Walls quivered like cars hitting potholes. Cats jumped straight up in the air. Christmas trees toppled as their owners heard a boom, then a crack.
A 3.6 magnitude earthquake rattled through the Lowcountry just before 8 a.m. Tuesday. It was a strong shot of coffee to jump-start a work day, but no, it wasn’t the “Big One.” Not even close.
And so far, no other activity has been reported where two notorious seismic fault lines open on each other near Summerville.
Can we tell earthquake stories? I remember shortly after arriving in LA for a vacation going through the Landers (7.3) and Big Bear (6.4) earthquakes (about 3 hours apart). They seemed to go on forever and – staying in a hotel – all the car alarms going off at once.
It does grab your attention.
My first earthquake, in California, felt and sounded as though a freight train were passing nearby. Another California earthquake felt as though a washing machine were spinning with an unbalanced load in a frame house.
Minor earthquakes are (in my perverse view) fun as long as no one suffers injury or significant property damage. They’re also instructive: they remind us of the transience of this world; they hint at the cataclysms that have shaped that world.
Here are the numbers of earthquakes California has: Year 37283; Month 3107; Week 714; Day 102 . Most of us think a 3.6 is a sonic boom.
The only earthquake I’ve experienced excaped my notice – it was on a Sunday sometime in the 1980s and I was at Point Reyes with a friend. We didn’t know anything had happened until we went to a restaurant for lunch and everyone was talking about it.
Daniel – I think there should be a Richter scale for the difference in psychological/emotional impact of an earthquake in Calif., where there are so many, vs. an earthquake in S.C. It’s sort of like my excitement over seeing four whooping cranes in Georgia the other day and my friend in Wisconsin not thinking it was a big deal.
Hmm. I really do know how to spell “escape”….
Dan –
I agree – a 3.6 is no big deal here in Southern California. What is a huge deal here is that our high today is in the 40’s (49 degrees)! I’ve heard that has happened before elsewhere in the U.S., but never thought it could happen here! Is Arnold gonna declare a state of emergency?
He will have to ask Maria first.
There have only been a handful that I’ve actually felt and recognized in my life. I thought Loma Prieta was a flat tire, until I got out to look and found that only by leaning on the car door was I able to keep on my feet. The house was unscathed, and we thought all was well until we turned on the news. My father later learned he had lost a colleague on the Cypress Freeway. And to this day I say a prayer every time I drive across the Bay Bridge. By a change in pavement, you can still clearly see the section that fell and had to be replaced.
Most Californians have a mix of feelings at such times. When we come through unharmed we laugh, have a jolly bit of fun for a moment, then pray from the depths of our souls that no one was hurt.
There have only been a few jolts here and there since. Most go unnoticed. The last ones I felt were a series that hit Reno while I was staying near there a few months ago. The Nevadans were rattled and anxious, but there was no real damage, and it didn’t even make a blip on the national news.
Aye, we’re overdue for a big one. But most of us prefer that risk to hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards.
The 3.6 magnitude earthquake that took place last week has left the people in desperate need of extra cash. Fortunately, the only thing hurt was the drywall on the homes in the area and residents’ pocketbooks, which they will have to compensate for come next payday. It seems the earthquake came in good timing for the supervisor for the Charleston county school district who was apparently trying to invest money into the local schools partly as a precautionary measures for future earthquakes. After this one, it appears he won’t be having any more problems getting what he wants. Personally, I was not aware South Carolina is almost as bad as California when it comes to earthquakes. Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call or a reminder that life is unpredictable – anything can happen.
To get more information about the earthquake, read this article called “Charleston Earthquake | Payday Will Be Spent Fixing Drywall”, on the payday loan news blog at personalmoneystore.com.