Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish dropout bohemian.
When you drink the water, remember the river.
▼
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Quake
At 1 in the night, we had an earthquake! I actually did not know they occurred in the UK, I've never experienced one back in Denmark. It was a 5.1, biggest one on record here.
Biggest one since the 5.4 in 1984. That one I felt. There was another in 90 or 91, but I didn't feel that one.
I've heard conflicting reports all day, initial reports were a 5.3.
I've been in a few smaller ones around here, but have yet to experience a big one.
When I arrived in CA in '93 there was still a lot of debris left over from the Loma Prieta quake of '89. There were sections of the double deck freeway still not cleared in Oakland, and there were a few sections of double deck wreckage in San Francisco. The latter may have been from the subsequent removal of most double deck freeway in the Bay Area.
Around here most property damage in recent years seems to be from landslides rather than quakes.
Gosh darn, I too was surprised to know that earthquakes could happen in the UK! Itz an earthquake since the richter scale is 5.1 not a tremor as said by the media. BTW, were you, your house, and surroundings were affected after after the earthquake. Were their any damages found around your house? Please tell me.
"I think other areas was harder hit, I heard one guy thought there was a gas explosion in his street."
Areas built over soft ground often feel the effects in a much more pronounced matter, as the waves can have much more amplitude (think of a bowl of Jello).
Though jelly is a grade of jam like product (jelly (clear gel), jam (mashed/pulped fruit), preserve(mashed fruit), conserve(cut fruits)). In the UK we think of it as the clear gelatine fruit flavoured dessert. When we first of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches it was a disgusting concept.
Jelly = Jam. Well, I was told that Americans use the term jelly to mean jam. That isn't entirely true. It seems that Americans tend to use jellies more than jams. In Britian the jellies were the luxuary, not the norm. Socially the US jelly has the function of a UK jam. Grape jelly in CA seeming to appear with the frequency of strawberry jam in the UK.
This said, I concur that if you are on bedrock you feel quakes less, and insurance companies here reward you for the solidity of the ground you are built on. Indeed when buying a house it was a concern, and we did look at local geology.
Insurance is a strange thing. Here you get rewarded for having a house with a fire break and succuli in the garden. In the UK insurance premiums used to be highest for green cars. In the US car color is not a factor in premium price.
I was a driver, but not owner in the UK. I heard it oft said that colour impacted insurance. The following link shows that at least "Yes Insurance" don't use it as a factor.
This link has a page of factoids, looks like a robot gathered them.
This is a US site which breaks out UK research on color/personality.
Ah, here we go. Fool.co.uk and their research. It is color dependent, but only in some insurance companies.
The other factors I remember are post code where parked at day, and post code where parked at night. This is not the US 5 digit city/county zip, but the UK 6 character or 20 addresses zip code. The postcode correlates to crime rate, and regardless of on-street, driveway or garage the rate goes by post code.
Oh, and another crazy thing. Seems in California it is cheaper to buy a teenage kid a 10 year old car and have them as sole insured than to add them as part time user of the family car. This seems to hold true down to $25,000 worth of SUV/Minivan. I don't know if you add a teen to a Corolla.
Anurag said... "I too was surprised to know that earthquakes could happen in the UK!"
In theory, they can happen anywhere, because no place on Earth goes without moving. But in places where you see "balanced rocks", that have been there for thousands or millions of years, you can expect intense tremors to be extremely rare... I can confirm: the best kind of terrain to build on is bedrock, yabba-dabba-doo! Like Bert says, soft earth has catastrophic results on buildings when things get shaky. I got that reliable info from a professional civil engineer.
"nothing in my apartment fell down or anything."
You're lucky. 25 years ago, we had a force 4.3 shake, and my brother's flashlight fell from a high shelf and broke. The noise also broke our sleep. Oh, and this was our first earthquake, so of course we all went out of the houses. In the early morning. A weird memory, but no trauma at all. Except for that poor flashlight, may it rest in pieces... I mean, in PEACE!
Re. car color, I remember reading something about car color playing a significant statistic role in theft risk. Black or dark/bland colors are higher risk, and yellow is lowest. Also, if you have a red car, your probability of getting a speed ticket is higher, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY YOU DRIVE. Something to do with the image traffic cops have of red cars, I guess.
There is rumour the British police play traffic snooker. As you know, you sink red, color, red color until the reds are gone, then the colors stay in the pockets too. So every other arrest is a red car at the start of the game.
I'm shaken to the core! As they might say in Lebanon: "Is this rumour serious?" ;-) I mean, are you positive about that supposition? Is these mere hypothesis an established fact? Is that unproven implausibility an irrefutable irritation?
Bah, doesn't matter. News of the World will publish it regardless.
Biggest one since the 5.4 in 1984. That one I felt. There was another in 90 or 91, but I didn't feel that one.
ReplyDeleteI've heard conflicting reports all day, initial reports were a 5.3.
I've been in a few smaller ones around here, but have yet to experience a big one.
When I arrived in CA in '93 there was still a lot of debris left over from the Loma Prieta quake of '89. There were sections of the double deck freeway still not cleared in Oakland, and there were a few sections of double deck wreckage in San Francisco. The latter may have been from the subsequent removal of most double deck freeway in the Bay Area.
Around here most property damage in recent years seems to be from landslides rather than quakes.
Gosh darn, I too was surprised to know that earthquakes could happen in the UK! Itz an earthquake since the richter scale is 5.1 not a tremor as said by the media. BTW, were you, your house, and surroundings were affected after after the earthquake. Were their any damages found around your house? Please tell me.
ReplyDeleteAnurag
I haven't seen any damage around here, and nothing in my apartment fell down or anything.
ReplyDeleteI think other areas was harder hit, I heard one guy thought there was a gas explosion in his street.
"I think other areas was harder hit, I heard one guy thought there was a gas explosion in his street."
ReplyDeleteAreas built over soft ground often feel the effects in a much more pronounced matter, as the waves can have much more amplitude (think of a bowl of Jello).
Jello = Jelly as in Chivers.
ReplyDeleteThough jelly is a grade of jam like product (jelly (clear gel), jam (mashed/pulped fruit), preserve(mashed fruit), conserve(cut fruits)). In the UK we think of it as the clear gelatine fruit flavoured dessert. When we first of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches it was a disgusting concept.
Jelly = Jam. Well, I was told that Americans use the term jelly to mean jam. That isn't entirely true. It seems that Americans tend to use jellies more than jams. In Britian the jellies were the luxuary, not the norm. Socially the US jelly has the function of a UK jam. Grape jelly in CA seeming to appear with the frequency of strawberry jam in the UK.
This said, I concur that if you are on bedrock you feel quakes less, and insurance companies here reward you for the solidity of the ground you are built on. Indeed when buying a house it was a concern, and we did look at local geology.
Insurance is a strange thing. Here you get rewarded for having a house with a fire break and succuli in the garden. In the UK insurance premiums used to be highest for green cars. In the US car color is not a factor in premium price.
"In the US car color is not a factor in premium price"
ReplyDeleteYou cannot be serious when you say that the color of your car affects insurance premiums in the UK, no?
I was a driver, but not owner in the UK. I heard it oft said that colour impacted insurance. The following link shows that at least "Yes Insurance" don't use it as a factor.
ReplyDeleteThis link has a page of factoids, looks like a robot gathered them.
This is a US site which breaks out UK research on color/personality.
Ah, here we go. Fool.co.uk and their research. It is color dependent, but only in some insurance companies.
The other factors I remember are post code where parked at day, and post code where parked at night. This is not the US 5 digit city/county zip, but the UK 6 character or 20 addresses zip code. The postcode correlates to crime rate, and regardless of on-street, driveway or garage the rate goes by post code.
Oh, and another crazy thing. Seems in California it is cheaper to buy a teenage kid a 10 year old car and have them as sole insured than to add them as part time user of the family car. This seems to hold true down to $25,000 worth of SUV/Minivan. I don't know if you add a teen to a Corolla.
ReplyDeleteAnurag said...
ReplyDelete"I too was surprised to know that earthquakes could happen in the UK!"
In theory, they can happen anywhere, because no place on Earth goes without moving. But in places where you see "balanced rocks", that have been there for thousands or millions of years, you can expect intense tremors to be extremely rare...
I can confirm: the best kind of terrain to build on is bedrock, yabba-dabba-doo! Like Bert says, soft earth has catastrophic results on buildings when things get shaky. I got that reliable info from a professional civil engineer.
"nothing in my apartment fell down or anything."
You're lucky. 25 years ago, we had a force 4.3 shake, and my brother's flashlight fell from a high shelf and broke. The noise also broke our sleep. Oh, and this was our first earthquake, so of course we all went out of the houses. In the early morning. A weird memory, but no trauma at all. Except for that poor flashlight, may it rest in pieces... I mean, in PEACE!
Re. car color,
I remember reading something about car color playing a significant statistic role in theft risk. Black or dark/bland colors are higher risk, and yellow is lowest. Also, if you have a red car, your probability of getting a speed ticket is higher, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY YOU DRIVE. Something to do with the image traffic cops have of red cars, I guess.
There is rumour the British police play traffic snooker. As you know, you sink red, color, red color until the reds are gone, then the colors stay in the pockets too. So every other arrest is a red car at the start of the game.
ReplyDeleteI'm shaken to the core! As they might say in Lebanon: "Is this rumour serious?"
ReplyDelete;-)
I mean, are you positive about that supposition? Is these mere hypothesis an established fact? Is that unproven implausibility an irrefutable irritation?
Bah, doesn't matter. News of the World will publish it regardless.