13 Earthquakes

I have lived in southern California all* my life. This means I have experienced myriad earthquakes. Why not make a list of some of them for Thursday 13? 

*Except for the first three-ish months of my life when I lived in central California. Of course, I do not remember this time at all.

I'll start with some earthquakes I remember from before I had a blog (most before blogs even existed). 

1. Whittier Narrows 1987

Marching band practice. We were out on the practice football field, standing ready to do a full run through of the half time show, at least as much as we knew at that point. We were at attention, waiting for the director to count us off...

There was a rumbling. It sounded like a truck was driving down one of the streets next to the school. But then it didn't stop. We realized what was happening, and we kind of laughed. No longer at attention, we were reacting. And then it was over. 

The band director got our attention, counted us off, and we ran the half time show. (I later heard from fellow band members that the director jumped off his tall ladder when the earthquake started. I did not witness this as I wasn't looking his direction.) 

It was only as we were scrambling to get to first period on time (the half time show takes around 15 minutes. Class started at 8 AM. The director cut it close) that we learned just how big that quake was. 

We were probably in the best place for a major quake--in the middle of a field with nothing surrounding us. 

The school day went as normal. In Anaheim, we were far enough away (roughly 15 miles) that we didn't suffer any damage. But it was a significant quake: 5.9. We had aftershocks that whole year. My junior year of high school. Ah, the memories...

2. Northridge 1994

I was in college at the time, but it was after the winter semester but before the spring semester, so I was on vacation. The earthquake woke me, but I was far enough away from the epicenter (over 50 miles) that it didn't concern me enough to get out of bed. 

Only after getting up (rather late that morning) did I see the news reports of how bad it was. 

Those are the two biggies. The rest of these are from more ordinary, run-of-the-mill earthquakes.

3. It was approximately 9:50 PM. I was reclined in a chair with the footrest up while watching the latest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (This was likely the early '90s, but I can't say for sure.) 

Shaking started. I realized it was an earthquake, but it wasn't shaking so bad that I felt the need to move. Then there was a BANG, and the shaking started in earnest.

I leapt over the footrest (not bothering to push it down) and darted into the doorway to the hall just behind me. And then I looked over, feeling slightly chagrined. Did I overreact? 

See, my brother had been sitting on the couch behind me this whole time, watching the show with me. I turned to look at him and say something about my sudden darting to the doorway only to find that he was standing in the doorway to the kitchen on the other side of the room. He judged the earthquake's intensity just as I did.

(Conventional wisdom says that when inside, the safest place to be in an earthquake is in a doorway. Things are less likely to fall on you, and supposedly, if the building falls down, you're more likely to have some structure above you to keep you safe. I have since heard this might not be true, but it's what we've been trained to do.)

Earthquake over, we resumed our seats. The show was on a commercial break. And that's when I started to worry.

Generally, at that time, when we'd have an earthquake, the news would break in with Dr. Lucy Jones to give us the raw data (epicenter, magnitude). 

I knew it would be on the news. But would they interrupt the show (which I was invested in seeing the ending for, and this was before streaming, so who knew when I'd get a chance to see it again?), or would they wait until 10 PM (like reasonable people)? I watched Star Trek with bated breath, hoping to see the conclusion of the episode...

And I did. The news started at 10, like reasonable heads prevailed. I could not tell you the magnitude of that earthquake as I have forgotten it. And I have forgotten which episode of Star Trek it was. But I know I did see the end.

4. 12:30 AM. I had been asleep. The earthquake woke me. But it wasn't big enough for me to bother getting out of bed for. I turned over and went back to sleep.

And it would have been completely forgotten, except the next day I was at school. (High school, so likely an aftershock of Whittier. I can't remember if it was a school day or a Saturday and it was just a band event that we were there for.) 

Outside the band room, clarinet player asked us if we felt the earthquake the prior night. Two others said they hadn't. I said I hadn't... And then, "Wait." And that's when it was like, oh yeah, it did wake me.

5. I was getting ready for school, high school, and I was late. I had to walk that day, which meant I had to be on my way about a half hour before school began. It was about a half hour before school began. I was getting ready to put on my shoes and head out.

I had the radio on. The DJ said something about it being a "shake and bake" day. Me: "Don't say 'shake'..." At which point the ground began to move. Sigh. Me: "I told you not to say 'shake'..."

Earthquake finished, I tied my shoes, turned off the radio, grabbed my stuff, and headed out. I managed to make it to first period on time. Barely.

6. Chemistry class. I don't remember what we were doing when the earthquake struck. I do remember the reaction when it hit--the usual titters and whoas. 

And that's about when one of our classmates bolted for the door. Only one. (I won't name names, so let's call him Benny.) 

Earthquake over, we resumed what we were doing. (Probably some sort of lecture.) It was a few minutes later that Benny returned. 

I was sitting close enough, so I heard when the classmates at his table asked him what had happened. He just panicked. Apparently, he disassociated. He said he "came to" when he was all the way to the gym (the other side of campus). That's when he trudged back.

Our teacher? Didn't say a word. We continued on as if nothing had happened. 

7. Psychology class (or it might have been sociology--I don't remember which semester it was). Second period. This would have been my senior year. 

I don't remember if the teacher was talking or if we were just taking down notes. My chair started shaking. I figured it was the boy seated behind me. We had those chairs with a wire basket underneath. The person in the seat behind would often put their feet up on it. I turned around to ask him (nicely--we were friendly) to stop shaking my chair.

There was a gap of at least a foot between his chair and mine. And he was too far back to have his feet on my chair.

Oh. Earthquake.

I think I told him why I turned around, and then, of course, our area of the room started the earthquake discussion. ("Did you feel it?" "I didn't feel it." etc.)

The rest of the list are quakes I've blogged about before. Links included.

8. My Earthquake Story

From 2008, this is the first earthquake post on my blog (that I could find--if I wrote others before this, I hadn't yet started using the tag "earthquake files"). I remember this vividly. I was supposed to end the video (I was at the continuation high school) at the same time as the previous classes. When an earthquake happens and the school has us evacuate, it's kind of hard to make the kiddos watch a movie. 

9. A New One

Ah yes, this winner from 2009. This was the first time an earthquake happened while I was in the shower. I had conditioner in my hair and soap on my face. I'm glad it wasn't a big one where getting out of the shower would have been necessary. 

10. Friday's Earthquake

And this one occurred just in time for F day for 2014's A to Z Challenge. I have no memory of this class, which is why I write the blog. 

11. Didja Feel That?

Oh wow, this post is from exactly five years ago (and it was a Thursday, too). It looks like there were a few quakes over a week there. And you know, until reading that post, I had completely forgotten about this. Funny how that works.

12. Hurriquake

I absolutely can't leave out when we had an earthquake during a tropical storm. That was definitely a new one for me. (It hasn't even been a full year since this happened.)

13. A SoCal Lunch

And I'll finish up with my most recent earthquake, the one that I felt back in May while covering Mr. J's classes. One student called it the wind. I knew it was an earthquake.