A friend from my high school days now resides in Los Angeles, California. She is one of the only people we know personally that experienced the Northridge, California earthquake in 1994. She and my wife were corresponding on Facebook earlier and while we all agree earthquakes "suck" it got me thinking. What are the differences between what Ecuador suffered and Northridge? What about other countries? What magnitude was the biggest earthquake to date and where was it?
Now we are not people who believe perception is reality. 24 years in the corporate world could not drill that misinformation into our heads. Don't get me wrong. Perception is important and we must all use it but, it doesn't always tell the truth while reality deals exclusively in truth. If you do believe perception is reality then I challenge you to try a very simple experiment an engineer friend of mine clued me in on.
I am not responsible for any injury you may incur as a result of this experiment.
Get a strobe light and a floor fan. Plug the fan in and remove the blade guard. Turn it on high. Do the same with the strobe light though set the strobe at medium effect. Turn the lights off and observe the fan. Perception tells you it is not moving. Put your hand in the "space" between the blades.
I hope you still retain all your fingers and that you weren't injured.
Perception is an illusion; filtered. Reality is well, real. What people in Ecuador and Northridge are facing/faced is reality. Perception doesn't tell the whole story. That being said, here are some facts; some reality to help us both form some perspective:
Earthquaketrack.com is an excellent resource for tracking current earthquakes as well as reviewing related historical information.
Wikipedia provides sort-able lists of earthquakes by country or magnitude.
Excellent earthquake information is available from the USGS (United States Geological Survey).
Magnitude is not everything. Intensity and depth play a huge roll in determining an earthquake's effect.
There are different types of earthquakes/faults.
Earthquakes registering lower than 3.0 magnitude are generally not felt by humans.
Chile suffered the largest earthquake ever recorded at a magnitude of 9.5.
The 2016 Esmeraldas, Ecuador earthquake registered 7.8 in magnitude. The quake lasted about 1 minute. At the time of this post over 500 people have been confirmed dead and over 3000 injured. Though it is too early for a formal property damage estimate, it is expected to reach billions of dollars. The quake was felt throughout the entire country.
Ecuador suffered a quake almost as large as the 2016 quake in 1987. That quake registered 6.9. In 1942 a 7.8 was recorded in Esmeraldas, Ecuador. In 1906 Ecuador suffered its largest recorded earthquake which registered 8.8 in magnitude.
In 1994 California suffered the Northridge earthquake. It registered 6.7 in magnitude and lasted 10 to 20 seconds. It was felt as far away as Nevada.
The death toll from the Northridge, California quake was 57 with 8,700 injured. Property damage estimates ranged from $13 to $40 billion. The images of the Northridge, California quake look eerily similar to the images of the 2016 quake suffered in Ecuador.
Alaska, California, Montana, Wyoming, Hawaii, Idaho, South Carolina and Missouri have all suffered earthquakes ranging from magnitude 7.0 to 7.9 in recorded history.
At the time I began writing this post today there had been 47 earthquakes in the U.S.A in the past 24 hours. The U.S.A. has suffered 347 quakes in the past 7 days, and 23,340 in the past 12 months.
Chile, the U.S.A, Indonesia, Japan, and Russia (in order of magnitude from largest to smallest) have all suffered earthquakes registering 9.5 to 9.0 in magnitude in the past 100 years.
My wife and I have suffered more than our share of hurricanes and tornadoes in our lifetimes. Our career paths left us uniquely qualified to manage and live through disasters and we are very thankful for this. This was our first earthquake. We sincerely hope it is our last. For those who have asked; we have discussed it and we are not leaving to come home. Ecuador is our home now.
I promise we will continue our story within the next 24 hours. Chao!
Questions? E-mail us!
©2016 TJ & Tamera Overman, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ReUse by permission only.
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