I was informed by young Karen (CF to many) that an earthquake had hit Hawaii earlier this morning (their time...)

I'm pretty certain that Karen is safe, but would like to pass her (and many islanders) my thoughts at this time...

If you talk to Karen, please give her my best. I hope she and her family are safe, as well as everyone else on the island.




Cat

If you talk to Karen, please give her my best. I hope she and her family are safe, as well as everyone else on the island.


I'd love to pass your good wishes on, Cat...but I'd imagine her power's out at present... :-\\

I hope everything's okay with her and the family and that things are back to normal very soon...

I'd love to pass your good wishes on, Cat...but I'd imagine her power's out at present... :-\\

I hope everything's okay with her and the family and that things are back to normal very soon...



Well, I just hope that she knows that our thoughts are with her.




Cat

oh wow....she's definitely in my thoughts and prayers.

I saw this on CNN, and thought of Karen

I hope she is OK

I hope that Karen and her family are safe.

Man I just heard about this.. I'm gonna do a search.

My best wishes also to our Hawaiian members.

My best wishes also to our Hawaiian members.


Well, as far as I'm aware, there's only Karen!

I've had a message from her in the meantime...she and the family are okay!  :)

I've had a message from her in the meantime...she and the family are okay!  :)


Thats good news. I immediately thought of her when I heard about it. Glad to hear they are all ok.

Well, as far as I'm aware, there's only Karen!

I've had a message from her in the meantime...she and the family are okay!  :)
'NbC' Karen's friend, though she's not here as much as she used to be.

I hope Karen is doing okay. My brother is also in Hawaii and I haven't heard from him since yesterday when he said he was stranded in his hotel with his girlfriend. No word since.  :-\\ I'm worried.  :(

I hope Karen is doing okay. My brother is also in Hawaii and I haven't heard from him since yesterday when he said he was stranded in his hotel with his girlfriend. No word since.  :-\\ I'm worried.  :(



Karen is ok-and is on-line (we have been PMing). I'm sure your borther is ok, too. The reports are saying that there were only minor injuries-if any. NO FATALITIES!!!!



Cat

Karen is ok-and is on-line (we have been PMing). I'm sure your borther is ok, too. The reports are saying that there were only minor injuries-if any. NO FATALITIES!!!!



Cat


Thank you for the update on Karen :) I think my brother is okay, but I am just trying to play out in my head whether or not he's gotten to the airport okay and if he's slept alright. I'm a bit of a worry wort, so those sorts of minor details get to me - lol. He was actually suppose to board his flight yesterday, but as we know, that became in impossible for anyone.

Thank you for the update on Karen :) I think my brother is okay, but I am just trying to play out in my head whether or not he's gotten to the airport okay and if he's slept alright. I'm a bit of a worry wort, so those sorts of minor details get to me - lol. He was actually suppose to board his flight yesterday, but as we know, that became in impossible for anyone.



Keep us informed. Ok?




Cat

^ I will.  :)

'NbC' Karen's friend, though she's not here as much as she used to be.


She certainly is, but Nanette lives on Guam...

Hope everythings okay with you, Hot stuff...a lot of communications were wiped out for a while (especially on the Big Island), so that's possibly why your brother hadn't contacted you...

I hope he's managed to by now...

My brother has made it home safe and sound, but from what my mother told me, it wasn't easy and they had a lot of red tape to go through, so I'm sure I'll hear more later on.

My brother has made it home safe and sound, but from what my mother told me, it wasn't easy and they had a lot of red tape to go through, so I'm sure I'll hear more later on.



Glad to hear it.



Cat

I just now saw this thread...

A big thanks to Paul and everybody else who expressed their concern for me after we had our earthquake Sunday... :)

All is pretty much back to normal over here (though the Big Island suffered a fair bit of structural damage to buildings, and the state's been declared a disaster area)...

  Apologies for the lateness...

  Upon learing of Hawaii's quake on the radio Sunday morning, you came to mind first.  I really don't know anybody else in Hawaii...

  Anyway, I'm glad you're okay...

Glad to hear you and your family are okay Karen  :)

I just now saw this thread...

A big thanks to Paul and everybody else who expressed their concern for me after we had our earthquake Sunday... :)

All is pretty much back to normal over here (though the Big Island suffered a fair bit of structural damage to buildings, and the state's been declared a disaster area)...
Good to hear you're okay.

Sounds like Karen and everybody else in Hawaii got what we in California would have called "An E Ticket Ride".  Lots of shaking and rolling, but thankfully no deaths or serious injuries.

I am probably the most blase person in here about Earthquakes.  I have been through so many of them, to me they are simply a fact of life.  I often tend to forget how terrified of them most people are.  After all, they are used to the earth being "rock solid", and it is not supposed to move around like a plate full of Jello.  Myself, I am much more terrified of Huricanes then Earthquakes.  And I am the one that moved from LA to Alabama (go figure).

Myself, I am part of a movement that believes that all buildings in California should be build of Leggos.  That way when the next big one hits, everybody can simply put their buildings back togther and go on as before.

FYI:  The following picture is taken of California State Freeway 14.  It is about 50 miles North of LA, and it is an 8 lane freeway that runs right through the middle of the San Andreas Fault.  I lived less then 1 mile from the fault for many years, and only 3 miles from this location.

Sounds like Karen and everybody else in Hawaii got what we in California would have called "An E Ticket Ride".  Lots of shaking and rolling, but thankfully no deaths or serious injuries.

I am probably the most blase person in here about Earthquakes.  I have been through so many of them, to me they are simply a fact of life.  I often tend to forget how terrified of them most people are.  After all, they are used to the earth being "rock solid", and it is not supposed to move around like a plate full of Jello.  Myself, I am much more terrified of Huricanes then Earthquakes.  And I am the one that moved from LA to Alabama (go figure).

Myself, I am part of a movement that believes that all buildings in California should be build of Leggos.  That way when the next big one hits, everybody can simply put their buildings back togther and go on as before.

FYI:  The following picture is taken of California State Freeway 14.  It is about 50 miles North of LA, and it is an 8 lane freeway that runs right through the middle of the San Andreas Fault.  I lived less then 1 mile from the fault for many years, and only 3 miles from this location.





I think we there (where that pic was taken). Isn't that fairly close that outdoor chapel?



Cat

  Apologies for the lateness...

  Upon learing of Hawaii's quake on the radio Sunday morning, you came to mind first.  I really don't know anybody else in Hawaii...

  Anyway, I'm glad you're okay...


I appreciate you thinking about me, Davester!  :)


Glad to hear you and your family are okay Karen  :)



Thanks, Amanda!  :)


Good to hear you're okay.


Thank you, Kim!  :)

Myself, I am much more terrified of Huricanes then Earthquakes.

Not me.  I've been through many a hurricane/typhoon in my lifetime and they are easy to handle compared to earthquakes (which are very unpredictable!).

I think we there (where that pic was taken). Isn't that fairly close that outdoor chapel?


Nope.  It is just North of the San Gabriel Mountains, on the Southern edge of the Mojave Desert.  Edwards Airforce Base is about 45 miles due north along the freeway.  The only things in the area are desert scrub, Joshua Trees, and houses.  Here is an ariel view of the location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=palmdale,+california&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=15&ll=34.564924,-118.132596&spn=0.019932,0.041456&iwloc=A

What appears to be 2 ridges is actually the fault.  And as you can see, houses are actually built right up against it.  In some areas, houses are actually built right in the fault.  And if you zoom out, you can see that you can actually follow the fault visually for hundreds of miles North and South.

And wherever there is a road cut through it, you see that twisted rock.  It used to be even more noticeable, before they made a wider cut through it in 1996.  Before then, the twists were very noticeable.

This is what it looked like before the widening project:


Not me.  I've been through many a hurricane/typhoon in my lifetime and they are easy to handle compared to earthquakes (which are very unpredictable!).


I have as well.  2 Typhoons in Japan, 3 Hurricanes in North Carolina, and 3 in Alabama.  And I still need to have a bottle of Scotch near me when I go through one.

With a quake, it shakes for a minute or two, then it is all over.  With a hurricane, they go on and on and on for hours.  And you also have to put up with the tornadoes that they spawn all over the place.  Plus a serious quake only happens in an area every 20 years or so (if not less often).  Hurricanes however come over and over and over again.

I have as well.  2 Typhoons in Japan, 3 Hurricanes in North Carolina, and 3 in Alabama.  And I still need to have a bottle of Scotch near me when I go through one.

I've been through many more than that!  ;D

With a quake, it shakes for a minute or two, then it is all over.  With a hurricane, they go on and on and on for hours.  And you also have to put up with the tornadoes that they spawn all over the place.  Plus a serious quake only happens in an area every 20 years or so (if not less often).  Hurricanes however come over and over and over again.


It's true that hurricanes or typhoons last for hours, but I think I'd be more likely to die in an earthquake than a hurricane!

I've been through many more than that!  ;D

It's true that hurricanes or typhoons last for hours, but I think I'd be more likely to die in an earthquake than a hurricane!


Not really.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Here are some death toles of major earthquakes in California in the last 50 years:

1971 San Fernando (6.6):  65
1985 Coalinga (6.5):  3
1987 Whittier Narrows (6.1):  3
1989 Lome Prieta (6.9):  56
1994 Northridge (6.7):  51
1999 Hector Mine (7.1):  none

That is 178 over more then 35 years.  In the 2004 Atlantic Hurricane season, more then 3,163 people were killed by a total of 10 hurricanes.  In fact, Katrina killed 14 people in Florida, and 133 people in Cuba, well before it slammed into the Gulf Coast states.

Nope, I will still take an Earthquake any day over a hurricane.  Because in reality, as long as an area has good building codes, earthquakes really do very little damage.  In fact, the 1992 LA Riots killed more people (68) then any of the California Earthquakes of the last 50 years.

Not really.  In fact, quite the opposite.  Here are some death toles of major earthquakes in California in the last 50 years:

1971 San Fernando (6.6):  65
1985 Coalinga (6.5):  3
1987 Whittier Narrows (6.1):  3
1989 Lome Prieta (6.9):  56
1994 Northridge (6.7):  51
1999 Hector Mine (7.1):  none

That is 178 over more then 35 years.  In the 2004 Atlantic Hurricane season, more then 3,163 people were killed by a total of 10 hurricanes.  In fact, Katrina killed 14 people in Florida, and 133 people in Cuba, well before it slammed into the Gulf Coast states.

Nope, I will still take an Earthquake any day over a hurricane.  Because in reality, as long as an area has good building codes, earthquakes really do very little damage.  In fact, the 1992 LA Riots killed more people (68) then any of the California Earthquakes of the last 50 years.


What about the 9.2 earthquake in the Indian Ocean (in '04) that generated a tsunami which killed 200,000+ people?!!  :o

Nope.  It is just North of the San Gabriel Mountains, on the Southern edge of the Mojave Desert.  Edwards Airforce Base is about 45 miles due north along the freeway.  The only things in the area are desert scrub, Joshua Trees, and houses.  Here is an ariel view of the location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=palmdale,+california&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=15&ll=34.564924,-118.132596&spn=0.019932,0.041456&iwloc=A

What appears to be 2 ridges is actually the fault.  And as you can see, houses are actually built right up against it.  In some areas, houses are actually built right in the fault.  And if you zoom out, you can see that you can actually follow the fault visually for hundreds of miles North and South.

And wherever there is a road cut through it, you see that twisted rock.  It used to be even more noticeable, before they made a wider cut through it in 1996.  Before then, the twists were very noticeable.

This is what it looked like before the widening project:





Ok. I'm confusing that with another place. The one I am thinking of, I think they were building a seaworld type place close by. I remember the road being very bumpy-and I think they just paved it not too long before we were there. I was told that you can stand there and watch the earth change.


Cat

What about the 9.2 earthquake in the Indian Ocean (in '04) that generated a tsunami which killed 200,000+ people?!!  :o


Now you are talking about an abberation, not a normal earthquake.  And the quake itself did very little damage, it was the tsunami that really did the damage.  To give an equivelent, the 1964 Alaska quake also created a Tsunami.  9 people died in the quake, and 131 from the resulting Tsunami.  It is like the old saying "It is not the fall that kills you, it is the landing at the end".

There are tens of thousands of "regular" earthquakes for every one of those.  In fact, if you want to talk about abberations, look at what is expected to happen "sometime in the future" on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

There is a crack on the West slope of the volcano, that a lot of scientists think will fall into the Atlantic at some date in the future.  If this happens, over 100 cubic miles of debris will create a tsunami, that will probably strike the entire US East Coast, Eastern South America, African West Coast, and most of Europe.  The Carribean Islands will likely be swept clean of almost all plants, animals, and people.  The US will likely be struck by 120 foot waves, between 20-40 of them, traveling at 500 MPH.  Huge areas of South America will also be devistated, including Rio De Janero and Buenos Areis, which will both be almost totally destroyed.

And that may happen next week, next month, next century, or next millenium.  The chance is remote, but nobody expected the collapse of Krakatoa or Santorini either, and look at what those did.

Now you are talking about an abberation, not a normal earthquake.  And the quake itself did very little damage, it was the tsunami that really did the damage.  To give an equivelent, the 1964 Alaska quake also created a Tsunami.  9 people died in the quake, and 131 from the resulting Tsunami.  It is like the old saying "It is not the fall that kills you, it is the landing at the end".

There are tens of thousands of "regular" earthquakes for every one of those.  In fact, if you want to talk about abberations, look at what is expected to happen "sometime in the future" on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

There is a crack on the West slope of the volcano, that a lot of scientists think will fall into the Atlantic at some date in the future.  If this happens, over 100 cubic miles of debris will create a tsunami, that will probably strike the entire US East Coast, Eastern South America, African West Coast, and most of Europe.  The Carribean Islands will likely be swept clean of almost all plants, animals, and people.  The US will likely be struck by 120 foot waves, between 20-40 of them, traveling at 500 MPH.  Huge areas of South America will also be devistated, including Rio De Janero and Buenos Areis, which will both be almost totally destroyed.

And that may happen next week, next month, next century, or next millenium.  The chance is remote, but nobody expected the collapse of Krakatoa or Santorini either, and look at what those did.


Okay, you've made your point!  ;)

Okay, you've made your point!  ;)


*laughs*

Remember, I am probably the most pessimistic person on this entire board.  I spend a lot of my time researching disasters and the like, and so far, the history of the Earth has proven that we are no more then a minute spec in time.  I expect that something cataclysmic will happen in the next century or so, and cause huge death and distruction.

After all, it has been less then a century since 50-100 million people were killed in one year by the last global pandemic.  We really do live in a gentle and safe period of history.

Now everybody sleep well, and have a good night.  8)

Now you are talking about an abberation, not a normal earthquake.  And the quake itself did very little damage, it was the tsunami that really did the damage. 


actually thats not true - you obviously havent seen the footage from Aceh that was taken when the quake was actually hitting and destroying the entire city. The footage was released weeks after the initial tsunami so it wasnt among the stuff that people watched over the first few days.

Aceh city was totally destroyed by the quake and over 250,000 people killed there alone - before the tsunami hit 30 minutes later when even more further inland were killed. The Australian government has so far spent half a billion dollars rebuilding Aceh. My friends who are surgeons in the Navy have been working there non stop since the disaster.

The actual death toll from that day was over 450,000 in the end.

PS - very glad to here you were ok CF after the Hawaiin quake.

actually thats not true - you obviously havent seen the footage from Aceh that was taken when the quake was actually hitting and destroying the entire city. The footage was released weeks after the initial tsunami so it wasnt among the stuff that people watched over the first few days.


That is true.  But to be honest, it is hard to be fully accurate of the death tolls, because of how quickly the tsunami came afterwards.  People trapped in debris who would normally have been saved were then drown or crushed when the tsunami came 30 minutes later.  This is like the 100 year old question from the San Francisco Earthquake.  Which killed more, the Earthquake or the Fire?  There is really no way to tell, because one so quickly followed the other.

And I also said the following about earthquake deaths:


Nope, I will still take an Earthquake any day over a hurricane.  Because in reality, as long as an area has good building codes, earthquakes really do very little damage.


I can almost guarantee that there were no earthquake codes in the region.  And if there were, they were either ignored or nowhere near strong enough.  You can't expect buildings constructed in Illinois to survive a California earthquake, no more then you can expect a California building to survive a Florida hurricane.  (And expect large death and damage because of this whenever the New Madrid Fault lets loose again.)

This is probably the biggest differences in death rates between "Industrialized Nations" (like the US, Japan, and now Mexico), and other areas like Turkey, Iran,  and Micronesia.  When countries have strongly enforced building codes, this prevents most of the deaths.  While LA had a large number of buildings condemned after the 1994 quake, there were relatively few failures.  Most of the "collapses" were really the collapse of facades, not the entire building.  And in the vast majority of total building collapses, the culpret was "liquifaction" of the soil, not a flaw in the structure itself.

When you have large areas where the major building material is unreinforced concrete or stone/brick, you will have huge death tolls.  And when you add in congestion, you then have incidents where one building survives, but then fails when another failing building crashes into it (this was the case in Mexico City in 1985).  In the 1985 quake, most new construction survived, but a lot of older construction buildings did not.  The 2006 Mexico City quake (6.0) saw no buildings collapses, and no reported deaths.  This is because in the last 20 years, Mexico has gone on an almost frantic seismic retrofitting program, with building codes as strict (and in some cases more strict) as those in California.

I can only hope that when they rebuild Aceh, they follow the 1971 Los Angeles and 1985 Mexico models, and require all buildings to be earthquake resistant.  This is opposed to the 1906 San Francisco model, where the codes were actually suspended, to allow quick rebuilding.  This came back to haunt them in 1989, when a lot of "historic" buildings failed.