Word of warning for those on the fault line

[Auggie]

I had been judging quake intensity due to past experiences such as the '89 Loma Prieta quake when I lived in San Francisco and a few 5.0 and under Bay Area rollers from several few years before.

Because of those experiences I thought I knew pretty much what to expect if a quake were to happen. But the one yesterday on August 24th, in Napa County, was an eye-opener. We live pretty much on top of the epicenter. At 6.0 the motion was far more powerful than I thought imaginable from that magnitude.

The point is, if you're close to a fault line, even a relatively "mild" trembler is going to toss you around pretty good and have the potential to cause serious damage.

Anything bigger is going to wreak real havoc, especially centered near San Francisco, Oakland, Orange County or L.A.

So ... a word of advice: be and stay prepared.

[truedelphi]

1. Sunday's 3Am earthquake was an eye opener.

I know I didn't really consider a quake that large hitting in Napa.

Having survived the Morgan Hill earthquake (San Jose area, 1984,) I almost immediately moved to the North Bay, where I thought I'd be safe.

Now I live much further north in an area with many earthquakes from the geysers here. And the "dormant volcano" is no longer considered dormant, as a similar volcano erupted just a few years back, destroying an entire town in Chile. The people there had something like 3 months of steam venting etc.

Earth changes are making most of us all ride one crazy roller coaster, or another one.

[Ecumenist]

7. TrueDelphi, are you near Clearlake? Which volcano is no longer considered dormant?

I know there are geysers there and in the Anderson Valley but that FREAKED me out to read that a Volcano in that area is no longer dormant.

[truedelphi]

16. I mis-spoke. (Mis-typed?) Sorry to alarm you.

Here is the full skinny:

Mt Konocti is still dormant, but until recently, it was considered to be in a class of volcanoes very unlikely to go active (at least not during any of our lifetimes.)

Then Mt Konocti's "sister volcano" in Chile erupted, back in 2012, with only some months of warning. (or maybe it was six weeks?)

Like Konocti, the last time this volcano erupted was some 10,ooo to 12,ooo years ago.

Due to Konocti's resemblance to the other volcano, these days the volcano experts feel that Mt Konocti is just as unpredictable.

It is still sitting there, very peaceful, and technically dormant. However, due to how it resembles the South American volcano, the US Geological Survey people have come in and placed various sensors along Konocti's shoulders. This means that should it become active, people up here would have about six months of warnings. In theory anyway.

So this puts us exactly with the people in the SF Bay area. The big one could hit tomorrow, or in three months, or in two hundred years. For those in San Francisco area, it will be an earthquake; for us it could be a volcano coming to life. However, due to the volcano sensors, those of us in Lake County get to have a lot more warning than those in the Bay area. (Some earthquake sensor program here in the USA, offered up a ten second warning for Sunday's 3 Am quake. Not really much of a warning!)

I live about a twenty minute drive from Clearlake, and I can walk to Clear Lake the lake as it is only four or five blocks from my house.

(The first time I ever had any concerns about Konocti was one night when watching a movie about Pompei erupting in 70Ad or so in italy. And the matte paintings used to represent Pompei in the movie were so eerily similar to the silhouette of Konocti that I pointed it out to my husband. He was like, "I am not sure that this is a historical or geologically accurate picture of Pompei." But I guess now that it might have been accurate!)

[upaloopa]

2. Well since you don't get a warning I think you can retrofit your house

And have a supply of survival stuff at home. The problem with that is you aren't at home on work or school days.
I think there isn't much you can do but move.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. And even then, you could be moving into danger instead of out of it...

[upaloopa]

4. True.

[Auggie]

8. When I worked in a S.F. high-rise ...

building management suggested we each keep a pair of thick-soled work/hiking boots and a few days worth of food in our offices.

The rationale is that there could be so much glass surrounding something like the Bank of America building that it would take a while to dig an escape route. If we needed to evacuate more quickly the boots would be safer than dress shoes or those with heels.

You could keep a few things in the car too.

An 8.0 rupture in the ocean off Lands' End is going to stretch Bay Area rescue resources beyond limits. I wouldn't count on their immediate help.

[upaloopa]

9. And water will be hard to get

[KamaAina]

5. A-yup. The Hayward is overdue. And it has produced 7s in the past.

And it runs right above Oakland, Berkeley and environs. It actually runs right through the tunnel that brings BART under the Berkeley Hills and out towards Concord.

[Control-Z]

6. In Orange County here.

This area is way overdue for a big one.

[Tikki]

10. It has been 20 years since my area of So Cal has had a major quake..

We have changed out the supplies in our emergency containers 11 times and have taught another
generation how to turn off the natural gas, how to ride out the quake in the safest manner and the
meet up location.

Yes, we have quakes but the major quakes are often far, few and in between and that works just
fine for me.

Tikki

[Brother Buzz]

11. A must read for people who insist on ignoring your advice:

(and you don't need to live near a fault line for your life to be totally impacted)


A Dangerous Place: California's Unsettling Fate
by Marc Reisner

[Auggie]

12. Thanks. When I began to think of moving out of San Francisco, which I dearly loved,

I had to make one of the "pro & con" lists -- why I should stay and why I should I leave. The cataclysmic big one was at the top of that list. I can survive the big one better in wine country.

I put Resiner's book on my reading list.

[Brother Buzz]

13. I'd be a whole lot more concerned about fires in the Napa Valley

My family's homestead burned in the 1880's, the winery, surrounded by vineyards, survived intact.

[Auggie]

14. I'm not

[pinto]

15. (side comment) If you're in a building with masonry / brick walls at the front entrance -

Don't run outside to find safety. Many people get hurt or killed by falling stonework as they exit the building. Two people were killed locally during a mid-sized quake as they ran outside the front door. The brick front collapsed.

The county has since identified buildings needing reinforcement and mandated posted warnings by the entrances.

[mackerel]

17. I lived S.F. during Loma Preita but I lived & worked in lower nob hill and

it's on bed rock so I barely felt it. Our area didn't get the damage that other parts of the city did. I'll never forget that day and the week after. Talk about a city shut down, like a ghost town. Then I moved to the East Bay, closer to Napa and we had a good size quake there about 10 years ago. Again barely felt it although there was some damage around town. This one obviously a lot bigger with greater damage. Still earthquakes don't bother too much.

I've known people in Napa and Sonoma who were killed by drunk drivers. I have greater concern for that because it's become a big problem in wine country.

I do thinks it's good to be earthquake prepared.

[Auggie]

18. You have quite an experience ahead of you

As I said in my OP, if you're close to a fault line when it moves, even a relatively "mild" trembler is going to toss you around pretty good. It can be surreal and terrifying if it wakes you from a deep sleep.