Re: Quake at Joshua Tree

David Crook (dcrook@commwerks.com)
Sat, 16 Oct 1999 12:53:32 -0700

I'm sure all the SoCal FoRKers felt it. People in Las Vegas felt
it. Still, for a 7.0 it was pretty mild, the olny reports of damage are
broken windows and the like in Joshua tree and a trail derailling out in
the desert as well as some blown up electrical transformers and downed
power lines in parts of LA. As of now there are 4 reported injuries and no
deaths. It was a long rolling quake (at least it felt that way in Long
Beach, I have heard that the type of ground you are on effects wether it is
a rolling wave or a more serious jolting, etc). The wierd part was the
total lack of coverage. Only a couple of the local news/talk radio
stations and CNN had any news about it all for almost an hour or
so. Everybody else on TV was still doing their normal infomercial
schedule. It lasted a LONG time though, the shaking seemed to go on for a
minute or so which is a long time for EVERYTHING around you to be
moving. There was some cool footage on TV with really bright flashes from
transformers going boom.

I have heard some people describe watching the Northridge quake a few years
ago from a high up vantage point. It was very early in the morning and
they could see the flashes followed by total blackout spreading across the
basin in a huge wave .

Dave

At 12:13 PM 10/16/99 -0700, Eugene Leitl wrote:
>Robert Harley writes:
> > Sounds like my favorite desert spot got pretty shaken up this morning!
> >
> > Did any FoRKers in SoCal feel it? The news is suggesting about 7.0
> > which is a bit more than the Northridge quake, so I suspect they did...
>
>You can bet we did feel it. The books didn't fall out off the shelves,
>but it certainly woke me up, and gave some adrenaline (it was my first
>one). Was thinking about getting out on the street, in case the
>afterquake would be serious, but went back to sleep. The afterquake
>was weaker than the original jolt.