Napa Earthquake

[Tango589]

Glad everyone's ok and there's no major harm done, good work on getting things fixed.

Nice plaque, where did it come from?

[Jimbuna]

Pleased your folks are okay Budda, the other stuff can be fixed given time

[Sgt_Jamez]

When I was stationed at Travis AFB, we used to ride through Napa all the time. Glad to hear your family is ok!

[vienna]

Happy to hear you and your family are in good shape, although it sound like the house took a bit of a beating. Been through a few big quakes and it is really amazing what they can do it just a matter of seconds. Hope you don't get any big aftershocks to undo what you have already repaired...


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[Buddahaid]

Thanks for the good thoughts. The house itself is undamaged, which is just amazing considering how much stuff got knocked over, and I've been through many earthquakes. This one must have been a smooth roller such that it just rocked the house evenly. No cracks in the plaster even.

Good news was Dad's neighbor has a good friend of forty years who's a plumber and all the water pipes have been repaired. Now it's just getting the gas lines verified and things will be pretty much back to normal.

Funny thing is I live about forty miles away and it just felt like the washing machine was out of balance. Lasted for about ten seconds and I was just waiting for it to get worse, and then waiting for a bad aftershock which I never felt. I did know by the feel that it was a bad one for somebody somewhere.

On the plaque. Those were made by Mare Island for the ships and boats to give out to VIPs as they saw fit. I had one like it for the Scorpion many years ago, but we gave that one to the family of one of the victims after the sinking.

[vienna]

Rolling earthquakes are usually easier to ride out. I was in Los Angeles (Hollywood area) when the 1994 Northridge Quake (6.7 Richter) hit and the motion was very much a violent up and down motion and it lasted for about 30 seconds. There is an earthquake fault about a half-mile or so north of where I live and when the Northridge Quake hit, dozens of other smaller faults also let go, including the one near my home. Try to imagine the effect as sort of being in a plane with really severe turbulence. Like you, I waited for a bigger after shock, but, thankfully, it never came. However, there were lots of smaller aftershocks that happened over several days with the 24-36 hours after the main quake being the worst. Everything that was above floor level in my apartment was knocked to the floor, making a layer about a foot deep on the floor. The only item that didn't fall was a lamp clamped to a built-in side table next t o my bed. During one rapid cluster of aftershocks, the lamp wobbled, the clamp failed, and it, too, joined all the items on the floor...

The main quake often is not the most nerve-wracking experience. It's the aftershocks that will really test your nerves since you aren't sure if they will be large, small, few, or many. I remember sitting there on my bed in the darkness as aftershock after aftershock hit and wondering "Is this what it's like to be depth charged?"...

Kudos for being considerate enough to give the plaque to the victim's family. There are decent people in this world...


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[Buddahaid]

Yep. I was just waiting for the intensity to escalate as it lasted what seemed like ten seconds. And then left waiting for an aftershock that might be worse.
My house is over bedrock though and I didn't feel any of the aftershocks. Even the ones on Monday morning.

I'm in the city of San Rafael marked on the shake map.