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La Isla

Mar 20, 2012, 11:34 AM

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¡Temblor!

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Just got chased out of my apartment by a really strong and long earthquake, the worst I've ever experienced. It was quite a chore to get down the 3 flights of stairs to the street. I still feel kind of wobbly. According to the USGS, it registered 7.9 on the Richter scale! I hope everyone is OK.

bournemouth

Mar 20, 2012, 11:37 AM

Post #2 of 7 (3992 views)

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Re: [La Isla] ¡Temblor!

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See details here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0008m6h.php

La Isla

Mar 20, 2012, 11:50 AM

Post #3 of 7 (3983 views)

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Re: [bournemouth] ¡Temblor!

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In Reply To

See details here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0008m6h.php

Thanks for posting the link. I filled out the questionnaire which helped me to calm down.

esperanza

Mar 20, 2012, 6:14 PM

Post #4 of 7 (3935 views)

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Re: [La Isla] ¡Temblor!

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It was the worst earthquake I have ever experienced, too, and I was in San Francisco for the 1989 quake. Starting at 12.02PM CST, our 60-year-old building shook, rattled, and rolled at 7.9 on the Richter scale for more than two minutes. We had to gather up our dogs, grab their leashes, remember to take the house keys, and get down two flights of stairs, all the while the building felt like jelly shaking all around us. Our 8-foot-tall bookcases were swaying back and forth against the walls while things flew off the shelves and crashed around the room. We were just lucky that the bookshelves themselves and our thousands of books did not fall down. We lost--broken to bits--a few antiques, but fortunately we did not have any injuries. A window popped out of my office, firing broken glass onto the sidewalk two floors down as well as into my office, but the glass missed our many neighbors who were assembled outside.

Once we made it downstairs, the earthquake stopped but the aftershocks started. These continue right up until now--it's 7.10PM CST here.

La Isla, I think I'm going to go fill out that questionnaire, too. My knees have stopped shaking but I still don't feel really calm. Geez louise, this was a big one and very, very scary.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

La Isla

Mar 20, 2012, 6:49 PM

Post #5 of 7 (3924 views)

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Re: [esperanza] ¡Temblor!

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Esperanza, I´m sorry to hear you and Judy (and your doggies) had such a terrible time! It sounds like your area was much more strongly affected than my neighborhood in colonia Cuauhtémoc. As far as I know, there were no broken windows here, and while there was a lot of rattling of dishes and objets and my ceiling lamp fixtures were swaying like crazy, nothing fell off the shelves or broke. I felt just one strong aftershock and maybe a couple of little ones after that. By 2:00 things were back to normal here, and I was even able to hold class with one of my students in the evening. She told me she was surprised that I hadn't cancelled!

Things should be much calmer tomorrow, the second day of spring : ).

tashby

Mar 20, 2012, 7:39 PM

Post #6 of 7 (3913 views)

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Re: [La Isla] ¡Temblor!

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Glad to hear (so far) that everybody is okay, if more than a little bit shaken!

Here at Lake Chapala, I was in my Spanish class at 1pm and my tutor immediately mentioned that there had been an earthquake. (I hadn't heard about it at that point.) My teacher is from Guadalajara and said (in Spanish, of course!) that he doesn't know that much about earthquakes since they are infrequent here. I said (in Spanish, of course!), "Well, I'm from California and I DO know a bit about earthquakes." So he did a quick search on his laptop and showed me an article and I replied, "Wow. Yikes. That's the real deal...." At that time, the article said it lasted 50-ish seconds, but I told him "fifty seconds feels like an hour", etc.

We talked a lot about earthquakes today, with me frequently fumbling around trying to convert words from English to Spanish. Luckily, science-related words a really similar!

Again, glad everyone is okay, and hope that as further reports surface, they don't reveal that anything too horrible has happened to others in areas more at risk and/or closer to the center.

P.S. Apparently, some people noticed movement (chandeliers swaying, etc.) all the way over here.

Bennie García

Mar 21, 2012, 6:34 AM

Post #7 of 7 (3858 views)

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Re: [La Isla] ¡Temblor!

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Its great that things went well for most people in México but in watching the news reports that isn't the case closer to the epicenter. Many people lost their homes and as usual, they belonged to the poorer residents of the area. So thank your lucky stars and maybe consider giving a helping hand to those less fortunate. (Post not aimed at anyone in particular)

(This post was edited by Bennie García on Mar 21, 2012, 11:12 AM)