Earthquakes question? (Port Angeles, Pacific, Forks: earthquake, live, food)

[mrslovettstailor]

Thanks. We actually had an earthquake here in Michigan something like 4-6 months ago? You could only feel it down south, like detroit area.

[FeelLikeARollingStone]

I tend to be more aware of the minor earthquakes more than most people, and have them confirmed by news reports later. They were more common in Southern California. I lived there for a couple of years, and would notice two or three a year, but none of them were a big deal. A little shake, then nothing more. Thunder storms are more impressive.

We had a minor earthquake a few weeks ago here in Thruston County, WA. There was a little bit of wind blowing that day, then there was a stronger gust that shifted the house a bit. It seemed as though it came from a different direction than the other wind. When I asked my sons about it, they said they hadn't noticed anything unusual; but when I thought to check it out on the USGS site the next day, it turned out that there had been an earthquake centered at the south end of the county. The thing is, we live in a mobile home on blocks; if our house had a regular foundation I may not have noticed the quake at all.

So, that's what the little quakes are like--no big deal. I've been through a couple of medium ones, and they were a bit more impressive, but nothing like I imagine a tornado to be like. Now that's what I worry about!

[Skwink]

The last big quake was in 2001 if I'm correct. It was fairly large, and in Grays Harbor (just under Olympic Pen.) it literally made waves in the ground.

Funny part was that MJH, our Middle School, had a Earthquake drill that day!

[FeelLikeARollingStone]

I was living out of the area at that time Swink and missed that one, but there was one that happened in the Willamette Valley that I remember well. It was the middle of the night, and I woke up only to notice that the house was moving as though it were a boat on waves. What an experience!

[cjg5]

That 2001 Nisqually quake sure was something. Been through a number of earthquakes growing up here in Seattle, but that was by far the biggest one. Hasn't really been one worth mention since, just small stuff you either barely feel or just don't feel at all.

I remember for a while there we were having about one good earthquake per year it seemed like. I remember the first earthquake I ever went through. Earlier that very same day, I had gone with my dad and grandfather to an outdoors show at the Kingdome. We parked under the viaduct and as we were walking towards the Kingdome my dad said "let's hope there's not an earthquake while we're parked there!" There wasn't, but later that night after we were already back home there was!

[silverfox]

The Nisqually quake was bad in Olympia proper but my wife and I were walking on the hi school track in north Lacey just 10 minutes from where the major damage was, and it was no big deal. No damage or trace of damage anywhere near us that we could find. We just paused a moment and it was over. A lot depends on what the ground under you is like.
We live in Sequim now and have not felt anything in the 6 years we have been here.

[mrslovettstailor]

Thats nice to know since we will be in Port Angeles And I was reading that some people think in the event of a Tsunami that Dungeness spit and Ediz hook would help to diffuse some of the damage because the waves would break there first Though not too worried about it either way, but my husband kind of gave me the raised brow look after this Japan thing so I looked it up.

[cjg5]

Sequim and Port Angeles didn't even feel the 2001 Nisqually quake? Wow.

I remember back in the very late 90s or possibly very ealry 2000s I was awaken by a quake at my Uncle's house in Belfair. Not a huge quake but the shaking seemed to last a while. It was centered near Satsop. Didn't feel that one either? What about any of the other handful of quakes that hit in the mid through late 90s around here? Seemed about once a year at least for a while there....

[Mic101]

I grew up in Southern Cal (Orange County)and have thus experienced my fill of earthquakes. Have now lived in PA for over twenty years. I love it. But . . . . I live on Mt. Pleasant . . . for a very good reason . . . I don't like tsunamis!! Been there, done that, enough already!! Mic.

[rainforest338]

I have yet to feel an earthquake on the Olympic Peninsula. I know they are happening because I can see them on the USGS USA-Earthquake map. Occasionally they happen within a mile of me when I'm out in the forest, but I don't know until I see the map later. As for tsunamis, I think it is difficult to say what to expect. I was on the coast by the Hoh River when the tsunami from Chile hit and it was maybe a few inches higher than normal, the wave receded way much more than normal though. The tsunami from Japan only made about a 1 foot change in the are I could see near Sequim, but once the water funnels into the bays/harbors it can build up differently. Dungeness Spit/Ediz Hook would likely take most of the beating, out of the wave; but the bluffs would likely take the rest before it could get near the towns--which might just funnel even more to a few low areas like the Elwha reservation or the town of Dungeness. But next to the spit the bluffs are 60-70 feet high (or a little more), so it would really require a monster wave to come over the spit and then the bluff.