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Earthquakes

  
 
Leigh Monster loses its cool
05:29 / 25.12.06
So I live in the SF Bay area, which is about due for its centennial Huge Fucking Earthquake. The past four days, there have been four small earthquakes--a frequency which has never occurred in the 21 years I've lived here.

So I did a small spell to protect my home and loved ones, but I'm just a beginner, and I'm not sure I did it thoroughly enough to be effective. The day after I did it, my mother was putting some hot (but not that hot) food into a glass dish, and the dish suddenly cracked itself cleanly down the middle. I freaked out...I don't usually look for omens, and I wouldn't know how to interpret one if I saw it, but...I feel like there are signals being thrown in my face, and I don't know what to do about them, or if I'm just being paranoid.

Any thoughts?
 
 
EmberLeo
05:54 / 25.12.06
As a fellow (and native) Bay Arean, my immediate thought is are you prepared? Do you have what you need (educationally, and materially) to survive the quake itself?

Just off the top of my head, I remember that ifrastructure and architectural damage were most of what failed for individuals in 1989 (major damage was to civil works, which aren't in your power to fix). Do you have what you need to survive for a while if roads are out, power is out, shops are shut, and your gas has to be shut down? Does anything in your home need bracing, latching, reinforcing, or otherwise?

Fires are what made the 1906 quake nasty for San Francisco - with mains broken, there was no pressure for the hoses. Are you prepared to put out a small fire? Are you prepared to bug out in case of a big Fire?

I know none of this is magical advice, but magic isn't likely to help you much with massive forces of nature if you aren't prepared on a practical level. On a spiritual level, I'm planning to offer Loki a bit of something nice, in the hopes He calms down a little, but I'm well aware that it won't stop Him for a second if He's itching for a serious twitch.

--Ember--
 
 
Leigh Monster loses its cool
06:24 / 25.12.06
right...i get the practical physical aspect of it, and i figured it would just be stupid for me to try anything involving warding off an earthquake itself. just. i'm a little confused about why everyone isn't running away. you can have all your exit routs and doorframes and water bottles and fire extinguishers, but like you said, if it's going to happen...when all's said and done there's not much you can do. I'll just feel stupid if my house crashes, bursts into flame, kills me and all my family, and then God is like, well I did crack that fucking dish for you didn't I.
 
 
EmberLeo
08:52 / 25.12.06
Where would you suggest we all move to? Where does nature not have a way to destroy your home if it's going to? If it isn't earthquakes, maybe it's hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, tidal waves, volcanoes, what?

*shrugs* I think people tend to get comfortable with the particular brand of Natural Disaster they're used to.

--Ember--
 
 
*
17:31 / 25.12.06
Hey Baybelithers. I grew up in Florida dealing with hurricanes and now I'm in the Bay Area dealing with quakes. Here in Florida (I'm home for the holidays) I sometimes used the works to ward off the secondary effects of the storms, but the storms themselves I always considered too big to tamper with. Still, if I got through a hurricane without trees falling on the house or serious flooding, I considered that pretty successful.

In the Bay I'm taking much the same approach to dealing with quakes: When I'm dreading them, I know I'm warning myself to do more to prepare. I do the physical things, like checking the quake kit and clearing away potential flying object hazards. I do some work on fire prevention physically and magically. Something I've been doing lately is talking to the fault— I'm about 70 ft from the Hayward faultline. We're still in the early stages of establishing a relationship, and I'm not going to convince it to do or not do anything that isn't natural, but I'm hoping I'll get a few seconds' warning before something big. This isn't really an opportunity I ever had with the storms— they move, so I didn't get the chance to build a relationship with them. I like that about the Bay Area, although I miss being able to see the danger coming a day or so in advance.
 
 
invisible_al
22:15 / 25.12.06
Do something positive, put together a pack of 'useful stuff' like Radios, spare batteries and the like...

In fact check out the Federations of American Scientists much much better recreation of the Govts Ready.org site, ReallyReady.org. God bless interns .

Also the Red Cross have some good info and a Earthquake kit colouring book .

Once again not really magical advice, but if you're spotting warning signs it's best to be prepared. And it might also pay to get to know you're neigbours a bit better , so its a good opportunity to say hi.
 
 
Leigh Monster loses its cool
23:30 / 25.12.06
thanks all.

talking to the fault? what does that entail?
 
 
*
12:49 / 27.12.06
I tend to be more auditory than visual a lot of times, so where someone else might, say, imagine that they can see where the problems on the fault are and how bad the pressure is, I am more likely to ask it to tell me. All psykikly, like (that is, I don't tend to go to the site and shake a rattle and chant, I just kind of sit down wherever I am and think at it and listen in my head and all.) But I need more time to build a relationship and I'm just now getting around to establish that, unfortunately. Also, at the moment I'm in Florida, which makes me feel less comfortable trying to have these conversations.

Looks fairly quiet these last two days, according to USGS. I hope those shakes released the necessary pressure for awhile and things will be quiet for a couple of months.
 
 
calgodot
17:53 / 27.12.06
I'm an LA resident, and have similar worries. I've also lived through a couple of minor (4.0ish) quakes, a few tornadoes, two floods, and one bad-ass snowstorm which took out power and trapped us for 3 days. Thankfully we had plenty of food, firewood, and whiskey.

EmberLeo is right on the money: prepare yourself. The very first and basic step is the "earthquake preparedness kit." Get yourself a nice, sturdy, fireproof and waterproof storage container (with a strong handle for carrying) and stash fresh water, dried foodstuffs, batteries, medical materials, and other emergency essentials. Gun and ammo if you're so inclined. If you have pets, keep the carriers handy (i.e. not in storage or the garage) - if the quake is big and people are evacuated by officials, they will not likely allow pets who are not in containers.

Why don't people run? First, as has been mentioned: go where? Sacramento? Second, consider Katrina: days of warnings were issued. Officials strongly suggested people leave on their own before a mass evacuation was called. Many did leave, but many others were unable or refused. A category 4/5 storm was just hours away and people stayed put. Ditto the eruption of St. Helen's - people stayed, and died. There's something about human nature - deep down inside I think we all feel the home, the cave, is the safe place to be. I mean, ask yourself: why aren't you fleeing?

As to the magic and omens: scientists have given you far better warning signs and omens (things to watch for) than a cracked dish. I don't intend to demean the cracked dish (in fact, as omens from the gods go, that's a pretty clear one), but everything you need to know about earthquakes and how to survive them is out there. Educate yourself, and prepare for the worst while hoping/praying for the best.

Additionally, Ravishing suggests correctly: among many geologists, those tremors are considered "good things," likely relieving the tensions which build up and might lead to "the Big One." Think of it as stretching a rubber band: keep stretching and eventually it breaks, but relieve the tension every now and then, and you can keep that rubber band taut for a long time. Of course, eventually it snaps. Which is why you have the earthquake kit.

Finally, fear of "the Big One" is mostly media-inspired. (Even defining "the Big One" begs several questions: does "big" refer to the Richter measurement or the resulting damage?) As a former student at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, I know a lot of geologists. While they agree that SF or LA could, and likely will, some day experience another 5.0 or larger quake, the chance of reasonably predicting that event is approaching nil. Living in fear of "the Big One" is much like living in fear of the Rapture or Armageddon: it's more superstition than science.
 
 
nyarlathotep's shoe horn
18:55 / 27.12.06
good advice all

I'm living in Vancouver, where the residents are ill-prepared for the expected big one (earthquake that is).

keep an eye on the position of the Moon relative to the Earth (as opposed to the phases). The Old Farmer's Almanac lists the Moon's position. When the Moon is at the highest point in its orbit, it begins a period of 5 days when the Northern Hemisphere is more likely to experience earthquakes.

The same for the 1 day the Moon passes the Earth's equator, only the risk is to both hemispheres.

When the Moon is at the low point in its orbit, its 5 days of earthquake risk for the Southern Hemisphere.

Also, for Vancouver, there are the animal early warning systems. There are Crows all over this city. If they disappear one day, I'm leaving town.

Now that I'm prepared for Earthquakes, how do I prepare for the Olympics?

--nj
 
 
EmberLeo
19:46 / 27.12.06
While they agree that SF or LA could, and likely will, some day experience another 5.0 or larger quake, the chance of reasonably predicting that event is approaching nil.

That raises an interesting point: The two angles of magic I might be willing to put towards something like this are: Direct odds-based workings to increase the likelyhood of small and medium earthquakes and decrease the likelyhood of large earthquakes - that's iffy. I don't entirely trust my own judgement on this scale. --OR-- Offerrings towards applicable powers towards an exchange of that kind.

The Bay Area is pretty well prepared for a 6.0 in most places. It's getting into the high 6s and above that creates a serious issue. If the Wights of the Hayward fault specifically, and the various Earthquake powers in general are in a position to shift one thing at a time, and make some 4-6ers instead, I'm all for it. They may be a bit alarming, but they don't wreak anywhere near the kind of damage of a 6.9/7.1 like in 1989 or a 7.7 - 8.3 like in 1906.

--Ember--
 
 
Leigh Monster loses its cool
00:33 / 28.12.06
i suppose i haven't left because, being sort of just a kid, i'm not in a position to force my whole family to evacuate. i leave the country in a week or so, so if nothing's happened by then, it's more everyone else i'm worried about.

a friend of mine told me that if i'd already prepared an earthquake kit, then i should stop thinking about it--she said that by worrying about it i was encouraging it to happen, and encouraging it to be worse than it needed to be.

by the way, thanks a lot, everyone. i'm new to barbelith, obviously, and this is the first online message board thing i've posted to. i was kind of scared of getting completely shot down and trolled.
 
 
EmberLeo
19:39 / 29.12.06
she said that by worrying about it i was encouraging it to happen, and encouraging it to be worse than it needed to be.

Mmmm, this is potentially true if you've opened a working and haven't really disconnected yourself from the work. Proceeding to fret about the results and imagine the worst will push the results in that direction. I suspect, however, that the scale of the problem makes this not much of an issue in this case.

It's good advice for you, though - there's not a lot of point in worrying, because it won't change anything for the better once you're as prepared as you can be.

--Ember--
 
  
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