California earthquake

[Mike Lewis]

Today's earthquake off Petrolia, California was offshore from the very isolated Mattole campground where I stayed in early March 2020. The campground is right on the coast and there are tsunami warning signs around. I worried about earthquakes when I was there and I'm glad I wasn't there today.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Today's earthquake off Petrolia, California was offshore from the very isolated Mattole campground where I stayed in early March 2020. The campground is right on the coast and there are tsunami warning signs around. I worried about earthquakes when I was there and I'm glad I wasn't there today.

https://www.tsunami.gov/?p=PAAQ/2021...4fk16/1/WEAK53

No Tsunami Warning, Advisory, Watch, or Threat
Earthquake:
Magnitude: 6.2Origin Time: 12/20/2021, 12:10:18 PM
Depth: 4 mi.Lat: 40.3° N Lon: 124.6° W
Location: 45 miles SW of Eureka, California

[George Johnson]

We live just outside of Fortuna, not far from the epicenter which preliminary reports say was 10 miles west of Ferndale.


I was in the garage standing on a ladder installing a new garage door opener when the quake hit. At our location, we had a couple of sharp jolts that knocked a few pictures off the walls and motivated me to descend the ladder and head out to the yard at a fairly rapid pace.


The quake lasted only a few seconds at our location. Had the quake lasted longer, it would have done considerably more damage. No tsunami alert was issued, and the public service earthquake warning came over my phone within 30 seconds after the quake ended.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by George Johnson

I was in the garage standing on a ladder installing a new garage door opener when the quake hit.

One of the places I would not want to be during an earthquake is near a garage door spring. Given that, you are fortunate to live in such a beautiful area.

I hope to go back, and when I do I'll download that tsunami app. When I was at Mattole I was concerned that there would be an earthquake in Japan or Alaska and the wave would hit in the middle of the night and wash clueless me out to sea.

[Centex]

Tsunami Escape

Timely warning would be good

If camping near shore

[Mike Lewis]

Cold spring for camping
Worried about tsunami
Don't get me started

[Iowa Dave]

I don’t know much about tsunamis, here in Iowa we are tornado people, but I do like to learn especially about the earth. I heard a lecture once that was given by David Monk, the prairie monk, from Champaign Illinois. His talk was to be on prairie restoration. His first image on his presentation was a map of Australia.
His second was drawings of rock strata and next an illustration of the Tectonic plates. I thought to myself, How the Hell is he going to get to the upper Midwest and sewing seeds for Pale
Purple Coneflowers?. But he did and it was fascinating. From there we were inspired to renovate land we owned in the city to prairie plots for beauty, for pollinators and to save mowing time. Glad there was no major damage or loss of life from what I’ve heard on the news. We don’t need any more of that in North America this year for sure.
Iowa Dave

[John in Santa Cruz]

While I'm not sure about the Lost Coast, most of the 'tsunami warning' areas on the Humboldt County coast have a system in place with tsunami warnings, big sirens on poles that remind me of the old CD air raid sirens of the early cold war. When there was that massive M 9.0 earthquake in Japan that set off a Tsunami on the west coast about 10 years ago, we had like 14 hours warning here. That tsunami actually caused sufficient tidal surge in the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor to toss boats...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKviwV-ejEY

that was filmed from the Murray St bridge which bisects the harbor, lower harbor is all tall masted sail boats that don't clear the bridge, upper harbor is power boats and such that do clear the bridge. funny, the girl narrating the video SO sounds like my daughter, heh.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

While I'm not sure about the Lost Coast, most of the 'tsunami warning' areas on the Humboldt County coast have a system in place with tsunami warnings, big sirens on poles that remind me of the old CD air raid sirens of the early cold war.

I wondered about this when I was there. Petrolia is less than five miles away line-of-sight from the Mattole campground; I would have been able to hear a siren. The next time I'm in the area I will ask. It would help me to sleep better at Mattole.

[azjack]

The earthquake in Japan that John mentions was probably the one that caused us to be chased off a southern CA beach with our trailer. We were given an hour to leave and it took a couple of hours for an all clear and we returned and reset up camp. We heard the only wave action was up the coast.
AZjack

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Centex

Tsunami Escape

Timely warning would be good

If camping near shore

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Cold spring for camping
Worried about tsunami
Don't get me started

Escape stands waiting
But it is no travel now
Waiting and waiting

Ron

[emers382]

We spent some anxious moments late in the evening of Christmas 2004 and into Boxing Day morning knowing our son and fiancee as of a few hours were at a coastal resort in Malaysia. Fortunately they only had some heavy waves which washed away a few beach chairs. Also fortunate that they were not in Phuket Thailand where they had hoped to vacation, as there many were killed.

We'll always remember him when he called saying how his proposal had been "earth shaking," the tsunami having hit after they went to bed following a lovely dinner on the patio of their chalet where he proposed.

[Craiger]

A good friend from high school lives close to the epicenter of the California earthquake. He like me was raised in California this is something you get used to. My wife was raised in Iowa. She was used to tornado warnings and the parents ordering them down into the basement. If you're raised in Florida you were used to the hurricanes, whatever region we come from we all have mother nature getting upset with us at times. It's just how we react to her wrath.

[John in Santa Cruz]

last significant earthquake where i live in central coastal California was the 1989 Loma Prieta quake. something like 32 years ago.