Earth quake in NJ

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

That's quite a long shake for only a 4.8! I'll be honest, I've been in quakes that size you couldn't even feel. Quake depth, proximity, and the type of ground you're on will all have an effect on how much you feel it. Our house is on a hill, built into the bedrock so we don't get a lot of movement.

Also, the taller the building, the more pronounced the shaking. Maybe the building you were in was built on landfill as well, that can really amplify the movement.

Thanks for the explanation. I guess it was felt up to 200 miles away according to the news. It lasted long enough for me to realize my bed was moving and it was nothing in the hall or outside and then say wait, could that be a quake and it went on another 5 seconds and then once it stopped moving the bed, the zipper on my suitcase was still vibrating for another 5 seconds. Then I waited for the hotel to start collapsing lol!

[Steve-arino]

Scared the he*l out of me. I live on the ocean on Long Island, I made a beeline for my car to get over the bridge in case of a tsunami.

Really not fun. My daughter and ex live in NYC and they felt it too.

[TBman]

I'm 20 miles from the epicenter. It lasted 25 seconds here. Pretty scary stuff. That was the largest earthquake I remember experiencing.

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by fitness1

About 10 years ago there was one centered in the Niles Michigan area - it was a 4.2 or so I believe.

I was sitting at my computer desk - I was living in a cement block walled house on a slab at the time - and I had large bookshelf speakers on home made stands on either side of my desk.

All of a sudden they started moving and I could feel it in my feet.

I remember saying out loud "what the _____ was that??"

You're from Niles? I'm from Niles too! The Jewel of the St. Joe Valley!

[Dirk Hofman]

I grew up in Humboldt County, and it's the most earthquake active place I've e ever been, just not a lot of stuff to knock down so it doesn't get much media. Lived there from '72 to '95. 3 plates come together there, so it's unique in that (fun) way...



The 1980 quake knocked me out of my bed, I was 12. Won't forget that anytime soon, I was staying overnight at a friend's house.

In '91, we had one over 7.0 which had several aftershocks over 6.5. That was the craziest couple of days I've been through with quakes. That was a lot. Loooong quakes.

Was in a 1:1 with my boss at Microsoft when a 7.0 hit in Seattle. My boss looked at me for several seconds, then when I got up and stood in the door frame, she DARTED out from behind her desk to stand with me and wait it out. She was from Idaho, hadn't been in one, and was clearly unnerved! As one would be...

Been through more 6+ than I can remember. Gotten to the point that anything under 5 doesn't really register. They can be really unsettling, especially the length. The ones that just hit hard and pass aren't as bad, you don't have time to start wondering when or if it's gonna stop...

[tinnitus]

Home based in Southern California for 25 years (mostly last century), I was there during a number of events. Most were characterized by 3-10 seconds of shaking/rocking. Despite extensive media coverage I've never felt any reported aftershocks.

One in particular woke me from a sound sleep https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Big_Bear_earthquake. My bed was shaking (I was alone) and I heard nails squeaking in the wood frame of my modern 2-story stucco house. Motion was probably magnified because my room was upstairs and the structure was swaying like a tree in a breeze. This was 100+ miles from the epicenter, so I can only imagine what the actual 6.5 magnitude quake felt like at Big Bear Lake.

I also felt a 6.7 two hours north of me from Northridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_N...dge_earthquake. Those and countless others are to be expected in such close proximity to the San Andreas Fault over which I have driven on numerous road trips.

Every time I feel the ground shake, I wonder if it's a tiny one directly beneath me or something huge and catastrophic somewhere distant. Can't help but picture entire adjoining states crumbling into the Pacific Ocean, or Yellowstone at the bottom of a smoking hole in the ground. Really just passing thoughts, these, nothing I obsess about. I'm thankful not to live with the kind of anxiety a buddy of mine in Florida feels several times every year as various tropical storms bear down on where he lives. I'd move away from there (actually never go there in the first place), but maybe that's how all his neighbors feel about everyone here on the left coast.

Now, living back in Oregon since 2002, I hear about occasional quakes, but I've only felt 2-3 really minor rattles. That'll certainly change if we're still around when the Cascadia Subduction Zone unleashes a 9.0+ right here https://www.oregon.gov/oem/hazardspr...tion-zone.aspx. YIKES!!!

[jseth]

Yep, a 4.8 will certainly get your attention!

Having been raised in Southern California, an earthquake that slight wouldn't really bother me much, if at all... but if you're not used to 'em, they're very unnerving!

[iim7V7IM7]

One thing to consider is in the east, where the bedrock is more intact with fewer faults and cracks energy propagates far more efficiently than it does in the west where the more frequent events have created faults and cracks in the bed rock. A 4.8 on the Richter scale in NJ is a much larger event than a 4.8 on the west coast. The energy will travel farther and more efficiently.

I lived in Southern CA in the 1980s and lived through a number events in the 5-6 range and this event felt every bit as strong. It was a short event (about 20 seconds). I live about 10 miles from the epicenter. After I saw my wife was fine, I went immediately to the guitar room (everything was AOK).

[MrDB]

We are along the New Madrid fault here and get minor shakes every few years. I don't remember ever having one as serious as the NJ one today.

[dilver]

I’m in NJ about 30 miles from where the quake is said to have originated. House shook for a bit, just felt like a big truck went by. Not a big deal at all. Don’t know what all the fuss is all about.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

One thing to consider is in the east, where the bedrock is more intact with fewer faults and cracks energy propagates far more efficiently than it does in the west where the more frequent events have created faults and cracks in the bed rock. A 4.8 on the Richter scale in NJ is a much larger event than a 4.8 on the west coast. The energy will travel farther and more efficiently.

I lived in Southern CA in the 1980s and lived through a number events in the 5-6 range and this event felt every bit as strong. It was a short event (about 20 seconds). I live about 10 miles from the epicenter. After I saw my wife was fine, I went immediately to the guitar room (everything was AOK).

That's really interesting.

20 seconds actually seems incredibly long. I don't think ever been in a quake, even 7+ that I've been able to feel for that long.

[k_russell]

I'm near the Betsy Ross Bridge (Philadelphia area, New Jersey side). The house shook for what seemed like 5 - 10 seconds.

[TBman]

Just had a shockwave.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by dilver

I’m in NJ about 30 miles from where the quake is said to have originated. House shook for a bit, just felt like a big truck went by. Not a big deal at all. Don’t know what all the fuss is all about.

Originally Posted by iim7V7IM7

One thing to consider is in the east, where the bedrock is more intact with fewer faults and cracks energy propagates far more efficiently than it does in the west where the more frequent events have created faults and cracks in the bed rock. A 4.8 on the Richter scale in NJ is a much larger event than a 4.8 on the West Coast. The energy will travel farther and more efficiently...

I'm in S.I., on the other side of Arthur Kill from NJ and about 40 miles or so from the Lebanon epicenter...

I live on a two-way street connecting two main roads that's used at all times of the day/night as a short cut by heavy-duty trucks, as well as express buses, school buses, and one loony in a Dodge Charger Hellcat who likes to take all 797 of his ponies for a full-throttle ride a couple times a day, accompanied by the dulcet tones of his 5000-watt sound system...

I've been on the starting line at E-Town when two guys named Force and Pedregon had themselves a 20,000 HP, 300+ MPH throwdown...

We moved into the Brooklyn housing project where I lived as a kid while it was still under construction: every morning I would watch/hear/feel the heavy machinery from my kitchen window, working on the adjacent building...

My workplace back in the early-80's was located along the flightpath of the Concorde SST - I would pull into the company lot as it was either departing from or landing at JFK...

This was a different story entirely, like nothing I've ever experienced before: my wife's cousins in Brooklyn and South Jersey, and one of their mutual friends in central PA - all between 70-90 miles from the epicenter - experienced significant shaking, and as I'm writing this we just had an aftershock...

- and here I thought it was the chili I had for dinner last night...

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by RP

My very first earthquake experience occurred on 8/23/2011. We were at the aquarium in Baltimore, and the whole place shook. I thought that it was part of the Aquarium's 4D Show, but staff moved the dolphins into a smaller enclosure and we were moved out to the street which was full of others escaping large buildings. We rushed back to Charlottesville only to learn that the epicenter of this 5.8 earthquake was in nearby Mineral, VA. Evidently it shook the entire east coast...

Yeah, the 5.8 earthquake in Virginia was barely noticed by the networks in New York, but it did inspire memes.

I was on the second floor of a building in a meeting during this one and we went for a fun ride - horizontal motion! We didn't even stop the meeting.

Bob