My reaction to the quakes was different from a lot of my friends. I attribute that to my pilot training - Don't panic; Observe, Evaluate, Execute.
Maintain control and fly the plane as far into the crash as possible (thank you Bob Hoover) even with the realization that worst case, emergency procedures are there to keep you busy with something to do until you die. This is my recollection of the 6.4:
Hanging Out on Top of a 6.4 Earthquake ? Real Time Decisions and Mess-With-Your-Mind Aftershocks
My hometown ? Ridgecrest, CA ? is an isolated desert community of 22,000+ eighty six miles from the nearest population center (Lancaster, CA). On Thursday July 4 at 1033 we experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter very near the town. I was at the In-Shape gym at the time about halfway through an intense workout. My wife, Trish, was at home.
I was at the furthest corner of the very large gym complex (a former Vons food store) finishing a second set of very intense bicep curls. The mind does strange things ? as the quake began I wondered for a millisecond how my very forceful bicep curl could cause the floor to move beneath me! I put the barbell down and grabbed on to the very substantial barbell rack for support, trying to come up with a plan.
The quake quickly evolved into a rapid horizontal oscillation accompanied by a loud roar. The pressing questions were whether the intensity was going to increase, how long it would last, and whether the ceiling would collapse.
Time seemed to slow down. The intensity stabilized but various small bits of insulation and ceiling tiles started falling. Then the immediate decision was whether to continue to be anchored to the secure barbell rack, search for something to crawl under (nothing but workout machines in the area) or let go and head for the far away entrance, risking being knocked off my feet. Since none of the ceiling had yet collapsed I decided to stay put until it started to fail ? thinking I would be a very small target for the random collapse of a section of ceiling. I actually came up with a plan in my mind to evacuate at first sign of collapse, hopefully with the ability to evaluate and avoid areas of greatest danger (Hey ? it seemed like a logical plan at the time!)
The quake seemed to go on and on ? but the actual timeframe was less than a minute. Then stability and silence, with 50+ people relatively calmly making their way to the door.
Damage assessment began immediately throughout the town. One home burned due to a ruptured gas line; a friend had his hot water line disconnect from the heater and flooded his house; several mobile homes were torn from their pads; store shelves were emptied onto floors; large screen TVs toppled ? but compared to what might have been, damage was minimal.
My house is constructed with 2X6 studs with substantial entryways and door jams. It appears that the house rotated around those central supports. No structural damage, but a lot of cracked wall paint.
As an isolated community, citizens of Ridgecrest are probably more self-sufficient than city dwellers, with plans in place to cope with emergencies. Those plans were immediately activated with very logical and systematic investigation/recovery processes beginning to be executed. A sincere attaboy to all the response personnel. Electricity was systematically restored (evidently there are seismic electrical grid sensors that shut off sections of the grid when tripped and have to be manually reset). Hospital patients were evacuated to Palmdale as a precaution due to the expectation of continued aftershocks. Support arrived from Bakersfield and other communities.
Then the LA TV crowd helicoptered in, endlessly searching for and concocting disaster themes. Some of the questions and statements made by those TV personalities makes one wonder whether they had even heard of science or had any kind of education. Their favorite tactic/question was to try to get the various first responders to declare exactly when the next big aftershock/quake would occur ? an obviously impossible question to answer. Idiots!
And the aftershocks continue ? random, with varying intensity and duration. all afternoon and at least five during the night with the strongest being a 5.6 at arounf 4 AM. If one is prone to earthquake anxiety, these random aftershocks can drive you mad.
I have an engineering background so understand a bit about kinetic energy: E=1/2MV squared. The energy produced by the rapid movement of the earth (the v squared) times the mass of hundreds of square miles of earth?s crust down to an unknown depth turns out to be a mind-boggling amount of havoc-creating energy available to Mother Nature. One does not mess with Mother Nature.
Then, in order to sharpen my literary skills, I surprisingly got the opportunity to do it again the next evening:
This stuff is getting old!
Aftershocks decreased during the day so everyone thought we were home free. We were in the family room watching a show - reclined on a Lazy Boy when the 7.1 hit. Much stronger than the 6.4 (the Richter scale is logrithmic). In my reclined position it felt similar to maneuvering a jet in heavy buffet right below stall angle of attack. More cracks in the walls; **** from the shelves all over the floor. Interesting trivia: during the 6.4 everything from the right high shelf in our walk-in closet ended up on the floor. Nothing on the left high shelf moved. During the 7.1 just the opposite - everything from the left high shelf dumped, nothing on the right side moved. Must have something to do with the amplitude of the sinusoidal seismic wave as it passes a particular point. Ridgecrest is recovering ok - Trona, 20+ miles east - is still hurting. Aftershocks are still numerous - and random. Hundreds since last night. Good news is that despite back to back 6.4 and 7.1 the infrastructure - power, water, roads, comm, etc - survived pretty much intact.
My theory unconstrained by data or analysis - the human mind views the earth as the ultimate stable platform and reacts accordingly. When the earth is no longer stable, neither is one's mind until it amazingly adapts.
Maintain control and fly the plane as far into the crash as possible (thank you Bob Hoover) even with the realization that worst case, emergency procedures are there to keep you busy with something to do until you die. This is my recollection of the 6.4:
Hanging Out on Top of a 6.4 Earthquake ? Real Time Decisions and Mess-With-Your-Mind Aftershocks
My hometown ? Ridgecrest, CA ? is an isolated desert community of 22,000+ eighty six miles from the nearest population center (Lancaster, CA). On Thursday July 4 at 1033 we experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter very near the town. I was at the In-Shape gym at the time about halfway through an intense workout. My wife, Trish, was at home.
I was at the furthest corner of the very large gym complex (a former Vons food store) finishing a second set of very intense bicep curls. The mind does strange things ? as the quake began I wondered for a millisecond how my very forceful bicep curl could cause the floor to move beneath me! I put the barbell down and grabbed on to the very substantial barbell rack for support, trying to come up with a plan.
The quake quickly evolved into a rapid horizontal oscillation accompanied by a loud roar. The pressing questions were whether the intensity was going to increase, how long it would last, and whether the ceiling would collapse.
Time seemed to slow down. The intensity stabilized but various small bits of insulation and ceiling tiles started falling. Then the immediate decision was whether to continue to be anchored to the secure barbell rack, search for something to crawl under (nothing but workout machines in the area) or let go and head for the far away entrance, risking being knocked off my feet. Since none of the ceiling had yet collapsed I decided to stay put until it started to fail ? thinking I would be a very small target for the random collapse of a section of ceiling. I actually came up with a plan in my mind to evacuate at first sign of collapse, hopefully with the ability to evaluate and avoid areas of greatest danger (Hey ? it seemed like a logical plan at the time!)
The quake seemed to go on and on ? but the actual timeframe was less than a minute. Then stability and silence, with 50+ people relatively calmly making their way to the door.
Damage assessment began immediately throughout the town. One home burned due to a ruptured gas line; a friend had his hot water line disconnect from the heater and flooded his house; several mobile homes were torn from their pads; store shelves were emptied onto floors; large screen TVs toppled ? but compared to what might have been, damage was minimal.
My house is constructed with 2X6 studs with substantial entryways and door jams. It appears that the house rotated around those central supports. No structural damage, but a lot of cracked wall paint.
As an isolated community, citizens of Ridgecrest are probably more self-sufficient than city dwellers, with plans in place to cope with emergencies. Those plans were immediately activated with very logical and systematic investigation/recovery processes beginning to be executed. A sincere attaboy to all the response personnel. Electricity was systematically restored (evidently there are seismic electrical grid sensors that shut off sections of the grid when tripped and have to be manually reset). Hospital patients were evacuated to Palmdale as a precaution due to the expectation of continued aftershocks. Support arrived from Bakersfield and other communities.
Then the LA TV crowd helicoptered in, endlessly searching for and concocting disaster themes. Some of the questions and statements made by those TV personalities makes one wonder whether they had even heard of science or had any kind of education. Their favorite tactic/question was to try to get the various first responders to declare exactly when the next big aftershock/quake would occur ? an obviously impossible question to answer. Idiots!
And the aftershocks continue ? random, with varying intensity and duration. all afternoon and at least five during the night with the strongest being a 5.6 at arounf 4 AM. If one is prone to earthquake anxiety, these random aftershocks can drive you mad.
I have an engineering background so understand a bit about kinetic energy: E=1/2MV squared. The energy produced by the rapid movement of the earth (the v squared) times the mass of hundreds of square miles of earth?s crust down to an unknown depth turns out to be a mind-boggling amount of havoc-creating energy available to Mother Nature. One does not mess with Mother Nature.
Then, in order to sharpen my literary skills, I surprisingly got the opportunity to do it again the next evening:
This stuff is getting old!
Aftershocks decreased during the day so everyone thought we were home free. We were in the family room watching a show - reclined on a Lazy Boy when the 7.1 hit. Much stronger than the 6.4 (the Richter scale is logrithmic). In my reclined position it felt similar to maneuvering a jet in heavy buffet right below stall angle of attack. More cracks in the walls; **** from the shelves all over the floor. Interesting trivia: during the 6.4 everything from the right high shelf in our walk-in closet ended up on the floor. Nothing on the left high shelf moved. During the 7.1 just the opposite - everything from the left high shelf dumped, nothing on the right side moved. Must have something to do with the amplitude of the sinusoidal seismic wave as it passes a particular point. Ridgecrest is recovering ok - Trona, 20+ miles east - is still hurting. Aftershocks are still numerous - and random. Hundreds since last night. Good news is that despite back to back 6.4 and 7.1 the infrastructure - power, water, roads, comm, etc - survived pretty much intact.
My theory unconstrained by data or analysis - the human mind views the earth as the ultimate stable platform and reacts accordingly. When the earth is no longer stable, neither is one's mind until it amazingly adapts.
