Yup, that was an earthquake outside SF
earthquake.usgs.gov
earthquake.usgs.gov
I wonder if "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" really is good advice for liquefaction zones for a very big earthquake.
[1] https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/b70a766a60ad4c0688babdd4749...
When the ground stops moving, then you have a chance at purposeful motion.
When the earth moves 2m each way every second there’s no way you can stay on your feet. Maybe you could crawl?
If you're in an immediately hazardous area, you should move to nearby safety during the earthquake (getting away from kitchens, window, things that could fall on you, etc), but exiting a building during an earthquake is probably riskier than staying inside it.
Certainly, use the time of the shaking to plan your exit, but no sense in falling all over the place and risking avoidable injury.
If you're in the bay area, chances are the building you're in is fairly earthquake safe. Building codes have improved over time, and many of the most unsafe buildings were destroyed in previous large earthquakes. Small buildings tend to be fairly safe even if not up to current codes, and large buildings tend to be targetted by inspection and retrofit requirements.
It's not like the death of the sun or heat death of universe where it's a billion years outside of your lifetime, it's going to happen in your lifetime.
The "oh well what can you do" response leads me to believe we aren't going to do a damn thing about runaway climate change.
Person is good at planning for abstract problems, because person controls their income, expenses, and priorities.
People are terrible at planning for abstract problems because it's collective resources and collective solutions requiring agreement from multiple parties who, inherently, have different and often conflicting priorities.
In other words, until the planet crashes and kills a vast, vast majority of us, we are going to carry on like we always have. It's depressing.
And in Japan there's those old stone marker monuments telling people not to build below them because of tsunamis or floods or something to that effect.
But I mean I guess when it's as desirable property as the SF Bay Area, the fact that you lose the building on it every hundred years or so is a small price to pay?
If an event happens every 250 years on average - thats 10 generations of humans.
There are stories told by old Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Western USA about the Cascadia Fault which will wreck the PNW west of Interstate 5, estimated to happen every 500 years, last happened in 1700s. But they are just that - vague stories. Who is listening to them?
If 10 generations of a family can live in one spot for 250 years with no issues - it might be pretty hard to convince them they have to leave.
With the increasing frequency of “100 year storm”, “200 year fire”, “250 year flood” … it’s pretty unfortunate we’re so terrible at contextualizing event types that haven’t already directly impacted our own lives. Of course paranoia-prepping isn’t really useful, but it’s dumbfounding that preparation isn’t a given.
It is pretty unfortunate, but I don't blame people. Imagine your grandfather telling you stories about his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather dealing with a great flood... they would just be legends.
money money money, MONEY! seems pretty simple to me
It’s the best weather anywhere to show off your nice jacket.
Not to mention a huge supply of fresh water.
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
> We get tornados but that's about it.
those two things seem at odds.
Loma Prieta killed 63 people. Northridge killed 57. The 2011 Christchurch earthquake killed 185. By contrast, about 30 people die every year from cold, 134 from heat, 44 from being hit by lightning, 85 from flooding, 69 from tornadoes [1], 103 from mass shootings, 21K from gun-related homicide, 26K from gun-related suicide [2], 70K from fentanyl [3], and 280K from obesity [4]. For completeness, excluding 9/11 about 15 people die per year from terrorism [5], with median 2 and mode 0.
Note the 3-order-of-magnitude difference between headline-worthy deaths like natural disasters and terrorism, vs. slow dangers like homicide, suicide, overdose, or obesity. You're about 7 times more likely to die from being struck by lightning than an earthquake.
[1] https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Which-Kills-More-People-Ex...
[2] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-...
[3] https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overd...
[4] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192032
[5] https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_AmericanTerrorismDeaths...
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/tsunami-stones-ancien...
If you live somewhere with strong earthquakes on a regular basis and enforcable building codes, chances are most of the buildings will withstand a pretty good earthquake, but a really big one will cause trouble.
Areas without regular strong earthquakes are likely to be caught by surprise, although newer buildings are likely to do ok, if they enforce international standard building codes; IBC is good for reasonable earthquakes, but not for extreme earthquakes (earthquake prone areas have additional requirements). Areas without enforcable building codes unfortunately aren't going to be well prepared, it costs more to build buildings that won't fall over in a nearby 4.0, especially if they're taller than one story.
https://science8sc.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/2/7/132773018/publ...
Anecdote, I was in a small earthquake in Tokyo, the initial thump woke me up and I rolled over under the dining table (sleeping on the floor as a guest) then the bigger vibrations arrived a few seconds later. The building was well designed for earthquakes, but in the moment I figured that, not knowing how big the rest of the earthquake will be, it was probably best to get cover anyway. I think cover is just about increasing the probability by some small amount that you could end up alive under the rubble if the building were to collapse.
It’s been so long since we’ve had strong seismic activity in the Bay Area that I’d wager most that have moved here in past two decades (hi!) don’t have all their bookshelves/etc bolted to the wall, breakables secured with quake-hold, shoes under bed, etc… not to mention proper supplies for significant infrastructure damage. I know I caught myself being complacent earlier this year after I reorganized all of our stemware and whisky/etc to a glass cabinet next one of our two exit paths. It would have been an a guaranteed 20-30 lbs of glass shards thoroughly blocking that path. But hey, I’ll admit I have cinema-induced-paranoia about two things: 1) being trapped barefoot with glass covered floors, and 2) potential for velociraptor ingress.
The only people who believe this advice haven't been in an earthquake or government workers who have to justify their existence by coming up with such nonsense, you know, like all the "don't do drugs" messaging and whatever they hand out at the DMV.
The last large quake I experienced was the Northridge quake. I lived very near to the epicenter at the time. It was 4:31 AM. I remember exactly because stayed up all night coding. I felt a strong tug. I immediately thought "this is a big one".
Next image I have in my head was me floating four feet up in the air and all my books up in the air with me (I had bookcases full of books on three walls). The lights went out, we fell to the ground and the powerful shaking started. When it all stopped, books covered the entire floor, it was a mess.
Floating four feet up in the air?
Yes!
The quake had a very strong vertical component. As it pushed up, it compressed the air cylinder right under me (part of the desk chair). That cylinder and the reversal of motion was enough to launch me vertically. My cars were launched into the air and collided with each other...on the driveway. The whole thing was insane.
"Drop, cover and hold on"? Yeah, right.
Don't get me wrong, running around like a maniac isn't smart at all. Keep your wits about you, stand under a doorway or something with decent structural support and assess from there. That is, if you are able to. Sometimes, as was the cased with Northridge, you don't have time for anything. People had entire buildings collapse onto them while in bed.
It punched above its weight because the epicenter was closer to San Francisco than usual.
Let people have their moments together, they don't need you to approve it
I suppose I should earthquake proof my apartment though, you know those twist tie things that come with some furniture that are meant to be anchored into the wall? I've never used 'em.
At some point with a big one I'll have some shelving and what not fall over. But I've been over a decade here and I haven't needed them yet.
Updated magnitude is 3.7.