OK Earthquake 2011

Posted by ERV on November 7, 2011
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We get little earthquakes all the time in OK. This is my usual reaction:

Department mates running into the hallway: OMFG WHAT WAS THAT???
Me: Wat?
Department mates: HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE!!
Me: … I didnt feel anything… … … Thats what she said.

But this Saturday we had the strongest quake in OK history:

Magnitude 5.6 – OKLAHOMA
2011 November 06 03:53:10 UTC

This was my reaction this time:

Me in bed watching TV
*earthquake*
Me closing my eyes and holding my breath until its over, silently hoping it is an earthquake and not something worse.
Arnie making a bee-line for the bedroom, dive-bombing into bed, and hiding under the covers with me.

I imagine my face looked like this:
BUT, everything is fine. Some of my friends got a few cracks in the walls of their houses/apts, but everyone is okay.

My friend Doug Schwarz (who recorded and uploaded my ‘debate’ with Charles Jackson a while back?) summarized the event thusly:
Oklahoma Quake poster

More lulz– We had one Saturday morning too (didnt feel a thing… … … thats what she said). This inspired some nut to declare earthquakes in OK were a sign of The End Times. Considering another event some would have said was impossible happened Saturday (I road a motorcycle), I actually agree with him. End times. END TIMES!!!!
Remember folks, religion is liek, TOTALLY elegant.

And then there is this– Video of the earthquake… captured by paranormal instigators:


No ghosts. Only a stupid earthquake. **YAAAAAAWN!!!** BORING!!!

EDIT 9.45 PM–

Well, we just had another one:

Magnitude 4.7 – OKLAHOMA2011 November 08 02:46:57 UTC

I didnt feel it. So, we have established that they have to be pretty big for me to feel them.

… … … Thats what she said.

I was speaking with a guy friend at the time, though, and he did feel it. Leave it to a guy to think a small one is big.

… … … Thats what she said.

*blink*

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Comments

  1. #1 Bubba Fernandez
    November 7, 2011

    I’m not THE Bubba Fernandez, but that’s probably the funniest name ever.

    I’ve lived in OK (Tulsa thereabouts) for a few decades now and I can say I’ve never once actually felt an earthquake here. Common knowledge (whatever that’s worth) is that OK doesn’t “get” earthquakes. I certainly thought as much, considering the one a few days ago as strange as a tornado ripping through Hollywood. I guess there’s lots of “little” quakes but I imagine most of them only show up on highly sensitive equipment. Not this one, I felt that sucker. I actually thought it was a huge burst of wind at first, because again, I never think “earthquake” when something shakes. Maybe the ones you can actually feel happen more often in OKC?

  2. #2 Prometheus
    November 7, 2011

    This guy is the best:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVXjK0jMeWY&feature=player_embedded

    I was in the bath tub.

    My only reaction was to roll my eyes and think “Oh great. Dead, wet and naked under several tons of brick and busted two by fours.”

  3. #3 Daniel Kolle
    November 7, 2011

    At least it was not a tornado, right? As a native Alabamian, I have been through one earthquake, which was something like a 4.9 or another. I slept through the damn thing. I imagine my response to one would be much like the guy in the video above me.

  4. #4 jaranath
    November 7, 2011

    The one that hit Illinois a few years ago also had me thinking “tornado!” I’m only used to hearing building rattles and creaks from high winds. Which is still our bigger risk out here; use wind-resistant construction and build tornado saferooms, folks!

    I hope Arnie wasn’t rattled for long.

  5. #5 Karen
    November 7, 2011

    It isn’t that only the west coast gets earthquakes; we just get LOTS of them, and everybody else only gets a few. That’s “few” on a geologic time scale, not a human scale. Don’t doubt that you don’t have lots of faults; it’s just that they aren’t inspired to move very often.

    Killer quakes (which a 5.6 is not) are possible away from the west coast. They’re inevitable on the west coast.

  6. #6 Justicar
    November 7, 2011

    Abbie, sorry I was trying to rock your world. That new lipstick drove me crazy!

  7. #7 Grant
    November 8, 2011

    Any ideas on the PGAs? (I.e. idea of what the shaking was like)

    Christchurch is my hometown. Don’t live there now, but I was near the centre of the Boxing Day aftershock so I’ve a bit of an idea. That was on the smaller end of the bigger aftershocks they’ve had, but it still ripped all the ceiling lighting out of the shop I was in.

    At least Arnie didn’t go walkabout. That has apparently been one of the themes of the atershocks in Christchurch – some pets, some dogs in particular, seem to take off and take a while to return home.

  8. #8 Erk
    November 8, 2011

    Big, scary, “dangerous breed” dog hiding under the covers, hehehehe.

  9. #9 peter
    November 8, 2011

    Glad you survived. We had a little earthquake (m4.6) here in North GA about eight years ago, which was a first for pretty much everybody. I was very interested in the way people reacted to it, and noticed a distinct difference between males and females – males tended to notice it and be frightened by it, while females mostly slept through it (happened about 5:00 am local time) – I hope I am not making a “sexist” observation. It scared the heck out of me, with my entire house making popping and creaking sounds and my bed (which I was laying in) sliding around a little.

  10. #10 EvilYeti
    November 8, 2011

    Abbie might want to consider what Tori Amos was talking about when she named her first solo album “Little Earthquakes”.

  11. #11 William Wallace
    November 8, 2011

    So, what youre saying is ERV wont need no c-section.