The Earthquake in Ca

rodmkr

Temecula California
Don;t we have a member that lives in the area of the Quake?
Has anyone heard from anyone that lives in the Ridgecrest area!
The latest quake was a 7.1 causing a lot of damage and fires.

rodmkr
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
we have 2 fairly close.
they are both okay, and have checked in with reports.
IIRC they posted some of the events in the wahts goin on with you today thread.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Had a stronger one in the same area, 7.1, but reports initially were not too much damage.
I suspect more will be found today. Fortunately, it is in a relatively low population density
part of the state, 130 miles north of the LA basin.

Bill
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Marie and I lived in Ridgecrest from 2008-2014. A couple guys from the old site lived there at the time I did, but moved away while we were still living there. Marie has heard from some old co-workers and friends, and those folks seem to be in good shape. Most of Ridgecrest was built post-WWII, and is largely up to seismic standards. There seems to be some major fault movement going on, though--maybe some geologists will start commenting soon. Both USGS and Cal-Tech seem a little ragged right now. We DEFINITELY felt that 7.1 quake last night--about 80-90 seconds of rockin' and rollin' here, 125 miles south of the epicenter.
 
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Missionary

Well-Known Member
Just looked at the USGS Earthquake site and they have had 25 shocks 4.5 and over within 20 miles of Ridgecrest. All shallow ! 750 total in the last few days.
We live on the Ring down here and have never seen anything like what is shaking through that plate zone.
 

Reloader762

Active Member
Had a stronger one in the same area, 7.1, but reports initially were not too much damage.
I suspect more will be found today. Fortunately, it is in a relatively low population density
part of the state, 130 miles north of the LA basin.

Bill
Thats probably the saving grace that it was mostly desert area where it hit. If that had been downtown LA would have been a different story line today, the particular fault in question where all the activity is mostly taking place is only 25 miles long. If you like this kinda stuff you can download a free EarthQuake 3D that runs on your computer or you can buy an enhanced version.
http://www.wolton.net/quake.html
 

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
We're about another 100 miles farther away from the Searles Valley and Ridgecrest than Allen and Marie.
College Boy slept through the quake on Thursday morning, so the quake last night was the first one he has experienced.
Apart from a couple of broken dishes from the Northridge quake, we've not had damage from any quakes. YET.
However, since we need to have something to sell so we can move to free America, about a year and a half ago, we covered the house with earthquake insurance.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Earthquakes don't cause me much grief, generally. Folks in the Midwest don't get bent outta shape about tornadoes, just as Gulf Coast denizens don't sweat the hurricanes much. Facts of life, choose yer particular & preferred poison. I remember watching the mailbox post in front of Mom and Dad's house swing in a 25* arc during the '71 Sylmar quake as the S-wave passed under us--THAT was impressive at age 16. I was in Big Bear Lake in 1992 for the Landers and Big Bear quakes on April 23, and watched as the water sloshed out of the resort's swimming pool twice that morning. The thing I recall most vividly was the large amount of dust throughout the Bear Valley that was kicked up by all of the rockslides that occurred during the quakes. The first quake's dust had just about settled from the 7.3M Landers dance when the 6.3M Big Bear event took place. Lots MORE dust after that. The townspeople renamed Big Bear Lake to "Chimney Falls" in response to that phenomenon. Fall they did, too--lots of them. Getting down the mountain was chancey, too--the main highways were shut down on the front side for weeks, I picked my way down the back side highway in a "team" of 4x4 trucks, 5-8 of us rolling boulders off the highway to open the only paved road out of there. Thankfully, none of the rocks were so large that they couldn't be shoved by 3/4 ton pickups with snowplows out of the right-of-way. The 23 miles down to the desert floor took us almost 10 hours. Power was totally out, and it was DARK by the time I got to I-15. Cajon Pass was passable, barely. 15 hours, to make a 2.5 hour drive.

Truth to tell--forest and range fires scare me a whole lot more than earthquakes.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I have some family there .
The cousins say most of the damage is pretty minor . 1 had a water heater walk a little and break a flex line . Lots of shelf stuff on the floor .
One Aunt and Uncle have a lot of broken glass and a couple of lost heirloom lamps . Ridgecrest is the major town it has a flex population of 15-22,000 . Trona and Inyokern , about 25 and 10 miles away hold another 6-800 . I've looked at the quake maps a couple times . Flooding is a possibility . Up at the North end of the quake centers is Little Lake and a medium powerplant res are likely to leak . They used to be fed from the Owens river and run on down to China Lake . The LA Aquaduct is on the Sierra foothills 10-18 miles from the from quake line . It's at least a 12' dia elevated pipe line down through there that's running 60-75 mph . If it has a blowout ..... well...... the head shut downs would probably take 12 hr plus 60-70 miles of let down and 2000' water head . Not that I care much about LAs water but that'll make the news times 10 . There's a bottled water plant at Olancha that ships Crystal Gyser north to Sac east to the Utah line and south to at least Maricopa AZ . Lotta impact way outside of the valley .

I didn't even mention the oil well damage potential 70 miles straight line in Bakersfield . There's a secondary highway closed for landslides between RC and there . The road going south out of RC has at least one place where its 6-8' sideways with a dozen 2 ft breaks 2ft deep . Kind of a big deal when there are only 3 highways within 100 miles over the Sierras and 3 through RC and 1 is down for months .

The China Lake Naval Base gave us a couple little known devices like the Sidewinder and every rocket ending in Eye . Lotta $10 mil labs out there .
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I was about a mile from the epicenter of the 71 Sylmar quake, about 12-15 miles as the crow flies from the 94 Northridge quake, both very memorable experiences. In the early 70's I was on a VFD in SW Oregon and they allowed me to do battle with forest fires, structure fires, car wrecks etc. All quite memorable but what really gets my attention and is quite the cause for concern . . . Tornados. Scary shit there.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
Been some warnings here but none here yet ...........at least you can see them coming and hide from them .........
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Been some warnings here but none here yet ...........at least you can see them coming and hide from them ......…

Uh not so much no. At night you can see nothing of them but even in the day time there is no predicting where they will go. They make wild turns, they lift off the ground and come back down . . . Well who knows where.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
As oppose to the ground moving 3' randomly .
They can see the radar and storm movement , also the type and shape of storm lines .........

You can shelter from wind and rain where ya gonna go after the ground is moving .......... Only been here 55 weeks I guess my chance will come soon enough to find out . Grew up with the ground moving .
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
The only times in SoCal I ever gave much thought to quakes was if stuck in traffic under a freeway overpass or in a high rise elevator. Not a good time. Been through two major quakes and memorable yes, dangerous yes. Been closer to a tornado than I care to think about. Scary shit indeed.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Worked with some guys from RC and CL, wanted me to move there permanently. Nope, not gonna happen. Good friend was is Northridge quake, I went through some minor ones in S.D. and L.A. No big deal unless it gets you. Volcano I don't want to be near.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I lived under the shadow or at least the plume shadow of Mammoth Mountain , the insperation for Dauntes Peak with Peirce Bronson , for most of my life . They lost a whole summer season for geologists sure it was gonna blow in the 70s .
 

Tom

Well-Known Member
I was just south of Santa Cruz when the loma prieta quake hit. I thought I'd busted a frame rail or something by the way the truck jumped sideways. It wasn't until I stopped and got out of the truck that I figured it out that it was a quake.
Funny, but I came down 1 from San Francisco and had a bad feeling of impending doom all day before it hit. My wife thought I had lost my mind by the way I was feeling.
Given a choice of earthquake, tornado, or volcano eruption I'd choose none of the above!
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Doesn't seem to matter where there will be something but I can't help but think that an erupting volcano would be best avoided.