01-27-2007, 10:58 AM
I moved here, uphill from the Kilauea Volcano, about a year ago after living about 35 years in the SF Bay Area. Previously, in Honolulu, I never felt a quake. In the Bay Area, I got kind of lulled by the mildness of the weak shakers. That is, until the '89 Loma Prieta quake. We personally suffered no damage in that 6.9 quake, but there was serious damage all around the Bay and even some deaths. October's 6.7 quake off the North Kona coast, for probably many reasons besides the significant 0.2 Richter scale difference, didn't feel nearly as bad in Volcano as the Loma Prieta quake felt in the South SF Bay. I was driving during both events and didn't even feel the one on the BI. But, as I was telling a friend recently, I probably felt as many of the aftershocks in Volcano in the following month as all of the quakes I've felt in the Bay Area in 35 years. I even spent the last eight years living west of and within 2 miles of the San Andreas Fault. I led hikes where we'd point out where people were stepping across the Fault.
I guess the point is, maybe the difference is like it is with the rain. There's a lot of it here (gorgeous sunny day, today, by the way), but it's so warm and mild. I don't doubt that we'll feel some bigger quakes, I've seen the historical record for this side. But it's never seemed to be a significant event, even though they have higher frequency that eruptions. And those pipsqueak quakes mentioned in the news article, I don't think you feel them unless you are laying absolutely still in a bed that magnifies the movement. Even when I feel that kind of movement, I have a hard time believing that it was a real quake. Like Carey mentioned, I feel the booming speakers in some kid's car to a greater degree.
I guess the point is, maybe the difference is like it is with the rain. There's a lot of it here (gorgeous sunny day, today, by the way), but it's so warm and mild. I don't doubt that we'll feel some bigger quakes, I've seen the historical record for this side. But it's never seemed to be a significant event, even though they have higher frequency that eruptions. And those pipsqueak quakes mentioned in the news article, I don't think you feel them unless you are laying absolutely still in a bed that magnifies the movement. Even when I feel that kind of movement, I have a hard time believing that it was a real quake. Like Carey mentioned, I feel the booming speakers in some kid's car to a greater degree.