5.6 Earthquake in San Jose, felt in Modesto?

Mallory and I were in San Fransicso this evening watching Mike Birbiglia perform live when the supposid earthquake hit. It was a 5.6 magnitude but we felt nothing. We were at Cobbs Comedy Club which is right off the Embarcadero, on the other side of the water is San Jose, ok like 25 mins away but still much closer then Modesto. Everybody in Modesto that I have talked to said they felt it, we didn’t. I feel robbed of another potential exciting moment. I will admit while driving on the bay bridge home I was a bit nervous. Those of you my age and older will remember why (see below).

With information so available I decided to look up the last big quake which I remember well. It was named the Loma Prieta Earthquake which was on October 17th, 1989 and was a 7.1 magnitude. I was 9 years old and watching the beginning of the World Series upstairs in my parents house. I remember the shaking happening, I walked over to the big sliding glass door and saw title waves 6 feet tall in our swimming pool. It was awesome and scary at the same time. That quake lasted about 15 seconds, the report on the web says between 15-20 seconds long.

On April 18th, 1906 San Francisco experienced a 7.9 magnitude earth quake that lasted 50-60 seconds. Here is a documentary video on it.

When Google searching “Quake in San Francisco” the first thing that came up was an article about the quake earlier this evening, I thought it was weird that the website reporting it is a Canadian website. I guess they are faster at reporting the news and getting Google’s attention then we are. After checking my Twitter account I noticed that the Modesto Bee did an article as well.

If you were not around for the 1989 quake, this is how it felt:

Here is some stuff I found about past quakes in our area.

Up close video from on the bridge after it collapsed.

A video of a crash that happened minutes after the collapse.

Video of the Bay Bridge after it collapsed.

Several Images from the aftermath of the 1989 quake.

Guy who wrote an article on the 100 year aniversary of the 1906 quake.

What is the Richter Scale?

The Bay Bridge collapsed onto it’s lower level.

The Cypress Viaduct in Oakland was extensively damaged in the 1989 earthquake.