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China quake rattles memories

May 12th, 2008 by Dave

I’ve been monitoring the fallout from the earthquake in China all night, wondering what would happen if one of that magnitude struck here.

The last major quake we had on Oahu a few years ago I remember vividly. It was 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning and I turned on the tube to watch the NFL early game. New Orleans was playing, and that was as far as I got.

By the time I figured out nobody was shaking my bed, I looked out the window to see the lights on our eighth-floor tennis court at our condo swaying like palm trees, nearly touching the ground to the left, then the right. The tenants on the 40th floor, I could only imagine how much our building swayed and what they were going through.

Not long after, all power was gone. I had to use a flashlight to make it down 10 flights of stairs to the parking garage, then drove through downtown to the office with no traffic lights to help along the way.

First in the office and it was pitch black and eerily quiet. All the landlines were out so we started calling reporters on cellphones to assess damages throughout the islands and we posted updates through the use of backup generators.

Blogger Cat Toth was working for the paper at the time and was on vacation on Kauai. She had her laptop with her and was one of the few people who could post any info so we fed her info and vice versa.

Earthquakes are freaky.

You want to get outside and your mind tells you if you do, all the shaking will stop. You want to believe it would be like leaving a fun house at a fair or carnival.

Nope.

When I was in the big earthquake in Tacoma in 2002, I remember getting out to the parking lot as other co-workers jumped under desks. When I stepped outside I fully thought everything would be normal, but I remember seeing everything rocking and all I could do was look at the ground and wonder if it would open up suck me in.

Living in Hawaii, we also have to worry about tsunamis an earthquake may bring. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center does a great job of posting updates whenever there is a threat, but when nothing was posted overnight to say if Hawaii was in danger from the China earthquake, I called.

The China quake was too far inland to cause any rift with ocean waters was the basic response. But even better, they were continuing to monitor the quake and asked for information on casualties. They’re human, just like us.

I can only imagine what the people in China are going through today. If you have an earthquake experience, share it here.

And if you’re wondering about the overnight shift, two sites we check all the time are the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and the Hawaii Volcano Observatory for earthquakes in Hawaii.

If one hits, we want to be as ready as humanly possible, and we want you to be ready, too.

Tags: China, Earthquakes, Hawaii Volcano Observatory, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Tacoma

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8 Responses to “China quake rattles memories”

MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:16 am
THIS IS A DREAM I HAD ABOUT CHINA IN JAN 6-08 ! I AM ALSO GOING TO LEAVE YOU ANOTHER DREAM I HAD ABOUT HAWAII IT HASN’T CAME TRUE SIR, NOT YET! BUT I THINK YOU NEED TO PRAY, AND I THINK YOU NEED TO WORRY! HERE IS THE FIRST DREAM { “LAST NIGHT I DREAMED ABOUT WHAT I THOUGHT WAS CHINA. I DREAMED I WAS THERE STANDING AN LOOKING AT THIS BIG BUILDING, I KNEW IT WAS CHINA BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE BUILDING LOOKED. CHINA HAS ITS OWN WAY OF STRUCTURING ITS BUILDINGS, THE WAY THEY LOOK, THEIR OWN DESIGN. BUT I LOOKED AND IT BEGIN TO SWAY, BACK AN FORTH! AND I THOUGHT TO MYSELF I AM NOT GOING UP THERE. IT SEEM AS THO SOMETHING INSIDE OF IT, WAS SO STRONG AND SO POWERRFUL IT BEGUN TO SWAY BACK AN FORTH, ALWAYS LIKE IT SHOOK ITS FOUNDATION.THEN I LOOKED AROUND AND THE PEOPLE THAT WAS IN THAT BUILDING WAS ON THE GROUND. IT SEEM AS THO THEY WAS FINE, BUT I REALLY DON’T KNOW BECAUSE I DIDN’T WALK OVER THERE WHERE THEY WERE. I JUST HEARD SOMEONE SAY ” WERE YOU SCARED”! I BELIEVE GOD IS ABOUT TO SHAKE CHINA BIG TIME! IN WHAT FORM I DON’T KNOW THAT, USUALLY ONLY AN EARTHQUAKE SHAKES A FOUNDATION LIKE THAT, BUT THIS WAS THE TALLEST BUILDING I EVER SEEN! AND ALL I KNOW IS I WAS IN “CHINA”!
MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:22 am
A DREAM OF HAWAII!

A DREAM OF HAWAII ! APRIL 27-08
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

LAST NIGHT I DREAMED I WAS IN HAWAII, AND I WAS TALKING TO THIS MAN ABOUT A DREAM I HAD ABOUT NEVADA/ UTAH EARTHQUAKE/VOLCANO. I SAW ALL THIS SAND AND IT WAS HIGH UP OR I WAS HIGH UP ON A MOUNTAIN MAYBE. I SAW THIS WATER COMING FROM THE OCEAN AND IT WAS JUST SOAKING DOWN INTO THE SAND, AS IF IT WAS GOING RIGHT DOWN INTO THE MIDDLE OF IT DRIVING IT FARTHER DOWN. IT WAS KINDA LIKE THE MORE THE WATER DID THIS THEY WOULDN’T BE ANYTHING LEFT AFTER A WHILE. BUT THE WATER CAME UP REALLY HIGH AS IF IT WAS A TSUNAMI THAT MADE IT COME THAT HIGH. BUT I WAS TELLING THIS GUY ABOUT IT AS IF TO WARN THEM. I WAS AFRAID WHERE I WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT I WOULD FALL THRO THE SAND AND GO UNDER, BECAUSE OF WHAT THIS OCEAN WATER WAS DOING TO IT. I KNEW I WAS STANDING HIGH UP, BUT YET THE OCEAN WATERS COULD REACH THAT HIGH. I DON’T KNOW WHERE I WAS IN HAWAII, I JUST KNEW I WAS THERE FOR SOME REASON. BUT THE MAIN IMPORTANT THING WAS I WAS WARNING THEM OF A EARTHQUAKE/ VOLCANO! THATS ALL I REMEMBER.
MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:27 am
4/8/2008
LAST NIGHT I DREAMED I WAS TAKEN UP AND IT WAS AS THO I COULD WALK ON THESE WATERS, WITHOUT FALLING IN.BUT NO-ONE CAN WALK ON WATER WITHOUT FALLING IN SO WHAT I BELIEVE IT WAS IS THAT I WAS ACTUALLY WALKING ABOVE THESE WATERS AS IF TO GLIDE ACROSS THEM. BUT SEE IT SEEM AS THO THEY WAS WATER UNDERNEATH MY FEET. BUT I WAS JUST GLIDING ABOVE IT, JUST AT THE SURFACE. BUT WHAT WAS SO AMAZING IS THAT IT WAS HOT, I MEAN THIS WATER WAS STEAMING HOT, IT WAS BOILING RED, BUT YET IT SEEM IT WAS IN THE WATER. WHEN I GLIDED OVER IT I FELT THE HEAT ON MY FEET, THAT’S WHY I KNEW HOW HOT IT WAS. IT SEEM LIKE I WAS AROUND THE WEST PART OF THE UNITED STATES. I THOUGHT I WAS IN AROUND UTAH MAYBE NEVADA. THIS IS WHAT I THINK IT IS” THEIR IS A VOLCANO THAT IS RIGHT UP TO THE SURFACE AND IT’S ABOUT TO BLOW! I MEAN IT IS SO HOT IT IS BOILING. I BELIEVE IT WILL TAKE PLACE IN AROUND UTAH. I BELIEVE IT IS ABOUT TO GO OVER THE TOP JUST ANY DAY.
Image courtesy Brigham Young University
Utah contains some of America’s most spectacular geology. The western part of Utah is in the Basin and Range province. Due to plate movements on the far-off west coast during late Tertiary time, this part of the state and all of Nevada to its west have been stretched by some 50 percent. The upper crust split into strips, which tilted upward into ranges and downward into basins, while the hot rocks beneath rose up to elevate this region by nearly 2 kilometers. The ranges, shown in various colors for their rocks of many different ages, shed huge amounts of sediment into the basins, shown in white. Some basins contain salt flats, most notably the floor of former Lake Bonneville, now a world-famous test track for ultrafast automobiles. Widespread volcanism at this time left deposits of ash and lava, shown in pink or purple

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MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Reno Urged to Prepare for Big Quake

By MARTIN GRIFFITH,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-26 22:30:16
Filed Under: Nation News, Natural Disaster, Science News
RENO, Nev. (April 26) - Scientists urged Reno residents to prepare for a bigger event as the city kept rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long sequence of temblors. More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the west edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit at 11:40 p.m. Friday, the strongest quake around Reno since a 5.2 temblor in 1953, said researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno’s seismological laboratory.

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Marilyn Newton, Gazette-Journal / AP
Recent Earthquakes Rattle U.S.
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Keith Phillips checks the damage to his house in Mogul, Nev., Saturday morning. He said an earthquake that hit late Friday night literally lifted his house and slammed it back down, leaving cracks in his walls and ceiling. More than 100 aftershocks on Saturday have experts worried that a larger quake may be brewing.

The latest quake emptied store shelves, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides. But there were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.

“A magnitude 6 quake wouldn’t be a scientific surprise,” John Anderson, director of the seismological lab in Reno, said Saturday. “We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night.”

But Anderson stressed there was no way to predict what would happen, and the sequence of temblors also could end without a major quake.

Reno’s last major quake measured 6.1 on April 24, 1914, and was felt as far away as Berkeley, Calif., said Craig dePolo, research geologist with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.

A rockslide triggered by Friday night’s quake was blamed for causing a 125-foot breach in a wooden flume that carries water to one of Reno’s two water treatment plants.

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David Falconer, AP

A backup pump was used to divert water to the plant and the breach was not expected to cause any water shortages, said Aaron Kenneston, Washoe County emergency management officer.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Friday night’s quake was centered around Mogul, just west of Reno. The area of upscale homes along the eastern Sierra was rattled by more than 100 quakes the day before, the strongest a magnitude 4.2 that caused high-rise casinos to sway in downtown Reno.

The strongest aftershock measured magnitude 3.7 and was recorded at 12:29 a.m. Saturday.

Mike Lentini of Reno said Friday night’s quake felt “like a big truck hit the building” and awakened his family.

“It’s the unknown. It’s shaking and when’s it going to stop?” he said Saturday. “And when stuff starts falling off the shelves it’s a whole other ballgame.”

Jars of mayonnaise, bottles of ketchup and shampoo fell from shelves at a Wal-Mart store in northwest Reno. Overhead televisions swayed at a sports bar in neighboring Sparks, 11 miles east, where bartender Shawn Jones said the rumble was significantly stronger than Thursday’s event.

“The bottles were shaking so I sent everybody outside,” he said.

Hundreds of mostly minor quakes have occurred along one or possibly more faults since the sequence of temblors began Feb. 28, said Ken Smith, a seismologist at the Reno laboratory. The quakes have occurred along an area about two miles long and a half-mile wide.

“We can’t put a number on it, but the probability of a major earthquake has increased with this sequence,” Smith said Saturday. “People need to prepare for ground shaking because there’s no way to say how this will play
MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:37 am
SIR, I HAVE DREAMED ABOUT UTAH/ NEVADA IT CAME TO PASS! I DREAMED ABOUT CHINA IT ALSO CAME TO PASS! I ALSO HAVE DREAMED OF HAWAII IT IS YET TO COME TO PASS! ALL I CAN SAY IS PEOPLE BETTER PRAY! THIS IS A SONG I WROTE ABOUT AMERICA ‘ I PUT IT IN OUR LOCAL PAPER TO WARN PEOPLE! I AM SENDING IT TO YOU, MAYBE YOU CAN DO THE SAME!
MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:38 am
“America”

There comes a time in your life,
When you must decide,
There is something God is telling you,
You can run but you can’t hide.
For so long he’s been dishonored, they have torned down his name
From this moment on,
“AMERICA”
YOU’LL NEVER BE THE SAME.

The WORLD is in a Recession/Famine,
For Seven Years it shall be.
FOR ONE NIGHT IN A VISION, GOD REVEALED THIS TO ME!
NOW HE HAS YOUR ATTENTION
I think it’s safe to say,
For he is your provider,
It’s time you knelt to pray.

America, come back to God,
Please heed his call.
If it wasn’t for the Cross,
You would not be standing at all.
America, you must believe that God is in control,
What more must he do, to prove to you that he loves you so?

AMERICA” COME BACK TO GOD” What else must He say?
Only by His mercy,
Are we here today
Put back His law, Raise High His Name.
Stand up and proclaim,
America, Come Back to God, Bless His holy name.

WRITTEN BY “MARTY SEAY” 4/01/08
MARTY:
May 14th, 2008 at 1:47 am
SIR, I HAVE A “MYSPACE” WHERE MY DREAMS ARE LISTED TO WARN PEOPLE! ITS http://www.myspace.com/godgivendreams
jd:
May 19th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Marty needs to take naps in the afternoon so he doesn’t have so many bad dreams at night.