Mama Kat’s last writing prompt stood out to me this week:
Earthquake! Where were you when it happened?
…probably because last Friday we had an earthquake in suburban Maryland – a pretty rare event. While some people were quite shaken by the earthquake (pun intended) my kids were thrilled to have felt their first earthquake. Considering that I grew up in the California Bay Area, earthquakes are old news. No big deal. Even a little fun, if I can admit that.
Earthquake drills at school were as common as fire drills when I was a kid. The alarm would go off, and all students were expected to duck and cover. We dropped to the floor, crouched in the fetal position under our desks with our hands locked behind our necks, and waited until we got the word that it was safe to come out.
When real earthquakes happened, we were ready. We ducked and covered, and oohed and ahhed all the way through several earthquakes a year.
There are two earthquakes that particularly stand out in my mind. The first was the 1983 Coalinga earthquake, a 6.4 on the richter scale, which occurred on May 2, 1983. I was in the 4th grade at the time, in Mrs. Bowden’s class. I was cleaning off the chalkboard and thought that the students in the classroom opposite ours were banging on the other side of the wall. A loud, rumbling sound always precedes the shaking. I looked around for my teacher, and noticed the other kids in my class with odd, confused looks on their faces. Mrs. Bowden shouted, “Duck and cover!” and we all hid under our desks for what seemed like an eternity. 30 seconds lasts forever when the earth is shaking and the ground is groaning. I admit that I was slightly scared that time.
The next earthquake that made a huge impression on me was the World Series (Loma Prieta) earthquake on October 17, 1989. Measuring 7.1 on the richter scale, the earthquake of ’89 was the biggest since the earthquake of 1906, one of the worst natural disasters recorded in US history. I was at home watching TV in the family room when the earthquake hit, and the first thing that struck my senses was that Mom was making a LOT of noise running down the stairs. Mom sensed the earthquake earlier than I did, and ran downstairs as quickly as possible to get all of the kids together under a door frame. We stood there, in complete shock, as our marble floor turned into jello and waves literally rolled through our house. I couldn’t believe that something so hard could bend so easily and not break into pieces. Nic nacs and books fell of shelves, but we were fine.
As soon as the shaking stopped (another eternity) we immediately picked up the phone to call dad, who was working in Berkeley that day. We also turned the TV back on to see what they were saying. Amazingly, we were still able to get through on the phones during those first seconds after the earthquake. For the rest of the evening, I wanted to stay as close to my mom as possible. There was lots of celebrating when my dad finally made it home.
Last week’s Maryland earthquake was nowhere near as intense. In fact, I slept right through the 3.6-er when it rumbled straight through our town. When I woke up that morning, Necco asked me if I had been awake at 5:00. I looked at her strangely and said, “No, I was asleep.” She proceeded to tell me about how she had woken up and thought she felt the house move. I wanted to say “Yeah, right! That doesn’t happen here!” but I just listened to her description. A few minutes later, Candyman checked his Blackberry and found an earthquake alert. We did, indeed, have an earthquake. I’m glad he got that email, because otherwise I would have been really confused when KitKat came downstairs and immediately asked me if I had been awake at 5:00. Apparently, I am now a heavier sleeper than my two oldest girls.
The rest of the family was bummed that they hadn’t been awake to experience their first earthquake.
What about you? Have you experienced an earthquake? If not, do they scare you as much as they scare my husband (who was afraid he’d be in a big one the first time he came to visit me in California, before we got engaged)?
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I grew up in the SF Bay Area (Palo Alto!) with earthquake drills too! I was in high school when the ’89 quake happened. I was on the tennis court throwing the ball up for a serve when the ground rippled below me. I first wondered when there was a subway installed under me! As a Californian I’ve been in many earthquakes and ironically enough, I was not in DC for this quake- I was visiting my family in CA and missed it!
We’ll have to compare earthquake stories the next time we see each other!
That might very well be the BEST earthquake story ever. I love it!
It really is amazing how events like that can be permanently marked on your brain. I can picture my house, where I was, etc when it happened. I can also remember details from 9-11 (I was -and still am- living in the DC area when the terrorist attacks occured.) What memories!
That’s exactly how my husband feels. He was terrified to visit me in CA before we got married. But they really aren’t so bad, as long as a house or a freeway doesn’t fall on you…
This was probably my husband’s first quake of any significance, too, and he slept right through it as well. Poor guys. ;)
I never would have imagined a quake in MD, either. Strange stuff. Sounds like you’ve done a lot of traveling! Jealous!!
I know my kids have never had earthquake drills in school, and apparently we, too, live on a fault line. Who knew?!
The bridge collapse was extremely scary, especially because my dad was working near there that day and could have tried coming home that way. Scary stuff!
What a great perspective on earthquakes! I went to elementary school in San Jose, too! (Glider)
We lived in the Seattle area for the first 18 years of our marriage. I remember a quake in 2000. My brother, who had just graduated from high school, was spending the summer with us and helping with some remodeling. He was tearing dry wall off the ceiling of our basement at the exact moment that the earth started shaking. He looked at me in disbelief and I could read in his face that he thought that his last big tug was bringing the entire house down. It was priceless. I quickly explained that we were having an earthquake and that he was not endowed with super-strength. It is still a fun memory for both of us.
I was living in Belmont, CA when the ’89 earthquake hit (live in MA now). But I will never forget it. Me and a couple friends were standing in my kitchen. We stopped to grab a drink before heading out for a bike ride down Alameda De Las Pulgas which is a huge hill! I’m so glad we did because that just would have been awful. My mom was at work across the San Mateo bridge – she didn’t get home til late that night.
I’ve never been in an earthquake, but I’ve seen the damage and heard enough first person reports to know that I never want to experience one firsthand!
.-= Rachel C.´s last blog ..If You Think You Cannot- Then Youd Be Correct But Its Not The First Time Youve Been Wrong =-.
I was born and lived in California until 3rd grade. I remember several earthquakes, including one in 1989, which must be the same one. The after shocks were bad too. It doesn’t scare me too much though having been through several.
Last week’s Maryland quake was hubby’s first earthquake ever. It did wake him up but he didn’t know it was an earthquake until he saw the news in the morning. The kids and I were in Williamsburg on vacation and didn’t feel a thing there.
Hi! Found you on SITS. I have lived through earthquakes in California, Japan and Italy, but I never would have imagined an earthquake in Maryland!
.-= saretta´s last blog ..Summer Style =-.
I live in the mountains, not far from an active fault line, and yet I’ve never even felt the slightest of tremors. I think I would be terrified, simply because it’s outside of my realm of experience. I know we had tornado drills growing up, and definitely fire drills, but I don’t remember any earth quake drills.
I remember the 89 earthquake! WOW. I think the scariest thing I remember from the coverage on TV was seeing a bridge just collapse. Right from under people driving.
I was never in a real earthquake… I’m totally an East Coast gal, but there was one rumbling… I was asleep and it woke me up. I thought it was a low flying airplane or something, but it was a quake- small as it was!
Some of my most humorous and frigtening memories of my end of elementary school career were the earthquakes and preparation drills while living in San Jose.
There was the kid next to me who got so scared that he “duck and covered” too quickly hitting his forehead on the desk…and then the floor. Or the time I had to hop from a chair to a doorway because I had just had knee surgery.
There is something about an earthquake in the moment that is just so unnerving. The fact that your world is a bit blurry and you can’t put it into focus. The fact that it takes a second to realize it is an earthquake and not your eyes. Once it is all said and done and your hosue is still intact as is your mind, there is something cool about being reminded you aren’t always in control, so enjoy the ride!
(I found you from Mama Kat’s workshop this week!)
I saw that about an earthquake in your neck of the woods! We had one recently that was NOISY and I swore it was a 6.0. Nothing on the news, so I turned to Twitter to find out that it was a measly 3.0 but one mile away from me. It was a quick jolt. Nothing like Loma Prieta in 1989. I was in the car when that one hit and i literally saw the street moving like Jello. Yeah it can get scary, specially the longer the span between ‘big’ ones (which we really haven’t had in a while). Oh no…i hope we don’t jinx it!
.-= Bri´s last blog ..Cuteness Overload =-.