Yessiree folks we had an earthquake in st.louis!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

:47: I honestly thought I was dreaming during the first one since it happened at 4:30 in the morning. I woke up and the bed was shaking and I heard rumbling and the house was kind of vibrating as well. I thought dh was shaking the bed in his sleep but when i reached over he was still. By the time i fully realized what was going on it was over. Still scared the pijebbers out of me. The aftershock was about a 4.5 on the scale and that happened at about 10:15 am. Ds and I were napping and I knew what was happening when i woke up. More pijebbers lost.

I've never felt a quake before. Verrry scary. Oddly enough, nothing fell off any shelves, the animals acted fine and the children slept through the first one and dd didn't feel any of it at school. I hope it's all done now. Although someone said today-"I think I've had enough sleep for this life, maybe I can stay up forever."

[newmomto1]

:47: I honestly thought I was dreaming during the first one since it happened at 4:30 in the morning. I woke up and the bed was shaking and I heard rumbling and the house was kind of vibrating as well. I thought dh was shaking the bed in his sleep but when i reached over he was still. By the time i fully realized what was going on it was over. Still scared the pijebbers out of me. The aftershock was about a 4.5 on the scale and that happened at about 10:15 am. Ds and I were napping and I knew what was happening when i woke up. More pijebbers lost.

I've never felt a quake before. Verrry scary. Oddly enough, nothing fell off any shelves, the animals acted fine and the children slept through the first one and dd didn't feel any of it at school. I hope it's all done now. Although someone said today-"I think I've had enough sleep for this life, maybe I can stay up forever."


Yep!!
Pretty wild!
Actually, I think I would've slept through it, but DH woke me up yelling "Wake up!!! EARTHQUAKE!!!!".
Freaked me out!!!!!
Just not something you expect to hear from DH when you live in STL!
Then, he proceeded to wake the kids & he put us all in the bathroom. THEN said, "I don't even know if we're supposed to BE in the bathroom". Obviously, we had no idea what you do in a quake situation. And, I was too tired to think about it. I just followed along like an obedient puppy :P
We had all kinds of fun trying to put the kids back to bed.
Crazy night!

[shilo]

THEN said, "I don't even know if we're supposed to BE in the bathroom".

so if you're indoors, in general, you want to minimize your movements during the actual quake as much as possible. they say on the news here that many injuries happen when people are moving inside a building (trying to get out usually) during the quake. easier said then done when your mommy/daddy instinct is to get to your kids.

if you're inside, the safest thing to do is to duck and cover under the closest piece of large, sturdy, stable furniture/table or a doorway you know is a load-bearing/reinforced doorway (main doorways between a room and a hall usually are, doorways between a room and a bathroom or closet often aren't, iirc). to brace yourself in a doorway, we're taught (in elementary school) to stand with your feet or legs or butt (depending on how tall you are) braced against one side of the doorway with your hands reaching out to the other side with your arms up as high as you can get them around your head/ears. once you're ducked and holding on under the table or braced in the door way, try to cover your head - pillow, sweatshirt, arms if you've got nothing else. try to pick places in advance in your home that meet these criterion and are also away from windows and large bookshelves/cabinets (during loma prieta, all the magnetic closing cabinets in my parents kitchen flung open b/c of the direction of the 'wave' and all the plates and glasses started flying off the shelves) and you also don't want to be under any big light fixtures if you can avoid it.

if you're outside, try to duck and cover (protect your head) away from buildings, wires, trees and posts if you can. if you're driving when it happens, brake and pull over best you can again trying to be away from all the things listed above and not under a bridge or overpass. they say many people driving first feel an earthquake like they've blown a tire or their steering goes out and then realize that all of the other cars on the road are having the same problem.

anyway, hope that helps. STL was the site of a major-major EQ back in the 1800's, no? ETC: forgot quote, and my grammar s**ks ;)

lori

[Tondi G]

I remember reading something not that long ago about not getting under a table or in a doorway. First thought is to go to the doorway but thats not a suitable for more than one or two people. They discussed something called a triangle of life if a building is colapsing. Something about curling up and covering your head NEXT to a larger piece of furniture or the bed. Something about their being a pocket that is created just next to things like this /l . That said having lived in So Cal my whole life we've been awoken from equakes many times and I just stay in my bed till the rumbling stops and then get up, put on shoes/slippers (in case there is any broken glass from things falling) and check on the kids and pets. My kids have never woken up from equakes!

here is an interesting article

http://www2.bpaonline.org/Emergencyprep/arc-on-doug-copp.html