Calirornia- Are you OK?

[SailorBob]

Have not seen a post since the quake. I believe he is in Sonoma County. That is not too far from quake.

Hope all is well.

Bob

 

[California]

Hi! Thanks for your concern.

We were awakened by shaking like turbulence on an airline flight, rather severe then getting more harsh to a point where it would be hard to walk across the room. After 10~20 seconds it declined in intensity then ended.

We could tell instantly this must be a significant quake for somebody but not real close to us.

Nothing here was damaged. Light stuff moving location (chairs) or heavy stuff (refrigerator) are measures of earthquake intensity and we didn't have any of that. I'm 25 miles NW of the epicenter, nearer the coast. We didn't lose power. A touch-on lamp lighting up was one of the first things we noticed.

Earthquakes are dramatic but rare. The chance of an individual being harmed are pretty unlikely.

I'm sure everyone's seen the news photos of stores and wineries with everything tossed on the floor. But the only buildings with severe structural damage were built prior to the 1935 earthquake-resistant building code. Or were in that mobile home park where one home jumping off its jacks broke its gas line, causing three homes to burn. This is nothing like a midwest tornado that pulverizes everything. Rather, it is random damage scattered throughout the region.

About 1970 I was working as a carpenter and we got called out for a lot of home repairs after an earthquake. Most of this was re-taping sheetrock joints where flexing of stud walls had caused visible cracks. I think that will be needed in a couple of the homes pictured below.

Life goes on ... Here's a picture I saw that probably didn't make the national news.

 

[bcp]

I've often wondered how property lines are managed for surveys when corners may move closer or farther apart, or large amounts of land shift along a fault.

In the photo above, someones property is now an inch or two narrower than before.

Below, property has shifted sideways.


Bruce

 

[California]

I've often wondered how property lines are managed for surveys when corners may move closer or farther apart, or large amounts of land shift along a fault.

I was curious too so I went and looked it up. California has a formal procedure for landowners to negotiate an equitable new survey map and perhaps set new monuments, and then go before a judge for approval to record this map replacing the outdated one. Cullen Earthquake Act - 1972.

Seems to me that 'equitable' would be a negotiated land swap so each party ends with as much surface area as before. But perhaps a zig-zag line would be needed if there is a building etc in dispute. The judicial review is supposed to assure that the outcome is as fair as possible.

Is that photo from after the 1906 SF earthquake? I've read that there are some old fences up here north of SF that have a 9 ft offset!

 

[bcp]

The photo wasn't labeled, but probably later than 1906. Not much aerial photography then.

Bruce


PS: I did a Google search for the photo and found one with a caption.

"Rows of orange trees offset by 20 feet during 1940 Imperial Valley earthquake in southern California."

 

[California]

The photo wasn't labeled, but probably later than 1906. Not much aerial photography then.

No no no!

More precisely stated, an aerial photo made years later of an orchard planted before 1906 and still in cultivation at the time of the photo.

There were airports around here by the mid-1920's.


Heck a few of the trees in my orchard are about that old and are still in production.

 

[clemsonfor]

are we looking at the woman taking the picture there or the punk kid?

 

[California]

Or the Valley Girls admiring him? They remind me of when my daughters were that age. When their friends would arrive I would occasionally greet them with 'Here comes mischief!" And see the cutest smiles.

 

[flusher]

California:
Glad you're OK.

I lived in Orange County for 14 years. The Northridge quake felt like it was right under me (the epicenter was actually about 60 miles away). Messed up my office at work pretty good.

Life on the fault line--mostly heavenly except for occasional moments of sheer terror.