Warbird Information Exchange

I know what you mean about "Suburbians". Mrs. Mudge used to show them. Had one even win the East Coast Obedience trials one year. Obedience and Siberians don't normally belong in the same sentence.

And thank you for the freedom to do adult things in my spare time.

Mudge the stud muffin

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Land of the free because of the brave

I was in a post office in Rockville, Maryland when the earthquake struck. We all kind of looked at each other. At first I thought it was an 18 wheeler, then maybe a train derailing (tracks were only a few hundred yards away), then a bomb, until finally someone piped up and said "That was an earthquake".

My wife hit me on my cell and said "I think we just had an earthquake". I told her it probably was. When I got back to my car, I grabbed my police radio and flipped it on. Our department usually has really good radio discipline, but everyone was calling in. We had the Chief and the Assistant Chief on the air at the same time, so I knew something big was going down. The Chief restored order on-air and told all units to restrict transmissions to those directly dealing with earthquake issues (such as evacuating buildings). Cell phones and landlines were overwhelmed and went dead...shades of 9/11. Soon it became apparent that damage was only minor, but the department spent the rest of the day checking various facilities.

This is my second earthquake in MARYLAND in two years. Last year, we had a 3.9 (or was it 2.9?), but the epicenter was only 10 miles from our house, so we felt it. Had the shaking on this one gone on longer, or if the power was a couple of decimal points higher on the Richter scale, the story would have been a lot different.

Earthquakes are logarithmic in amplitude, a 7.5 is 10 times as powerful as a 7.4. 'Come on ovah baby, whole lotta shakin'........' big and very long duration ones can lead to soil liquification and your car or house goes down like a brick tossed into a bucket of oatmeal, look @ the pictures from Anchorages Good Friday quake in 1964 to see just how unhappy old mommy nature can get-

And Saxman, you put your finger right on part of the problem afterward, like mops carrying buckets of water, eveyone whips out their phone and tries to contact the Enterprise, makes you want to walk down the line saying 'if you are wearing a red shirt, you ain't getting off the planet'

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

I was pulling a double at PNE teaching the day instructor's class when the earthquake came through. I had a video about composites going on for the students while I was doing some computer work. The floor started wavering, and the desk was shaking a bit. Lasted for about 45 seconds... All the students felt it as well. I mainly had a sense of wonder and thought "Wow. THIS is new..." My boss and I, and a few of the other instructors all came out of our rooms at the same time, and asked each other "Was that an earthquake?"

Donna was at home, and noticed the mirror shaking, and thought a truck was going by. Apparently the 130 year old digs did a bit of shaking before it stopped... Freaked her out a bit, definitely did not enjoy it. Cats rocketed, dog chased the cats... lol...
Donna thought the mirror had been shaking because of the monsters running around... lol...

Phones took a few minutes, but VOIP to cell phone went right through.

I had one friend who was kayaking when it hit- he said he noticed the water shaking like in an ultrasonic cleaning bath. He thought it was a boat which passed or something, but when he got to shore, everyone was talking about the earthquake.

Of course the students had one thing to ask; "Does this mean we get to go home early?" Noooo.....

Scott

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1942 Dodge WC-51 Weapons Carrier
I am a reenactor, have been since the early 1980s, and I am an aviation enthusiast, PILOT, A&P mechanic, and military vehicle owner. I have restored cars, trucks, and antique radios. These are MY hobbies- What are YOURS?.

Indeed, good advice. Sadly a large percentage of the poor people killed in the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand this year were people who either rushed outside of shops into the street, or were already in the street shopping or sitting in cars and buses. Shop frontages came down on them, burying them and crushing cars. Seeing the mess of the buses that were hit amazed me. It's also amazing how some people were pulled out alive.

Of the others who died, I heard of one wee baby that a television tipped over and fell onto, which is so sad. And the rest, a lot, died when two fairly modern high rise buildings simply pancaked.

Earthquakes are so strange. We get them all the time in NZ, our country has the two plates meeting right down the centre, plus there are loads of volcanoes though only a few are active. So the country is continually shaking but we seldom feel anything. The big shakes in Christchurch this year have been shocking, and the February quake is apparently one of the biggest jolts recorded worldwide. Having walked around the city since then and seen old homes and shops utterly detroyed, and then nextdoor others unscathed just totally confuses me. Some of the homes also look fine but have to be pulled down as the land turned to liquifaction thanks to the quakes, and this means the end of thousands of homes, most of them not that old. It's so sad, a year ago it was the most bautiful city in the world, now its trashed.

I'm so glad to hear that none of you seem to have suffered damage and loss in this US quake. I hope it's a one off event.

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