California folks - Earth Quake Question.
 

I'm out here in Palm Springs.... Just 20 miles from the epicenter. Today's quake was my first "big one"... and long lasting, but it wasn't violent at all. We had a really short one last year that was VERY violent.... Like god picked up our house and rattled it. This one today was more like the house was on a lake with waves.... it was a 'rolling' quake.

Anyway, it woke me up and I instantly looked at the pictures on my wall, and my celling fan, and they weren't swaying or shaking, so I just stayed put in bed...... was that a bad idea? Do these quakes ever start off in the rolling motion and then instantly turn violent? Should I have jumped under a table or next to an intererior wall even if it looked like I could ride it out in bed?

I don't think it is every a good idea to make a move during the quake. I once got knocked down trying to bolt for the door.

This morning (I am in SD) I recognized a tremor about seconds before the main rumble. I made sure nothing was above me and stayed put.

I was in SD and I guess I slept through it... darn...

I have no clue what to do during an earthquake. I'll be freaking out when I actually feel a big one.

Move away from objects that can fall or tip over, carefully without rushing or freaking out walk over to and stand in a door frame.

Now the official words are over, slap a helmet on and enjoy the ride.

It hit out in Corona where I was sleepin this morning. I just woke up hungover and asked what happened.

Most of the people that die or get hurt in earthquakes are from falling objects... So if you secure your shit you should be fine... Unless it is like the Northridge where a lot of structures were actually damaged..

when its a 6.0 wake me up!

stand in the doorway..thats the safest place to be

They are fun.

however, ive never been in a really really big one. i guess that wouldnt be too fun.

Tat2Jr - i slept through this one, it was pretty small. i lived across the street for the one in '94 and it was NOT one you sleep through - much more dramatic. after the '94 one, the lights, including streetlights, were out for hours, and about 15 minutes after the quake, my phone was down for the day. chimneys all over collapsed, and a lot of apartments were damaged.

i was a kid in '71 and my parents' house split apart, leaving a crack through mostly the kitchen that you could see daylight through. i stayed in bed for that one.

some people do run for doorways or under strong desks, though. if that makes you feel safer, go for it as long as you don't run under anything that could fall on you or collapse in on you.

I lived in Calif for 16 years. Been through lots of the little ones.

On Jan 17, 1994 at 4:30 AM the Northridge quake struck and my house was on a ridge overlooking the whole valley out in Calabasas about 3 miles from the epicenter. I'll tell you, in all my life I've never felt anything so violent as that quake. Nothing scares me usually, but that fucker scared the living hell out of me.

I think the scary part was there wasn't a buildup where we were. It was just this horrendously powerful upward thrust and bone penetrating pressure wave. I didn't even think it was a quake at first. My initial thoughts were holy shit LA just got nuked. I ran to the window expecting to see a mushroom cloud.
It felt like a giant just grabbed our house and kicked it up into the air.

My house got all fucked up. The entire foundation lifted up and moved about 6 inches and we had huge earthquake bolts on this home and this was about 9,000 sq. ft in size. My garage actually separated structurally from the violent shake. All my fountains, pool and waterfall got fucked up. Every single thing in my home office got tossed into the middle of the room. All of our plates and glasses shattered. All the big screens fell over. Our front doors which had enormous brass locks twisted like they were paperclips. The glass on the showers all broke. It was such a mess we didn't even know where to begin to clean it up. My wife and I were completely numbed and spaced out for a week.

When they said this wasn't the big one, I said to my wife that's it time to move back east which we did 6 months later.

I still have flashbacks to this day and that's 11 years ago. I have dreams of it still and wake up with in a cold sweat like its happening again. Its like you can't get that energy out of your soul its so strong.

I'll take my Florida hurricanes over earthquakes gladly thank you.

FUCK! Basschick and KRL you scared the crap outta me with those stories. I'm going to buy those washer/dryer/big screen tie down things.... You just don't realize the strength of Mother Nature until you've been through a natural disaster (which thankfully I haven't, and don't want too).

I was already thinking of moving to Phoenix, but not sure if they have my health insurance. Need to be checking into that. The monsoon season, and fighting lightspeed, and all the other phoenix companies for models will suck, but not as bad as what you guys described.

Yep...alot of injuries are from people jumping up and running across the room.

However I still think it's a wise thing to at least move away from objects that could fall on you.

Now if you want an interesting experience be on a sailboat during an earthquake...LOL I've been through that twice when living on mine in Marina Del Rey.