[QUOTE=rgiltrap;121505]I was in a 12 story building during a fairly close 5.2 quake. It was the first building in Wellington built on the flexible rubber feet and stretching walls technology. The quake lasted for about 15 seconds but on the 10th floor it kept swinging on a couple of metres radius for about 5 minutes minutes before it stopped completely (extremely freaky!).

Can't imagine how much sway there would be on some of the skyscrapers.[/QUOTE]Current understanding is that when Los Angeles gets its "big one", most of the tall buildings in the downtown area will shed most of their glass windows.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;121570]Current understanding is that when Los Angeles gets its "big one", most of the tall buildings in the downtown area will shed most of their glass windows.[/QUOTE]I kinda thought the meaning of "big one" was it's ability to make the buildings shed their ability to stay upright.

[quote=rgiltrap;121505]I was in a 12 story building during a fairly close 5.2 quake. It was the first building in Wellington built on the flexible rubber feet and stretching walls technology. The quake lasted for about 15 seconds but on the 10th floor it kept swinging on a couple of metres radius for about 5 minutes minutes before it stopped completely (extremely freaky!).

Can't imagine how much sway there would be on some of the skyscrapers.[/quote]
Is the application of critical damping difficult to achieve in practice?

[QUOTE=xilman;117898]I believe your conclusion about the newsworthiness of UK tornadoes is correct --- very few of them kill anybody or cause massive damage.

I suspect the shantytown phenomenon, as you term it, is related to the newsworthiness angle too. Shantytowns tend not to be physically robust and individual dwellings tend to be close together. Consequently, a tornado strike is more likely to cause more damage to more properties and to kill or injure more people in a shantytown than it would in a more prosperous area.

Paul[/QUOTE]Another one today and only a few miles from here ...

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7164235.stm[/url]

Paul

[QUOTE=retina;121571]I kinda thought the meaning of "big one" was it's ability to make the buildings shed their ability to stay upright.[/QUOTE]
There is a projected 6.5-7.2 projected for a particular fault that runs NW-SE south of the city. This is considered LA's "big one". An 8.0 or greater on the San Andreas will have less effect on the city proper. (Akin to NYC vs. east LI)

We had a 5.2 earthquake in England last night. Biggest
for 20 years, and I actually felt the earth move for the
first time in my life!
David

And there was the largest earthquake in Norwegean history with in the last few days.....

Right up near the "Noah's Ark" seed bank.

Read about the UK quake in this morning's paper - now we just need an outbreak of the limey tornados Paul mentioned, and we'll have enough "phenomena not usually associated with the UK" material to chew on for a while.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;127162]And there was the largest earthquake in Norwegean history with in the last few days.....

Right up near the "Noah's Ark" seed bank.[/QUOTE]

I hope Noah's seed was undamaged...was any spilled that you know of?

5.4 in the Los Angeles area. Can't seem to get the site mentioned in this thread: [url]http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=6481[/url] to work.

I was home with my girlfriend when this most recent earthquake hit. I live near the coast in the South Bay, which is some distance south (and slightly west) of Los Angeles. We felt two or three fairly hard jerks at first and then a considerable amount of rolling motion. Initially, my concern was a glass covered large picture frame that hangs over the bed we were sitting upon. After looking at that and moving slightly away from it, we looked at the disposition of our cats (scared but not completely terrified) and then moved into a doorway. The event seemed to last 30 seconds or so. I am a native born Southern California resident and have been present for most of the earthquakes here but still felt more disturbed and uncomfortable than the motion alone warranted. After the motion ended, for several seconds I was unsure if it had in fact stopped; I had felt a bit of dizziness or motion sickness or some other heightened discomfort that I situationally slotted into that category.

All and all, this earthquake seems timed well to bring attention to: [URL="http://www.shakeout.org/"]http://www.shakeout.org/[/URL]
[quote]
The Great Southern California ShakeOut
November 12–16, 2008

The Great Southern California ShakeOut is a week of special events featuring the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, organized to inspire Southern Californians to get ready for big earthquakes, and to prevent disasters from becoming catastrophes.

These activities are based on the ShakeOut Scenario, a realistic portrayal of what will happen in a southern San Andreas earthquake.
[/quote]

I live about 15 miles from the epicenter. We had a few random things fall from shelves, but no real damage. For us, it started with a couple little jerks, then a few hard jerks, then about 20-30 seconds of gentle rolling motion. The cell phone networks were out for about an hour afterward, and the Cal State Fullerton campus closed for the day. There was no structural damage, but a number of windows broken, ceiling tiles broken, etc., on campus. Here's a nice photo of an aisle in the library stacks. This is one of MANY for them to sort out...

Greg