Elvis heard it coming.
I have a new hero: April Wortham. All I know about her is that she wrote the article below, and that she's a staff writer for the Tuscaloosa News. But anyone who could get these quotes and get them printed in a newspaper is worthy of a little bit of hero-worship.
I'm reprinting the article here because I don't know how long the News web site will keep it around, but you can read the original web page here.
Experts call temblor common for area
By April Wortham
Staff Writer
April 30, 2003
Thyme Randle thought he had escaped earthquakes when he moved to Alabama from California several years ago.
So when he woke in the early morning hours Tuesday to find his Northport apartment building trembling, he didn’t know what to think.
“I was asleep, and I felt a hard shaking like somebody was shaking my bed," Randle said. “I got up and I looked outside, because I thought it was a tornado or something, but the sky was clear."
Randle, who lives off Rice Mine Road, said he and his roommate made their way to the parking lot to investigate the tremors, joining curious neighbors who had wandered onto their balconies to scratch their heads.
“We were like, 'How could an earthquake happen in Alabama?’" Randle said.
Actually, earthquakes are common in Alabama, seismologists say, particularly in the northeast corner of the state where Tuesday’s 4.9 quake was centered. Most of the time, however, the earthquakes are too deep or too weak to be felt on the surface.
According to the National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology in Colorado, Tuesday’s earthquake was centered 5 kilometers below the surface about 15 miles northeast of Fort Payne near the Georgia state line.
Registering a 4.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake tied with a 1997 quake in Escambia County as the two strongest ever recorded in Alabama, said Bob Mink, deputy director of the Alabama Geological Survey located on the University of Alabama campus.
It was because of that 1997 quake, Mink said, that the GSA, the National Earthquake Information Center and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency in 2001 joined efforts to install a seismic monitoring station in Bibb County near Centreville.
Mink said a satellite linked to the Bibb County station immediately sent images to the GSA and National Earthquake Information Center Tuesday where seismologists set to work studying the dark scribbles that appeared on the page at 3:59 a.m.
Dorothy Raymond, head of the GSA geohazard section, said she and other geologists will now begin assessing the damage caused by the quake, which eventually will help them better predict earthquakes in the region.
Raymond encouraged anyone who felt the earthquake to visit the National Earthquake Information Center Web site at neic.usgs.gov to register their experience.
As of late Tuesday, thousands of people across seven states as far away as North Carolina had registered at the site, which will help provide researchers with data they need to supplement limited seismic recordings.
Don Hartley, spokesman for the Tuscaloosa County EMA, said the office fielded numerous calls from people reporting they felt the earthquake, but no damage was reported.
“It woke a bunch of people up in Tuscaloosa and Northport," he said.
“Most of what we’ve had so far is people calling, saying their dishes rattled in the cabinets or their pictures were hanging crooked on the walls."
In northeast Alabama, damages were limited to broken plates, some cracked foundations, scattered power outages, crumbling chimneys and several thousand crooked wall paintings.
Some thought the boom and rumble was a bomb, a gas truck explosion, a tornado, even terrorism. By the time the trembling stopped, fear began to give way to nervous laughter.
“The quake shook up the chicken shed so bad, they all laid scrambled eggs," said Jim Toler, joking over breakfast at a Waffle House restaurant near Fort Payne. “It bounced us pretty heavy."
The last earthquake in the region was Dec. 8, 2001, when a 3.9 magnitude temblor shook the Huntsville area. Georgia’s previous quake of this size was a 4.4 magnitude quake in Tyrone in 1964.
Terry Camp, the owner of a local Shell gas station, woke up and moved so fast that he cramped up his leg. His dog, a cocker spaniel named Elvis, started barking before Camp felt anything.
“Elvis heard it coming," Camp said. “It scared me -- I’ve never felt that sensation. It felt like something coming toward you, and then it made a big boom. ... We can laugh about it now that no one died."
So many people called the 911 emergency line that it was overloaded, and most calls didn’t get through, said police Chief David Walker. A few households reported they lost electricity, and the shaking caused some spring water to get muddy.
Residents said the earth moved anywhere from a few seconds to a full minute, including the mild aftershocks, which were described as being like a hard wind blowing against the side of the house. Many people were surprised by the thundering noise that accompanied the vibrations.
“My little boy thought the aliens were coming, and I thought it was a tornado," said Tonya Wells, a waitress at the Waffle House. “For me, it seemed like it lasted forever. I woke up yelling, 'Tornado! Tornado!' "
Resident Lorene Rochester at first thought the earth’s rumbling signaled the beginning of the end.
“I thought maybe Jesus was coming back," she said. “My sister called me on the phone to tell me about the earthquake, but by the time I reached up to answer it, it was on the floor."
I'm reprinting the article here because I don't know how long the News web site will keep it around, but you can read the original web page here.
Experts call temblor common for area
By April Wortham
Staff Writer
April 30, 2003
Thyme Randle thought he had escaped earthquakes when he moved to Alabama from California several years ago.
So when he woke in the early morning hours Tuesday to find his Northport apartment building trembling, he didn’t know what to think.
“I was asleep, and I felt a hard shaking like somebody was shaking my bed," Randle said. “I got up and I looked outside, because I thought it was a tornado or something, but the sky was clear."
Randle, who lives off Rice Mine Road, said he and his roommate made their way to the parking lot to investigate the tremors, joining curious neighbors who had wandered onto their balconies to scratch their heads.
“We were like, 'How could an earthquake happen in Alabama?’" Randle said.
Actually, earthquakes are common in Alabama, seismologists say, particularly in the northeast corner of the state where Tuesday’s 4.9 quake was centered. Most of the time, however, the earthquakes are too deep or too weak to be felt on the surface.
According to the National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology in Colorado, Tuesday’s earthquake was centered 5 kilometers below the surface about 15 miles northeast of Fort Payne near the Georgia state line.
Registering a 4.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake tied with a 1997 quake in Escambia County as the two strongest ever recorded in Alabama, said Bob Mink, deputy director of the Alabama Geological Survey located on the University of Alabama campus.
It was because of that 1997 quake, Mink said, that the GSA, the National Earthquake Information Center and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency in 2001 joined efforts to install a seismic monitoring station in Bibb County near Centreville.
Mink said a satellite linked to the Bibb County station immediately sent images to the GSA and National Earthquake Information Center Tuesday where seismologists set to work studying the dark scribbles that appeared on the page at 3:59 a.m.
Dorothy Raymond, head of the GSA geohazard section, said she and other geologists will now begin assessing the damage caused by the quake, which eventually will help them better predict earthquakes in the region.
Raymond encouraged anyone who felt the earthquake to visit the National Earthquake Information Center Web site at neic.usgs.gov to register their experience.
As of late Tuesday, thousands of people across seven states as far away as North Carolina had registered at the site, which will help provide researchers with data they need to supplement limited seismic recordings.
Don Hartley, spokesman for the Tuscaloosa County EMA, said the office fielded numerous calls from people reporting they felt the earthquake, but no damage was reported.
“It woke a bunch of people up in Tuscaloosa and Northport," he said.
“Most of what we’ve had so far is people calling, saying their dishes rattled in the cabinets or their pictures were hanging crooked on the walls."
In northeast Alabama, damages were limited to broken plates, some cracked foundations, scattered power outages, crumbling chimneys and several thousand crooked wall paintings.
Some thought the boom and rumble was a bomb, a gas truck explosion, a tornado, even terrorism. By the time the trembling stopped, fear began to give way to nervous laughter.
“The quake shook up the chicken shed so bad, they all laid scrambled eggs," said Jim Toler, joking over breakfast at a Waffle House restaurant near Fort Payne. “It bounced us pretty heavy."
The last earthquake in the region was Dec. 8, 2001, when a 3.9 magnitude temblor shook the Huntsville area. Georgia’s previous quake of this size was a 4.4 magnitude quake in Tyrone in 1964.
Terry Camp, the owner of a local Shell gas station, woke up and moved so fast that he cramped up his leg. His dog, a cocker spaniel named Elvis, started barking before Camp felt anything.
“Elvis heard it coming," Camp said. “It scared me -- I’ve never felt that sensation. It felt like something coming toward you, and then it made a big boom. ... We can laugh about it now that no one died."
So many people called the 911 emergency line that it was overloaded, and most calls didn’t get through, said police Chief David Walker. A few households reported they lost electricity, and the shaking caused some spring water to get muddy.
Residents said the earth moved anywhere from a few seconds to a full minute, including the mild aftershocks, which were described as being like a hard wind blowing against the side of the house. Many people were surprised by the thundering noise that accompanied the vibrations.
“My little boy thought the aliens were coming, and I thought it was a tornado," said Tonya Wells, a waitress at the Waffle House. “For me, it seemed like it lasted forever. I woke up yelling, 'Tornado! Tornado!' "
Resident Lorene Rochester at first thought the earth’s rumbling signaled the beginning of the end.
“I thought maybe Jesus was coming back," she said. “My sister called me on the phone to tell me about the earthquake, but by the time I reached up to answer it, it was on the floor."
