Living on fault lines!

Many have already blogged about yesterday's extraordinary event that occurred at 11:42 AM, PST yesterday, July 29th. So I thought I would join the club, but also put in a little history of the quakes I have lived through. So, in case you haven't heard, which how can you not by now, Southern California had its first large earthquake in 14 years yesterday. It measured a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale which measures the seismic activity of a fault line. At first it was a 5.8 and was later downgraded. I was at work when God decided to hold this little party on a fault line, and while sitting at my desk, I noticed this strange hum, kind of like a rather large truck barreling down the street. And then I got the sense that something was not right, and right after that, the building I work in was moving rather extensively and we all got up to stand in the doorway. Dummy! You have lived through enough of these that you should have gone under your desk. Oh well! Thank goodness the earthquake was not more than 20 seconds, because we all eventually ended up outside. I went back in to grab my camera, and then sent two instant messages. Only because I was in a panic with some major goose bumps on my arms. My friend Priscilla was the first to get my IM in Boston, and my photographer friend, whom I have not yet met in person, only via email, the sweet Katie Beverley was the other recipient of the panic IM after the quake. It was crazy, as after we had gathered to see that the building stopped shaking, I just went back to my desk to see what the news was saying and IM with Katie and Priscilla. I have worked at APU for 8 1/2 years and this was the first earthquake we have had, so of course, I did not know what the true emergency protocol was. Oops! Some people just went right back into their buildings / trailers and did not know we had to wait for them to be cleared. Sorry Jeff! Regardless, everyone was safe and there was no major damage that we know of. Thanks Prisca and Katie for being there!

I am sure you have heard the officials say, "don't use the phones" after the quake. All of the phone lines were either dead, or jammed. The only thing that worked was texting and email. I completely forgot that my Mom was proctoring the Bar exam in Century City, so I was panicking about not getting in touch with her for a while, so I had to enlist some out of state friends to call her home, because out of state calls were coming through. And I sent my brother a text message in Orange County and finally heard from him at 3 p.m.

The Epicenter is two things here in California. First, it is a park/sports arena out in Rancho Cucamonga, and second, it is where the seismologists determine was the center of the earthquake and what fault line had erupted. About two minutes after the quake, we learned that the epicenter was Chino Hills. I immediately began to freak out, because my best friend Jennie lives in an apartment building on the third floor. Let's just say that a Texan living alone on the third floor of an apartment building in the epicenter is not a good combination. I could not get a hold of Jennie at all, until I tried to send an email. It was a miracle that it went through and that she responded. Thanks Verizon! She was scared out of her mind, and her apartment was thrashed. And, her 100 lb. TV fell to the ground out of her entertainment center. I am just thankful she was not watching TV at 11:42 a.m. She managed to not get hurt, and got in touch with her family via Skype. Later that evening, we went to see Jennie and the TV was shot, and her nerves were starting to calm down after all of the aftershocks.

I know this is a really long post, but just bare with me! For those of you who have gotten this far, thanks for reading. :)

Today, I was catching up with one of my high school classmates Mike Dutcher. We were reminiscing about the Whittier Narrows earthquake, October 1, 1987 during our senior year. It was over 100 degrees that day and during zero period, the earth began to move. I was still at home and thought my brother was banging on my bedroom door. Nope! Everyone was yelling to get to the center of the house by the kitchen. The house kept shaking, glasses fell out of the cupboard, my Mom cut her foot, and we held on tight for the ride! That earthquake measured a 5.9 on the Richter scale. They say that for every 10th of a point the force is 10 times stronger. And we had huge aftershocks after, for what seemed like forever. Mike as sharing with me where he was during that quake and how he was in the choir room at our high school. It was one of the many days of our senior year we will never forget. This was the second largest earthquake of our lives, as the first was the Sylmar quake that was a 6.6 on the Richter scale, February 9, 1971.

The other major earthquake I have lived through is the Northridge earthquake. At 4:31 a.m. on January 17th, 1994 the earth decided to move again and this time it was far more dangerous. It was a 6.7 on the Richter scale. I was living in Sierra Madre with my friend Laura at the time. When I was knocked out of bed, I went to stand in the doorway of my bedroom, but my door slammed shut. See, this is why the experts said today on the news not to stand in the doorway, unless you live in 200 year old mission style home. Anyways, I was screaming for Laura and she was not answering. I waited for the trembler's to stop and started looking all over the apartment for Laura. In our small apartment building, we had an emergency plan where everyone was to meet downstairs at Catherine's place. We had accounted for everyone except for Laura. My neighbor Debra had just given birth to her son Miles the day before and was holding on for dear life. As the pool continued to "slosh" we tried to figure out where Laura was. We waited an hour and then everyone went back to their apartments. The power and phones were out, so all we could do was pray that our loved ones were okay. After bout four hours, the phone rang and it was Laura. She had stayed at her future in laws home because she was too tired to drive home. I think that was one of the most scariest times of my life.

Being a native Californian, we are raised with the knowledge and training that we will have to fight for survival when the earth begins to shake like it did yesterday, in 1994 and 1987. We had earthquake drills every year growing up and now at our places of employment. We have to build earthquake survival kits for our cars and homes, and pray that we will survive the BIG ONE! I pray that you take all of the necessary precautions for when the next earthquake strikes!