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@catsalad Moved to Mexico City when I was 19 and experienced several, was always somewhat of a "cool" experience, the sound of the ground, the shaking, how my body felt literally shaken, the adrenaline. Then the September 19 2017 happened. I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of the buildings clashing against each other, the chaos, the fear in people's eyes, and seeing a building collapse in front of me. It was the longest and saddest walk home.

@catsalad
All.I felt was a thump in my back like I got shoved.
3.2 in Diamond Bar Ca.back.in.1990
One felt here in Maryland tecently was one big shove from a 4.8 in Jersey

@catsalad I was a teenager in Torrance in 1971, across the Los Angeles basin from San Fernando during the earthquake that year. It woke me up and my first thought was, "Earthquake! Save the cats!" I don't remember them bring disturbed by it, but then again I don't remember my parents bring disturbed by my logic that they could take care of themselves but the cats couldn't.

@catsalad Only been through three or four small ones. Our cat sat quietly swaying. The humans exited our wooden house on piers. Cat sat on walkway just swaying.

@catsalad i've enjoyed all mine. i've had one in the office (13 floors up) that was long/strong enough for us to all actually bother getting under our desks about it. our building is designed to move so... it really moved 😅 some coworkers were legit screaming. they needed looking after for a while.

short ones are over as soon as you realise they happened. like a truck hit the house or someone slammed a door that isn't there.

there's a moment when a short one becomes a long one, and you realise you simply have no control over what will come next. the world is moving. the house is shuddering like a car on a rough road or a learner is driving stick shift. so... you can either go with it or freak out.

the last super long "at home" one i remember, about 2am, i got up to check on my eldest across the hall, he was playing a DOTA or LOL ranked game so he was just riding it out, one hand on his monitor to stop it falling over like a rodeo star 🤣 unphased

@catsalad if they're mild (in the 2's say), you might think a big truck just drove down your street -- rumble and rattle.

@catsalad it depends on a bunch of factors:

What kind of building are you in
What kind of soil is it on
How big the earthquake itself is
How far away you are from the epicenter
What kind of terrain is between you and the epicenter

I've experienced a wide range of all of the above factors. The closer you are, the sharper the movements are. Being on fill or a dry lakebed is the worst, because it tends to magnify the movement; being on bedrock reduces it. Being in a modern skyscraper on higher floors really magnifies things, and the shaking can go on for several minutes, but it's more gentle swaying, albeit large motions.

But there's something scary and disorienting about terra firma no longer being so firma, regardless of the factors. Those other factors can make it scarier, of course, particularly if the quake is very large.

@catsalad they precog it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmOmIrsZQk0

@catsalad I've never been in with in one with cats, but when I was in I slept through but my dog didn't any he shit on my bed and the smell woke me up

@catsalad had a little one a decade ago, or so (the kind that just rumble the walls a tiny bit like a heavy truck passing by, only stronger and lasting much longer). The cats soundly slept through, not giving a single fuck.
Birds outside went dead silent in the minutes preceding it, then loudly nervously peeped for a while after it was over.

@catsalad I've found it to be kinda like that feeling after you have been on an ocean ship for a long time then go back to solid ground, the ground and your legs just don't cooperate.

My first earthquake I found to be rather terrifying as a child cause the ground I had always trusted to be stable, wasn't. Through experience after that (living in California and Japan), it has really just become a non-issue.

For my cats...they just don't really care, though sometimes it seems they might know of earthquakes beforehand. Hard to tell if they are just hiding due to being cats, or hiding since they knew an earthquake would come, or not caring at all. I mean, they are cats! 😅

@catsalad I’ve experienced 3 minor quakes: one in Fresno, CA; the 2011 Virginia quake I felt in the office in charlotte, NC; and a small one in New England. My first thought for all of them was “Is that a semi rolling along?”, followed by “an earthquake?? Cool!”.

I’m sure if any of them had been anything remotely major, I would’ve freaked out

@catsalad I found it a very fascinating experience. Was in Japan for 10 days and had three bigger ones. First one on my first night. Just went to bed to sleep and it felt as if someone was dancing on my matress till I opened my eyes and saw the frames on the walls waving along to the shaking 🤣 my friend told me the dangerous ones are the ones jumping up and down. The one we felt was shifting from side to side so not dangerous 🤪

Another one hit while in was in Tokyo in a skyscraper shopping center. The clothes started swaying and the whole fucking building swayed under my feet. The japanes people didn't even pause or stop walking/talking because it's an everyday occurance ☠️🫠

Edit: no experience with cats xD

@catsalad

depends. for me, it's usually "wtf?....oh"

the cats only really care if it's a larger than usual one.

@catsalad its always confusing at first