Earthquake evacuates Sea World coaster

Just heard on Fox News that an offshore earthquake jolted San Diego today
prompting the Journey to Atlantis coaster to stop. Looks like they had to
evacuate the stranded riders. No big deal, but newsworthy to some I suppose.

I really have to get out to California to experciance one of those earthquakes. Any scheduled ones coming up? :)

There was an earthquake today? Oh... I didn't feel it. Wonder how big it was, seems like it would need to be bigger than a 4.5 to cause that type of alarm.

It was a 5.2 somewhat south-west of San Diego.
I wonder how people managed to feel this quake in the L.A. area, generally a quake of this size is not felt very much beyond the 100 km radius.
http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/STORE/X14065544/ciim_display.html

Anyway, earthquakes up to maybe magnitude 4 are somewhat "fun", but above that, I wouldn't really want to be close to an epicenter - you might get beaten up just by the earthquake itself.
But I guess they're fascinating in the same way that tornadoes are.

Recently it looks like the earthquake activity in California has risen somewhat, so I guess for "quake feelers" (aka "Tornado chasers") right now would be a good time to relocate.
With up to 370 registered earthquakes a week (most of which however too weak to be felt) California may quake for you right now - some patience required.
:)

*** Edited 6/16/2004 10:23:25 AM UTC by superman***

This particular fault line is the one that formed the San Clemente Islands (southwest of San Diego) and was overdue for some movement. Lots of lesser quakes are a whole lot better than a 7 or more on the Richter scale. I remember being able to feel not only the Northridge quake, but we got a roll from the last San Fran one.

We also have that Rose Canyon fault too. There are some cool tectonic features in San Clemente Canyon.

I was watching a special the other day and it said San Andreas is due for another big one! I live only a couple miles from it where it dives into the ocean at Pacifica. It forms some pretty impressive cliffs on HWY 1.

*** Edited 6/16/2004 6:43:06 PM UTC by Antuan***

"I wonder how people managed to feel this quake in the L.A. area, generally a quake of this size is not felt very much beyond the 100 km radius."

Easy: work in a tall building. I felt it.

I will never move to Cali for this reason alone.

Well no offence but that's a stupid reason. Almost every part of the US has some sort of nature-related disaster potential, many have more than one. Unless you're moving to Phoenix there isn't a safe city to go to.

Here in Orange County, I didn't feel a thing.

And like Moosh said, earthquakes, no matter how frightening they might seem to a non-Californian are not a big deal. Nobody wakes up worrying about earthquakes- they just kind of happen, and are forgotten about just as fast.

Wanna see what faults lie beneath your city or what areas of the US are quake-prone? Check out this cool interactive map:

http://earthquakes.usgs.gov/qfaults/usmap.html

Antuan, did the special show the winery that is being torn in two near Hollister? I was married there...My brother works for the guy with the moustache who said, "It's not MY fault!"

Hey Moosh, ever heard of heat stroke? I suppose you could also get bit by a gila monster. ;)

Basically the safer you want to be in regards to natural disasters, the more boring the aesthetics will be. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but generally I think that holds true in the U.S.

I'll take the possibilty of an earthquake over the onslaught of tornados that hit the midwest.

^ Tornados, floods, locust, unbearable humidity and heatwaves in the summer, bone chilling blizzards in the winter, hurricanes in the East, etc., all of which seem to occur several times a year, EVERY YEAR!

The last big quake we had up here was in 1989, and before that - ??? I'll take the once in a blue moon quake over the yearly plauges the rest of the country goes through.

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Mamoosh said:
Almost every part of the US has some sort of nature-related disaster potential.

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I agree - all catastrophe-lovers can probably just stay were they are and wait for the disaster to happen :)

We had a 5.2 last fall here in Germany. It was too far away from where I lived then, but in the Black Forest where I grew up we had a couple of small quakes (3.0 or the likes).
I also remember that there was a small tornado down the valley from us which cut a path through the trees.
And in the last years there were two storms with peak wind velocities of over 150 km/h. In one of wich I was driving my car through the mountains - it was really freaky, I got stuck on a road because a tree had fallen on the road right before me - I had to turn around while all around me pieces of tries were flying through the air and the forest looked like a corn field waving in the wind.

It's probably safest just to stay right here in front of the computer :) *** Edited 6/17/2004 3:32:57 PM UTC by superman***

Hey Moosh, Phoenix floods like no other when the rains actually come, so even that's a bad one! =)

This is freaky 'cause I was going to start a topic about earthquakes damaging coasters on Tuesday and didn't cause I found all the info I needed in a topic from '01. I found out I might have a free ticket on USAirways again, and was looking into when I could do a Cali trip and the whole time a little voice in my head was saying "earthquake ... earthquake ... ". Yes, I have voices in my head ... they never showed up until I turned into a coaster nut tho ...

I don't know, if you trust in someone you don't know who's gut feelings are generally right, watch out Cali, it's gonna be soon and it's gonna be big ...

Well, I'd probably be more scared of a tornado than of being in an earthquake *need i explain why?*. I guess for the first time it might be a little confusing, but overall I can't see it as a reason for staying out of Cali...

Most coasters, especially wood, are flexible enough to withstand even the strongest of shaking. It's the rigid, non-fliexible buildings you have to worry about. And of course it all depends on a building's harmonics and how they compare to a quake's harmonics. Get a match and you're in deep trouble.

*** Edited 6/17/2004 2:50:38 PM UTC by Mamoosh***