How often do you feel earthquakes in/around seattle area? (Tacoma: apartment, insurance)

[franklin42]

Just wondering how often earthquakes are felt? Here on the Big Island of Hawaii we get them all the time(every day but not always felt where I am). Sometimes little tremors and sometimes some real movers. We had a pretty big one a couple of years ago that caused some major damage and for me to almost S*%# my pants! I'm from the northeast so cut me some slack! I guess I just want to know if it is a big deal or something people really don't think about on a daily basis. Thanks for any info!

[ElektroDragon]

I have yet to feel one since moving here last June.

[allforcats]

In and around Seattle, I've felt tremors maybe once every eight to ten years. Something like that. But it all depends on how close to the epicenter one happens to be at the moment of the quake, of course. There are various sources, spread around.

We do think earthquakes can be a big deal and the wiser among us always have up-to-date human nnd pet emergency kits in the proper locations. But I think no one thinks about earthquakes in terms of daily living, given their infrequent occurrence. They're not an expected event. I lived for many years in Tokyo where perceptible quakes occurred a minimum of once a week, and usually more often. There everyone had earthquakes on the first level of expectations, not on the last level as here.

[pw72]

OK, 1959-1990, I only felt one ('65) but I was only five years old. Wasn't there for 2001, but parents said they were in their car and didn't even feel that one! Conversely, in just two years in Anchorage (1996-98), I felt atleast five.

I think the moral of the story is quakes in Washington are not very frequent, but when they do come they can be big.

[franklin42]

Thanks! This is a great website to explore: Latest Earthquakes in the USA - Last 7 days

Amazing how often they occur(even if you can't feel them) all over the country!

[MaikeerinWA]

I definitely didn't feel this one:

Magnitude 2.9 - SEATTLE-TACOMA URBAN AREA, WASHINGTON (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Quakes/uw04121659.php - broken link)

I don't think I've ever felt one in my five years here. I felt just a few over a decade in the Bay Area. I missed Loma Prieta in 1989 down there and Nisqually in 2001 here.

Originally Posted by franklin42

Thanks! This is a great website to explore: Latest Earthquakes in the USA - Last 7 days

Amazing how often they occur(even if you can't feel them) all over the country!

[texastrigirl]

I haven't felt one in the almost two years I have lived here even though there have been a few tremors recorded. I have always been terrified at the thought of them having grown up in the Midwest but living in Texas during tornado season with no basement to go to cured me of that...because getting in bathtub with your two toddlers or hiding in a closet when 9 months pregnant is no fun either! So maybe I will take an earthquake? But in reality I only really think about it when I renew my homeowner's insurance or if I go deep, deep in parking garages in downtown Seattle or if I dare drive on the Alaskan viaduct. I did anchor my high reaching furniture pieces to the wall. My inlaws who live in the Bay Area and who have lived in Tokyo insisted I do it.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by texastrigirl

I did anchor my high reaching furniture pieces to the wall. My inlaws who live in the Bay Area and who have lived in Tokyo insisted I do it.

I anchored my furniture, too, after a decade of living in Tokyo, in an apartment in Capitol Hill and then in my home in Bellevue. I'm not sure -- and don't really care -- if the anchoring saved anything in the Nisqually quake, although a few items fell from my fireplace mantel that day. My intent was to ensure that a several-hundred-pound cabinet wouldn't fall on top of a cat walking by... I feel good that it's all anchored.

[jenlion]

Every time we drive on or under the Viaduct, we say, Please no earthquake, please no earthquake, please no earthquake... it's kind of a ritual/tradition now. I'll so NOT miss that when (if) it's gone.

[Yankees02]

SO cool I can't wait for one. Stand in a doorway?