw me out of bed. I thought that was gonna be it for a while. WRONG....

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I was driving between San Jose and Santa Cruz when the '89 quake hit. It felt like all 4 tires went flat. Oddly enough, the song on the radio was the Stones' "Terrifying". No shit. :lol:

It was scary though. Luckily, only a small glass broke in the house. I would have lost the stereo but the 521 cables held it to the wall. :P Talk about furniture rearranging though. Gawd.

A week earlier I had been on the freeway that collapsed. That gave me the chills to say the least...

I was in Dublin and just finishing up working on my motorcycle when it hit. That's the first time I ever saw waves in the street. Weird! My girlfriend came running out of the house and I never saw her move so fast. :D When I heard that the Cypress had collapsed at that time of the day (rush hour) I figured thousands of people had gotten killed. But it was very light traffic because of the World Series.

It was a disaster for many but also a boon for the construction industry. I worked for a wrecking company then and we got a LOT of work, especially in downtown Oakland.

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I was in Dublin and just finishing up working on my motorcycle when it hit. That's the first time I ever saw waves in the street. Weird! My girlfriend came running out of the house and I never saw her move so fast. :D When I heard that the Cypress had collapsed at that time of the day (rush hour) I figured thousands of people had gotten killed. But it was very light traffic because of the World Series.

It was a disaster for many but also a boon for the construction industry. I worked for a wrecking company then and we got a LOT of work, especially in downtown Oakland.

At the time I was working for an RV dealer in San Jose. We emptied the lot of our rental coaches, and sold a ton of new ones as well. I felt a bit guilty, seeing the company make all that $$ off those poor earthquake victims, but of course the owners were eating it up. Bastards. <_<

Suz, I agree. Those English buildings weren't made to seismic standards for obvious reasons. Hopefully that will be a wake-up call, before it's too late. I bet the ones Bonzo and his family built held up just fine though. ;)

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Didn't know you had earthquakes in Britain! Wow, 5.2 is respectable, it would get my attention. Glad everyone's ok.

Herb Caen, who used to be a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, said that earthquakes are like orgasms - while they're happening you're breathing hard and you can't think of anything else...

:lol:

The experts say when you feel the earth shake it's already too late.....beware the wrath of Nature! :)

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Well im at Lincoln Uni....and i tell you the building i was in twisted and turned, i seriously thought it was gonna collapse! I was on the second floor and people above me said it was like a fairgound ride. Party atmosphere afterwars though lol. noone could sleep thinking theyre was gonna be an aftershock

Scary stuff though i think Market Rasen is only like 15 miles away.

Oh my god! Bet that was well scary!

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I was in Dublin and just finishing up working on my motorcycle when it hit. That's the first time I ever saw waves in the street. Weird! My girlfriend came running out of the house and I never saw her move so fast. :D When I heard that the Cypress had collapsed at that time of the day (rush hour) I figured thousands of people had gotten killed. But it was very light traffic because of the World Series.

It was a disaster for many but also a boon for the construction industry. I worked for a wrecking company then and we got a LOT of work, especially in downtown Oakland.

Hi there! I grew up in Dublin, we lived in San Ramon at that time, what a small world. I worked at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley then, and many of the EMTs and nurses there tried to help rescue people from the freeway collapse. It was an awful week.

I still know which hill it is on 580 that didn't exist before, it was built of the rubble from that freeway, then covered in dirt.

The scariest thing for me that day was getting in the car to go home and check things out, and there wasn't a single local radio station on the air. Very unsettling.

Yes, thank god the World Series was going on!

"Nobody's fault but England's" - LOL!

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I didn't even notice to be honest, I was jamming on my guitar and there's this piece of wood on the floor that sort of rocks around anyway and I think I just thought it was that moving around again. Next thing I know people are asking me if I felt the earthquake. I sort of feel like I missed out on the whole earthquaking experience and not even any after tremors :-|

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You all have some great stories...and perfect descriptions with the "bed shaking, walls wobbling"..."like a fairground ride"...etc. I know the feeling all too well. Glad everyone made it out okay.

Nobody's fault but Englands. :D

I went through the Daly City quake of 1957 (I was 6) and the '89 Loma Prieta.

In 2000 here in Washington we had one that lasted 40 seconds. I think it scared me more than all the ones I went through in Calif. :o

I remember every second of that quake, the 40 seconds seemed like hours! It scared me more than the ones I experienced in Calif. too.

That one was 8 years ago today. How I know that is because it's my daughter's birthday. She turned 5 yrs. old that day; she was in kindergarten and they had just begun a little birthday celebration for her when the earthquake struck. When I picked her up after school the first thing she said was "Mommy, God had a rock and roll party for me today!" :D

I was home laying in bed with the pillows pulled over me. My mother was visiting and had just gotten into the shower. She comes running to my room with nothing but a towel wrapped around her, yelling how we had to get out of the house which I refused to do.

My take is that if you're in a single or two-story home you would be in more danger of getting hit by running through the house than you would be in the bed neath lots of pillows. Any opinions about that??

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Hi there! I grew up in Dublin, we lived in San Ramon at that time, what a small world. I worked at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley then, and many of the EMTs and nurses there tried to help rescue people from the freeway collapse. It was an awful week.

I still know which hill it is on 580 that didn't exist before, it was built of the rubble from that freeway, then covered in dirt.

The scariest thing for me that day was getting in the car to go home and check things out, and there wasn't a single local radio station on the air. Very unsettling.

Yes, thank god the World Series was going on!

"Nobody's fault but England's" - LOL!

Yep, it's a small world. I lived in Castro Valley for 8 years on Heyer Ave. My brother also lived in San Ramon for a while on Alcosta. I went to Eden once for kidney stones. :D I think they buried all the debris right by Castro Valley and maybe near the Dublin Grade. Don't know what they did with the stuff from the Embarcadero in SF. I rode my bike around Oakland taking pics of a lot of the damage. I was amazed at all the toppled chimneys on the rooftops of homes. I think the quake was an omen for the Giants because they got creamed by the A's. :D

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I remember every second of that quake, the 40 seconds seemed like hours! It scared me more than the ones I experienced in Calif. too.

That one was 8 years ago today. How I know that is because it's my daughter's birthday. She turned 5 yrs. old that day; she was in kindergarten and they had just begun a little birthday celebration for her when the earthquake struck. When I picked her up after school the first thing she said was "Mommy, God had a rock and roll party for me today!" :D

I was home laying in bed with the pillows pulled over me. My mother was visiting and had just gotten into the shower. She comes running to my room with nothing but a towel wrapped around her, yelling how we had to get out of the house which I refused to do.

My take is that if you're in a single or two-story home you would be in more danger of getting hit by running through the house than you would be in the bed neath lots of pillows. Any opinions about that??

'Gods Rock 'n Roll party'--- :D

I remember looking at the cymbals on my drumset and they were moving all over the place without making a sound. :o My poor cats didn't know what to do. I was sitting with my back to the wall drinking some coffee and I swear it slingshot me out of the chair. My TV was on a tall stand and I just grabbed it to keep it from toppling over. That's earthquake preparedness for ya'--'GRAB THE DAMNED TV!!!!!' :D

Running through the house is probably not a good idea. Like the film of the bartender who ran behind the bar and then all the bottles came flying off the shelves right at her. But those on Cypress freeway their luck ran out. :(

Cypress_Freeway_1989.jpg

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At the time I was working for an RV dealer in San Jose. We emptied the lot of our rental coaches, and sold a ton of new ones as well. I felt a bit guilty, seeing the company make all that $$ off those poor earthquake victims, but of course the owners were eating it up. Bastards. <_<

Suz, I agree. Those English buildings weren't made to seismic standards for obvious reasons. Hopefully that will be a wake-up call, before it's too late. I bet the ones Bonzo and his family built held up just fine though. ;)

That's what I mean, it was a boon for many. Not earthquake related but we wrecked a bank vault in San Jose and it was the TOUGHEST damned concrete ever to break. Rows of rebar also to contend with and 7 inch thick steel in the door we had to cut up with a gasoline torch.

We also got a huge job from the quake in downtown Oakland at the Pac Bell building. There were actually 3 buildings and one we had to tear down completely. The other two had to have the facade removed and 350 beam/column joints exposed and reinforced with more steel. I worked there for 2 years straight without a break and made a ton of money. :) We did lots of other seismic retrofits after that as it pretty much became mandatory after the quake.

Oh yeah, the Embarcadero freeway also had to come down and it was truly an ugly eyesore that blocked the view of the Ferry Building. Seattle should take note and knock down that ugly, noisy viaduct.

EmbarcaderoAfter1.jpg

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We felt it here in Sheffield, but I only remember vaguely in my sleep saying "What was that..." and my room mate said "Nothing..." and that was it! Some people were at a D&B union night and thought it was just the music getting louder for a bit!

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