Central Cal Quake

This will probably get deleted, but here goes...

A major quake just hit Central California coast at a magniute of 6.5. I live in L.A. and felt it; over 200 miles away.

Does anyone know if there are any parks near this area that might be affected? The epicenter was just northwest of San Luis Obispo. A quake of that size could cause major damage to park rides, and more importantly guests who happen to be on them.

Are there any buzzers in that area that have any information on damages or can give testimony to the event? *** Edited 12/22/2003 8:18:06 PM UTC by Danimales***

The closest park would most likely be either Bonfante Gardens, PGA, or SFMM...but all are more than 150 miles from the epicenter and would not suffer any damage other than possibly items falling from shelves.

I work about 5 miles west of downtown LA in the Century City area, on the 12th floor of a 15-story office building. We most certainly felt the quake. Our building swayed for about 30 seconds during the quake and continued about another 30 seconds afterwards. It was the first time I experienced a quake while in a high-rise and it was a little unnerving.

There will most likely be some minor damage in the Central coast area, which is moderately populated. I'd guess Hearst Castle, which is very near the epicenter, will have some damage. But again, with our strict building codes out here I would not look for any major damage even with a quake of this size.

mOOSH

Oh...and the only parks operating at the time would have been Knotts and the Disney parks, but they are way too far from the epicenter. I doubt anyone at those parks even felt it.
*** Edited 12/22/2003 8:32:14 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/FaultMaps/121-36.htm

Yeah, we definitely felt it up here in the Bay Area, but it was more of a rolling motion rather than violent shaking, so hopefully there won't be as much damage as would be expected from a 6.5 magnitude quake.

6.5 is actually fairly big and probably caused damage to Hearst Castle as Moosh said. Also, Mission San Antonio might have problems.

As for parks, they are really far away from the epicenter. Even if they were, they have fared pretty well in previous quakes. The Northridge quake didn't shut down SFMM to my knowledge (can anyone confirm?) and the '89 Loma Prieta quake didn't damage rides at Great America or the Boardwalk (to my knowledge) even though the city of Santa Cruz was hit very hard.

By the way, I think that it is amazing that folks felt this quake in both the Bay Area AND Los Angeles. That's about a 5-6 hour drive. *** Edited 12/22/2003 9:08:22 PM UTC by janfrederick***

Actually, I looked it up on AOL News and the Hearst Castle suffered very minimal damage. Broken glasses etc. The only substantial injuries reported were at a Winer when a few barrells of wine toppled over. Looks like, for the most part, all the parks dodged the bullet.

That must have been seismological telepathy!
I used to continuously check the earthqhake map at quake.wr.usgs.gov ever after dancing through the Hector Mine quake in 1999 at a club in L.A.
I hadn't checked the map in ages... and now, just a couple of hours ago I took a look again and the quake wasn't there yet.
It must have been just about the time when it happened.

Sad to see hearst castle damaged... I hope this quake doesn't produce any major aftershocks.
Good look to you crazy Californians!

Glad to hear of no major damage. Although some of the glasswork at Hearst are treasures in themselves, hopefully nothing too remarkable was lost.

My personal biggest fear would be to be stuck on that flimsy ski lift style Sky Ride at the Boardwalk during a big quake. I imagine you'd get flug around pretty good up there, only hope if it ever does happen, I'd get flug out toward the sand and not the concrete side!

Moosh, I'm in a historic building in Pasadena, and it felt really strange here; although I'm sure a far cry to what you felt in a highrise! That (very) minor quake we had in June was more of a shake (that's if you were sitting still to feel it). This was more of a slow rolling motion, as if I was suddenly on a boat. It through off my equilibrium for a moment or two; almost like when you step off the Tilt-A-Whirl. Very strange.

What's really scary are the aftershocks they've been having, over 30 in one hour, some of which registered 4.0 and above. Some scientists are saying that they are bracing for aftershocks that will be bigger than the initial quake. Yikes.

UPDATE - three dead in Paso Robles collapsed building: http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/12/22/ca.earthquake/index.html

Man, that's not good news. For those of you who haven't visited this area, I'd dare say it is the most beautiful area in the state. I love the costal range. But, the beauty does come at a price--seismic activity. I'm sorry to hear about this. If one building collapsed, I'm sure there's more.

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Danimales said:
What's really scary are the aftershocks they've been having, over 30 in one hour, some of which registered 4.0 and above. Some scientists are saying that they are bracing for aftershocks that will be bigger than the initial quake. Yikes.

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Actually, having a row of 4.0 and above aftershocks is pretty normal for a 6.5 mainshock - so far the sequence of aftershocks looks completely unsuspicious with an exponential decay in magnitude - even though a 4.1 quake is something that people who are close to the epicenter will fell quite strongly. I guess it's about the maximum magnitude of a quake that you actually want to witness as a "sample experience quake".
I experienced two 4.1 shocks in one evening once, and while it wasn't too bad - things just rattled around a bit - it did give me some good blows while I was sitting on the sofa and made me run out of the appartment. Not a very nice experience.

I wonder what magnitude a coaster ride would be if it would be expressed on the closed Richter Scale---

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Danimales said:
This will probably get deleted, but here goes...

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Why do you have to preface with that? What the hell do you think we do, sit around here with one finger up our ass and another over the delete button?

They just said on ABCnews that Hearst Castle was not damaged. Looking at the pictures, I can't imagine how something like that has stood so long in California.

Jeff - No offense but I think you're overreacting a bit. I think he expected it to be deleted since it is kinda off-topic. at least that's how I interpreted it.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

mOOSH

Right... it's always me overreacting. It's always about me.

Jeff-
No, actually, I expected you to read the preface interpreting it (as Moosh pointed out) as a recognition that yes, this my be a bit off-topic. Since others have prefaced off-topic threads with this, and considering this is my first off-topic thread, I assumed this would be a polite way to follow standard operating procedure on a topic of serious nature.

Instead, you sit there bitter about who knows what (with what I suspect is a jagged stick, not a finger up your butt) ready to make an overreaction on a post with the harmless intention of searching if this quake had an impact on any of the California parks or other buzzers here on the site. Way to go.

Hey Dudes!
We all love coasters and coasters love us!
So why don't we share some of that peace fun & pancake with one another?

All is full of love - - - - - -

Wow...quake happens, first question asked is "Are the coasters ok?"

3 people are dead, but who cares, right? At least the coasters are fine. Can't have something knocking over the coasters, can we?

Geez...I'd rather there were NONE dead, but the fact is that 3 are dead. Wouldn't the families of these people love to hear that a website of coasterholics is more concerned about the "health" of a bunch of steel or wood than of HUMAN LIVES.

I heard of this quake, I thought of those near me that live there (and hoped it knocked out some parks as well).

CedarPoint_Mark,
Dude, chill. The reason the question was raised about parks was if the parks were damaged, and there were people at the park on the rides, then some people could have been hurt or worse. This helps make it semi-on-topic. To me, being on a amusement ride could be one of the worst places to be during a major quake.

I don't think anyone honestly thought of coasters first, and then 'who cares what happens next.' A lot of these posts have a concern for damage to anything or anyone in the area. As a Los Angeles resident and one who felt it, it is a bit unnerving and cause for concern. Too that, YOU are the person I was looking for in my original post. Someone who experienced it or has a connection to the area is some form. I pray your family and/or friends are okay; please keep us updated if you hear anything.

Now let's eat some pancakes. Mmmmmmmm....

*** Edited 12/23/2003 1:26:52 AM UTC by Danimales*** *** Edited 12/23/2003 1:27:32 AM UTC by Danimales***

Besides, many of our posts were posted before any of us knew that folks had died. You don't normally see damage like this in a 6.5. I have a feeling the building was old not built up to current earthquake standards.

As for the high emotions, take a breath. All this Christmas crap is almost over...and the parks will be open before you know it! ;)

By the way, it is interesting to note that the quake was caused by a thrust fault, not strike slip (which is what the San Andreas fault is):

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&e=2&u=/ap/20031223/ap_on_sc/calif__quake_faults

Also, if anybody here is planning a California trip, consider swinging by if you plan to visit both Southern and Norther California. Here's a link to the mission:

http://www.pelicannetwork.net/mission.san.antonio.htm

*** Edited 12/23/2003 5:13:06 PM UTC by janfrederick***