San Andreas fault giving off mysterious tremors

It's only a matter of time before something really bad happens there. You couldn't pay me to live in or near southern California.

 

I hate earthquakes. They come outta know where. It seems like most hit at night when im sleeping.

 

I know.
Worst thing down here is we got a hurricane or two.
Sure, your roof may leak few places, but it won't end up underground, thats for sure

 

talk to some hurricane andrew survivors in the early 90s and say that again

 

ahh, but they knew it was coming and had a chance to protect themselves and their important possesions. If you are 40 stories up when the big quake happens you are toast

 

my response was geared towards his "maybe only the roof leaks" comment

 

i think i moved out of california at about the right time, although they say the biggest earthquake in US history was on the Madrid fault akansas/missouri. hope that one is dormant now.

 

I just want to go on record as saying: this is not my fault.

 

awful.


yah i just moved out here and have experienced a few mild quakes (4.0-5.0s) but it really seems like out here it's pretty much accepted that it will happen sooner or later. very few people are in denial about it, unlike those that don't believe a hurricane could ever hurt you etc.

and honestly, even though the big one is coming, there are very few other natural disasters out here to be afraid of. no fear of getting blown away by a tornado, don't have to worry about massive floods, and where i'm located in the city fire isn't really an issue either (though generally that is a biggie in socal).

i don't know the statistics, but i'd bet that if you add up casualty counts over the past 10 years or so from natural disasters in cities across the nation that LA is actually one of the safest. granted, that count will spike on the day of the big one.. but for now it's all good

i'm happy that I live on the first floor of a building, and they're building a new police station for us that is hopefully being built with the big one in mind so we'll be safe there too if i'm at work.

 

Bingo.

Earthquakes are a small price to pay for no hurricanes, tornadoes, Palmetto bugs, and 9/10ths of the species of animals and bugs outside lying patiently in wait to take your life.

Half the plants too, come to think of it.

And here's the thing about the San Andreas: they know exactly how to make it less deadly.

A couple years ago they discovered that while parts of the fault build up tension between plates until a catastrophic release, other parts slide along relatively gently, making smaller, less destructive quakes.

The answer: chalk.

In some parts of the fault there are vast deposits of chalk, lubricating the plates and letting them move in small increments without building up friction toward a massive jolt of movement.

All they need to do is dig strategic "wells" along the fault line where it lacks these beneficial deposits and fill them with chalk.

The reason they haven't done it already? Money.

I love capitalism, but there are areas where the profit motive is literally killing us; this is one, medicine being the other glaring example.


edit: BTW, the New Madrid fault in Kansas/Missouri/Illinois is potentially one of the deadliest faults in the US. If it does go, few of the buildings in St. Louis, for instance, will be able to withstand the quake it will create.

 

Live here long enough and they become a pretty common occurrence. Honestly if I lived in Southern California wildfires would strike much more fear into me than an earthquake.

It's a small price to pay for being able to live this far away from people in Boston and the arrogant prick Patriot fans.

 

Aww, I lived in So.Cal my whole life, there's always something going on with the fault lines.Or, I should say there's a whole lotta shakin going on.

 

Some of you need to brush up on some Geography. The San Andreas Fault runs throughout California, not just Southern Cal. I suppose that means we are ALL screwed.

And earthquakes are only scary to those who have never been through them. Most are harmless and actually GOOD for the area as thhy relieve pressure on the plates. The building codes in California are far more strict than anywhere else in the country (Florida is second) and all buildings are governed in design by seismic rather than wind.

Essentially, the buildings most of you live in and go into outside of California wouldn't stand a chance in an earthquake. Us here in California, have a better shot of surviving just based on our building practices.

And bullocks to anyone who says you can't prepare for an earthquake. Sure you may not know exactly when it will hit, but ehre is plenty of things you can do to be prepared for one if/when it does.

Earthquakes are kind of my business...can you tell?

 

the madrid fault is much bigger, it fact the last article i read, they don't know how big.

living in california they should put up a sign at the border, "welcome to california, some assembly required."

 

I'm still hoping for San Francisco to fall into the ocean.

 

whats really scarey is when the ground shakes and then the ground liquifies and things actually sink.

 

As long as the Central Valley goes up in flames...

 

Are you an bay area native?

 

whats funny is they discover new faults all the time. they didn't know the one existed when the whittier narrows quake hit. the northridge quake was worse. cracked the stucco in our apartment building.

madrid fault

during this quake portions of the mississippi river ran backwards for a short time. parts of the river actually changed course. the town of new madrid was completely destroyed.

 

this is why oregon>>>

no hurricanes, rare earthquakes and when there is one its like a 2.0 lol, and weak winters

 

Yes and dictator like control over gas pumps lol

Made the mistake of trying to pump my own gas (out of habit, not malicious intent) as I had just crossed over the California / Oregon.

 

well i was talking about weather...but anyways oregon unemployment is pretty high, if you had to pump your own gas, it'd be even higher...so i see nothing wrong with it

 

People always fear what they don't know. Talk to westerners and they are scared of hurricanes and alligators. Talk to Floridians and they are freaked out by earthquakes and black widow spiders.

 

Does it make a measurable difference in employment? Are most stations equipped with someone specifically for pumping gas?

 

Soo when will this build up release? 2012?

 

every gas station has multiple employees working at the same time...except graveyard shift, depending on which one.

 

oregon is still a better place to live than california. the real issue with oregon is the weather. they don't try for a suntan, they try to resemble a prune. you have to sit in the bath tub for about 6 hrs to get the effect you get up there. rain, rain and more rain.

 

Its Lucifer getting ready to grab Al Davis and return him home to the depths of hell

 

Couldn't pay me to live anywhere else. Never leaving San Diego, well never say never. There are some POFO related reasons why I MIGHT consider leaving but I'm here for good.

marty,being on the 40th floor during a quake should not be a problem. Being on the street next to a building should be. Glass. Lots of it.

The buildings nowadays are pretty damn resistant to quakes.

 

i lived in california for 59 years, so i know it WAS a truly nice place to live. then the prices and the phony baloney riots, i could see the hand writing on the wall. i guess if you wern't born till 70 or 80 you have no idea how much it has regressed. there was a time when you could let your kids play till the street lights came on without watching them, drugs weren't even heard of. mj was avvailable but thats it. you could play the field and not have to worry about catching something. safe sex when i was a kid meant doing it low enough in the bed so you don't bang your head on the headboard

 

a lot of what you say can be said about a lot of places now though. there is fault with every place in the US, yet most are truly great places to live.

Funny you mention about letting kids play till the lights came on, as we say the same thing. I grew up in the 80's and as a young kid at the tender age of 4 I played in the streets basically unwatched. I blame it on my immigrant parents as that's how it is today in Vietnam still, although back then there were no street lights. But that's how it was in the 80's. Now, I won't let my nephew or niece out the front door without hovering over them.

But I don't see how most of what you said applies to California. Except for the prices. And if we're willing to pay for it, well we're willing to pay for it. I've been to enough places to know, this is my home. There are wonderful places out there, and I love to visit them (Having a gf who travels for weeks across the US helps, with free air and hotel) but always know, San Diego is my home, and I don't foresee it changing.

Cost of living here is definitely high. But moderate temps, 300 days of sunshine, and just a beautiful city makes up for it, in my view.

 

here in arkansas, the kids still play outside, unwatched. and i love the change of seasons. especially sitting before a fire, with snow on the ground at christmas time. seeing palm trees in december don't rattle my chain.

its specially nice when you don't have to go out in it. bring the firewood into the garage so it stays dry!

 

Different strokes dolfan. The high humidity throughout summer rattles my chain I'm just a different folk

Guess what, I can still sit around a fire in the snow during Xmas time. But the 364 other days I'm more comfortable (for me, you may be more comfortable there, which is also fine)

Where about in ARK are ya? My lady worked in the Fort Smith area last year, right after some storms came through.

 

No thank you, earthquakes.

We get tornado watches sometimes here. Not usually warnings though. And when we get those they're scary enough. I don't want to have to worry about a hole opening up in the ground and me falling into it.

The only other thing I have to worry about living on the coast is those god awful godzilla attacks..

 

i live in Rogers ark. its in benton county, the most north western county. about 10 miles from oklahoma and 5 miles from missouri. humidity is high in the summer but when you're retired you don't have to go out in it.electricity is very cheap out here compared to california. my electric bill runs $30 in the winter and $80 in the summer. natural gas is high, thats why i have a wood burning stove that heats the whole house. gasoline is a lot lower here than cali. right now its about $2.15 for regular.

i understand california is on the verge of bankruptsy. if you do have an earthquake, gonna have a hell of a time fixing everything. paying state employees with script now!

 

True. I was about to say I'm glad I don't live in CA

 

I wouldn't want to live in Cali, but I sure would like to be able to explore it for a couple months, a lot a stuff there...


for now

 

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Also, FYI: more New Madrid fault info:

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