Major Quake

[Mikey]

We just experienced the longest felt earthquake ever.  It was a gentle rolling motion that lasted roughly 45 seconds.  Ever try to pee into a moving target.....   Well that's what I was doing when thise 6.9 quake hit south of Mexicali.  It was reported to be 20 miles deep which perhaps explains why it was rolling....  Initial reports say it was a 6.9 

[Sunbeam56]

Glad you aren't hurt.
Glad you are safe...

[purplepshn2004]

Wow, that would scare the crap out of me!  Glad you're ok!

[Holldoll]

That's fairly close to me - I'm surprised we didn't feel it!

[Mikey]

Check out this video of a pool reacting to the movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi9NMY8RXI4  That's pretty much what our pond looked like.....  One water lily slid off the stand and now on the bottom....

[purplepshn2004]

Wow, that's something else.

[miguynmkoi]

Thanks for the real update, Mike!    

When the earthquake began to roll here I was sitting at the table outdoors reading a paint can's tiny instructions.  I thought I was getting symptoms of shaky hands.  Almost like being sea sick.  I tried to clear my head and attempted to read again.  Still thinking I was getting that much older I looked up and notice all my hanging ornaments swinging.  Even then I thought it was a breezy day....until I looked at the turtle's aquarium.  The water was sloshing!  I jumped up to hold onto the tank for dear life, you know, just in case.  I felt like I was surfing while I stood there braced for the growing rolling effect for what felt like a long ride.  I saw my deck arbor rocking sideways and heard lots of creaking.  My DH was indoors holding onto the large dining rm hanging lights.  After the rolling stopped  went inside to check on everything and noticed how wide the kitchen nook chandelier was swinging.

Everything ok.  Lily pond got dirty as the filter box was rocked from the inlet towards the outlet spilling out the oocky stuff. 

For a big quake down south I'm glad it didn't create more devastating news.

[Kittyzee]

Good grief you guys!!  That would scare the poo out of me!   

[miguynmkoi]

Too worried about my babies to poop. 

[Julles]

45 seconds is a LONG time!

Those people in the video seemed unphased by all this... are earth quakes so common there, that people just take them in stride?

Mikey, can you explain those maps?  What does "last hour," "last day," and "last week" mean?  Is that map saying that there are earthquakes somewhere in California EVERY day??!

[Sunbeam56]

yeah, they get them every day.
When there is one over about 3.0 on the RS, the lights at the diner will swing, and people pick up their drinks.
Conversation doesn't stop.
It looks like everyone in the place is "cheering" something.

[Jerry]

never felt a thing here.

[Mikey]

Mikey, can you explain those maps?

Julles: The USGS monitors quake activity pretty much in real time on their site.  The Pacific Plate makes contact with the North American Plate where California is located and thus the area is quite active with earthquakes.  Small earthquakes occur every day and most are much too small for people to even notice.

The size or magnitude of the earthquake is represented by the various colored squares.  On the graph you see the sizes 7 through 1.  The Baja quake was initially reported as a 6.9 quake and then adjusted to a 7.2.

This particular earthquake was a rolling earthquake here, some 200 miles away from the epicenter.  Rolling earthquakes are not terrifying to most people as they tend to start out gentle, not the sudden violent jolt of other kinds of earthquakes.  Thus you had people acting calmly at the swimming pool.  However, notice they were outside, not inside as even during rolling earthquakes many people tend to move outside.  The feeling of a rolling earthquake is like standing on a pitching boat.  In fact many people, including the fetching Mrs. Mikey, reported becoming nauseaous.  This quake was very long in duration, the longest I ever experienced and that also explains why many people reported intitial symptoms of being sea-sick.  I usually don't notice nearby earthquakes that register below 4.0.  If I'm active duriing a 4.0 earthquake I may not notice it.  Any nearby earthquake registering 5.0 will definately get my attention.  An earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0.

There are so many earthquakes here that their graph only shows the earthquakes that have occurred within the last week.  Red means the quake occurred within the last hour.  Blue means the quake occurred sometime within the last day.  Yellow means the quake occurred within the last week.

If you go to the USGS site and click on the earthquakes it will give you specific information about that particular earthquake.  As you can see by the graph below that I just copied there have been dozens of additional earthquakes.  I included a graph of continental U.S. for comparison.

[Julles]

Wow. 

I remember living through earthquakes when I was a kid, and they were terrifying.  I can't imagine having them occur so frequently that you just get used to them and don't even notice!