Earthquakes and your farm/homestead or garden!

[Gaz]

Two years ago we were shaken by an earthquake in Maine.....not a big one, but as a geologist I would tell you that Maine is NOT a place that gets a lot of quakes. I was asked by the local school to come the next day and talk about earthquakes and what people can do to be safe.

I thought that it might be good information for everyone to know...and what they can do on their place (or even when they are away in a more 'earthquake' zone).

Here it is: http://www.almostafarmer.com/earthquakes-and-your-farm/

Let me know what you think? Is this useful?

Gaz
www.almostafarmer.com

 

[baymule]

I don't have earthquakes, we get hurricanes. The one good thing about hurricanes is we get notice they are coming. If in low areas--RUN! if on high ground--hunker down with plenty of food and water. Best to have cash too.

 

[curly_kate]

I'm in a zone where we get little ones from time to time. There was only one time that I actually felt one - I thought it was a train passing by at first. Apparently, if there's "the big one" on the New Madrid fault, we could end up with real damage. Tornadoes are a more common risk here. We just try to be prepared for disasters in general - food, water, and cash on hand. Oh, and lots of batteries!

 

[Carol Dee]

Like @curly_kate we have had a few small tremors. Only remember the one from when I was a teen and the bottles on my vanity danced! Flooding and tornados are a much bigger threat. We are not in a flood plain. (Thank Goodness) But have had some very close misses with tornados. We try to stay prepared. Emergency radio, batteries, etc..

 

[britesea]

I grew up in California-- earthquakes, most of them, were something of a yawner. I only remember a few as being doozies. I have one exception to your article suggesting running to an interior doorway-- NOT a good idea if you are in a double wide mobile home as many of the doorways will lie close to the split, which could be a weak spot- allowing debris to fall in on you.

If you are a home canner and you live in an area where earthquakes are possible, you need to take special precautions to make sure all your food will make it through the tremor. Depending on the type of earthquake, it might shake things side to side, or up and down. Any of those actions could cause your mason jars to break and ruin all your hard work.
There are cool plastic cases that isolate each jar and protect it--- and they will cost you an arm and a leg if you have more than a couple of cases of food put by. The best idea I ever ran across was to make a sleeve for each jar out of bubble wrap and then put them into a cardboard box that they fit snugly into. Use more bubble wrap or newspaper to pad both the top and the bottom. Then store them on shelves that have a lip that will keep the boxes from jiggling their way off the shelf and onto your pantry floor. Finally, bolt the shelf unit to the wall.
I know this isn't as pretty as all those jewel-toned jars lined up on your pantry shelves... but it's a whole lot prettier than the mess on the floor of said pantry after a good-sized quake.

 

[baymule]

@britesea in describing the mess on the floor, you sound like you know from experience......

 

[digitS']

@Gaz , your timing is good. The USGS new earthquake maps are making the news (LINK).

I had no idea that Arkansas and eastern Missouri were at such high risk. And, Charleston, South Carolina ..!

I've lived nearly my entire life in 4 of the 16 states with highest earthquake risk. I've learned that people react differently to things like this, or any sort of natural disaster.

My grandmother lived out her final years in California. We were advised not to even mention "earthquake" to her. I've been awakened to an earthquake and, upon figuring out what it was, turned off the light and fallen immediately back to sleep.

The last earthquake I was in, my immediate response was to think, "Better call the police. A truck must have hit the building!" Well, we couldn't find any damage.

Our truck driver for years where I worked, crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge the morning before it collapsed in an earthquake. I'd never seen him so upset. He quit his job!

I'm not sure about me. I have found wildfires to be a very unpleasant fact of life where I live.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I have experienced a minor earthquake here in south-est, central-est Wisconsin. About 40 years ago we awoke to hear the train passing nearby and some sewing pins rattling in a glass bowl on the dresser. The nearest train track was about 8 miles away so it wasn't a train.

My MIL had a few nick-nacks fall off the shelves on her wall and Dad had a window crack. While they are rare around here, there was an earthquake in the early 1800's a bit to the south that caused the Mississippi River to flow north for a short while.

 

[ninnymary]

Britesea, I've experienced numerous earthquakes and I wouldn't call any of them a yawner. Each one of them is always scary to me, expecially the strong ones.

I was at the parking lot to see the Giants in the world series during the 1989 quake. I was still inside my Tahoe when I thought someone had grabbed my rear bumper and was shaking the car. I looked out and the entire parking lot had cars that were jumping! My husband was already in the stand and fortunately for me I was not alone but with my father in law. I had the foresight to reach a friends house in S.F. a couple hours later and my husband also had the foresight to go there. It was a nightmare getting back home to the east bay because the Oakland bay bridge had collapsed. In the meantime our children were at my sister in law's house and we could not communicate with anybody to see how they were.

Mary

 

[Gaz]

I have been in a few larger quakes when in Hawaii....the largest being 4.8 M. It was very unnerving!

Up here in Maine it came in the evening. The kids were in bed and we were just lying around watching TV. I heard it coming like a low flying jumbo jet....after a second I knew what it was. I said to Jen..."its an earthquake"...she looked at me blankly and then the cottage started to shake...just for a few seconds (but they seemed like the longest seconds on the planet). It was the first one she had ever experienced...and it was unsettling.

However...compared to being on tornado watch in Colorado and hiding in our crawl space etc, they do not scare us as much!

Moving to Maine was, in part, to get out of the tornados. We had one skim our farm. It was 1 mile wide and plowed on for 35 miles. We watched funnel clouds touch down from our front porch. We were scared on them...and I mean terrified.