Great Earthquakes I Have Known: Quake #2, Coalinga 1983
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Coalinga, California, May 2, 1983, (6.5, Richter). Caedmonstia might remember this one. We were about 70 miles away from the epicenter. Her mother and I were in the kitchen, with at least one of the kids, and we leaped to stand in the doorway. However, once we were under the doorway, I kind of thought it was a fun little shake. This hit a more rural area than the 1971 quake, but there were six deaths and considerable property damage. Vicki later told me about an aftershock, but I had been driving in the car and didn’t feel it. Personally, we had no lasting effects from the Coalinga quake.
So, how big does an earthquake have to be for people to feel it? The seismological lesson is, folks seated or supine on stationary furniture will detect a smaller quake than people driving in a car.
5 comments:
I don't remember what year it was, but there was one when NaDache and Caedmonstia were little enough that when the quake hit, I pulled them out of the cardboard box they were playing in, hoisted them on my hip and ran to the doorway with them. And then there was the quake at Papa's house when the pool water was sloshing out alot and alot. But that time it was Slowlane and Drywash that were with me at Papa's.
I think you're remembering the Coalinga quake in '83. I remember that the Palm Springs area had some moderately big (4's or 5's)quakes during the years we visited there, but none of them stand out in my mind. I also remember the quake during church that Caedmonstia mentions, but it was probably only a high 3, or a low 4, and I don't remember what year it was. In this series, I'm sticking to the BIGGIES.
The one Drywash and Mom and I lived through was a BIGGIE. I think they had aftershocks that were bigger than 6.0
I think that was one of the summers that you guys came home and others of us stayed there. Perhaps it was this one?
I don't remember that one. I guess it wasn't traumatic enough... The first one I remember was during church in LML.