A question for those who've been in earthquakes -

[hedgehog]

I only remember two that I've been in, both minor atypical midplate quakes in Upstate New York ( the theory is that the plate was depressed by the weight of the Ice Age glacier and still pops up from time to time.)

I recall a weird, almost subliminal low rumble. I haven't heard that on any of the video that's in circulation. I'm assuming the video doesn't pick up the noise and/or there was too much background noise from objects rattling and falling. So, my question is, is there a special sound that earthquakes make?

[somone]

1. Infrasound

It can be detected by many animals

[underseasurveyor]

14. Elephants for example

Hear those frequencies very well.

[SharonAnn]

20. I was in the Chile earthquake last year. What woke me up was the sound!

I was in a house in Santiago. I woke up thinking that a freight train was going past my bedroom window. Really! It was unbelievably loud and roaring. Like standing at a train station and the engine driving by right next to you. Maybe louder.

I asked resident here and they said that all the bad ones had that incredible sound.

I was told that it had to do with the sound cause by the plates rubbing together and sending the sound waves through the granite and that it carries fro hundreds of miles.

Anyway, that one I can tell you definitely had a very loud noise.

I've been in several in Chile since that were in the 6.5 - 6.9 range and I didn't notice any sound that I could hear.

[rabs]

27. Also in Chile

Lived through several earthquakes in Santiago in the 1980s.

If one was at ground level (like in a house) there was a deep rumble, and sometimes sounding like boulders coming down in an avalanche.

In 1985 Ms. rabs was with the children in a park outside her highrise (Torres San Borja) when a 7.8 hit. The rumbling was very loud, there was a huge cloud of dust and she could see the windows of the highrise, which was swaying, bulge out and then shatter. People were clinging to trees in the park.

As you know, there is an "earthquake culture" in Chile and magnitude 5 to 6 quakes are of "moderate intensity." It is when they get to 7 or above when they are taken seriously.

[roguevalley]

47. a groan? I think I've heard a groan. Animals feel and sense as

well as hear what we have forgotten how to do.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I have never heard the ground make a sound.

I have heard my house (a wood-framed one) creaking and groaning as the wave of earthquake came through it. One time, it was quite dramatic. Our bedroom was downstairs with most of the house above us, and in front. The house went down the hill, and we were in the back.

The quake wave came from the front, and I woke up to hear the front end of the house groaning; the rest of it made that noise as the quake progressed through.

I will never forget that.

[hedgehog]

8. I thought we'd had a very, very minor quake, then I noticed that indeed

all the picture frames were askew. Still very, very minor as these things go.

I've paid an extra $25 on my home owners for the last 25 years to cover damage from ground movement. The odds of a quake here are very low, but it's still possible for us to get a damaging quake. I'm on top of old lake bed (from when the glacier was melting and draining down what is now the St. Lawrence)) and glacial till, which I think can amplify the effects.

[liberalmuse]

3. I've been in a small one in Vegas...

Both my birds and my dog went nuts barking and tweeting several seconds before the shaking started, so there must be some type of sound or sensation they could detect.

[LuckyStrykes]

4. No rumble

I experienced the Northridge earthquake and I remember hearing glass breaking and things falling in my apartment. I have been in a tornado and a hurricane and those sounded like trains.

[zappaman]

5. I've been in a few

There is a lot of sound but mostly from the house and items in it.
Not to mention car alarms.
I was once in my car and heard nothing, so I don't think there is an actual sound.
And my dog, who can hear a mouse walking around outside, doesn't even move unless it's a big jolt.

[Cleita]

6. I've been in many earthquakes.

Three of them were of 6+ magnitude, enough to get my attention, but most start with jolt and then start shaking. I mean they really sneak up on you. Sure once it's in motion there are all kinds of sounds. Maybe the type of quake you are experiencing does rumble before you feel it.

[hedgehog]

11. I heard the noise during the quake - a very unique sound almost

felt as much as heard. It may be that the ground structure determines how the sound is transmitted, or it may be that I could hear it because it's pretty quiet here anyways and there wasn't the sound of things falling and breaking to drown it out.

[Cleita]

12. There is a rumble after it starts beside the sounds of

things falling and breaking. I just never heard such a sound before the quake started.

[hedgehog]

18. Right - I associate it with the quake itself rather than as a precursor.

Of course, we're so unfamiliar with quakes that it's possible that the sequence gets jumbled.

[upstatecajun]

7. I heard a loud boom than the ground

started to move under my feet....Japan early 80's....I was on shore leave from my ship..back in my Navy days...

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Sometimes in SD you hear them

and not feel them

[SheilaT]

10. I once slept through a minor earthquake, one which woke

up other people around me. But I have been told by some who lived in California for a number of years and experienced earthquakes there that often there is a characteristic noise they make.

I know that there are different kinds of earthquakes, depending on the exact geology where it takes place, so perhaps that's why sometimes there's a sound and sometimes not.

[kestrel91316]

13. I don't know about any low rumble from the ground. I CAN tell you that

the Northridge quake sounded like a freakin' freight train, but that was mainly because shaking buildings of 3-4 stories make so much noise. And all the things falling and breaking. VERY noisy.

[hedgehog]

15. The noise must depend on how many man made objects are around.

Funny to think that the earthquake is drowned out by the sound of things falling.

[roamer65]

21. Once you feel one, you know them instantly thereafter.

I remember feeling a small one in Michigan in the 1980's. About a year ago, I was at work and the building shuddered and the blinds rattled just a bit. I told everyone we just had a quake. They said, "Oh, it was just a large truck". I said no, it was a quake. Then someone came over and said, "Guess what, you were RIGHT". It was the quake epicentered near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

[petronius]

16. The NY Times had a column years ago - looks like there is an East/West difference

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E3D8103CF935A25751C1A9659C8B63

I don't recall ever hearing anything other than the house shifting and things falling, but all the big quakes I've felt were when I was in an urban environment, with enough background noise to drown out anything I wasn't specifically listening for. Perhaps the sound would be clearer in a quieter area...

[kristopher]

17. I've heard booms, bangs, and rumbling but usually nothing

Lived in Japan for 11 years. In one month alone we had over 8000 micro-quakes.

[Shagbark Hickory]

19. The only earthquake I have lived through had to happen at 6 o freakin clock in the mornin

and I was a-sleepin'.

So I can't answer the question but I was on the earthquake ride-museum-thing in san francisco and if that's realistic I'd say it's like a series of rumbles. Big surprise there, huh?

[dana_b]

22. I have heard it

after the Loma Prieta earthquake in '89. I heard it twice. Once we were sitting around at a dining room table and my SO at the time looked at me wide eyed and said "do you hear it?!" and then a significant aftershock occcurred (I did hear it). The second happening took place a day or so later at my baby shower (I was 8 months pregnant at the time) and a couple of us heard a feint, low rumble and then a 5.5+ aftershock happened. I remember my mom shaking in fear. :(

[Fleshdancer]

23. I only experienced small earthquakes when I lived in Japan...

I do recall the low rumbling sound though.

[Raine]

24. I'm a native Californian, been in several

mostly the sound I've heard comes from the walls of the house as the framing moves. There could be a sound of the quake itself but the house and the stuff in it makes so much noice it's hard to hear anything else. In the Sylmar quake I remember though a split second or so before the shaking my cat and dog freaked out. That makes me I think they heard something or felt something before I did.

[seabeyond]

25. i kept moving to them. watsonville, mammonth lake and outside san diego

in mexico. in a year period i hit 3 earthquakes.

i dont recall noise. i know they were each different and the after shocks the way they rolled and moved

[OffWithTheirHeads]

26. Don't know but the animals shure started acying crazy prior to

The Loma Preata quake in 89. Cats climbed trees, All kinds of weird shit went on prior to that quake. Animals know shit is comming!

[Kceres]

28. Memphis, TN many, many years ago.

It sounded and felt like a moving rumble. That is the only way I know how to describe it. I remember it made me feel very small for some reason.

[uppityperson]

29. It depends. They can be quiet, stuff can be rattling, can sound like a loud truck approaching

It all depends.

[HipChick]

30. I've been in a few in the Carribean...sounds like a noisy tractor trailer is pulling up to the house

[JVS]

31. I remember being in a quake in the midwest a few years ago.

We don't get many earthquakes and I was sleeping. We do get high winds frequently. I woke up thinking that that a wind was blowing hard on the side of my building and causing it to pull upward. The noise sounded like wind / the proverbial rumble of the tornado to me but that may well be because 1) I was asleep and being woken up by the noise, 2) the noise of wind putting stress on the building and tremors putting stress on the building might have sounded similar and my conception of what wind sounded like was shaped by hearing the former.

[Liberal_in_LA]

32. 1994 Northridge quake - cacaphony of sounds - building shaking, furniture falling, transformers

blowing, car alarms, pool sloshing, people screaming

[Lucinda]

33. Add me to the no sound - California quake list

I've been through several...all of them were sound free at first

[Flaxbee]

35. I was 60 miles away from Northridge (normally lived in Westwood but

had gone home to see my family that weekend). I was sound asleep, but perhaps because I was so far away from the epicenter, I heard it coming; it woke me up. Sounded almost like the ground was tearing apart - I don't know how else to describe it.

[Lucinda]

38. I was in college in the south when the Northridge quake happened

all of my California quake experience is pre 1990. That sounds like a horrible way to wake up!

[laundry_queen]

34. I'm sure it depends on how far away you are

and how strong the quake is. I was in northern BC when Alaska had a large quake (8-something). Everything was rolling and swaying, pictures were crooked, I could hardly stand up. No noise at all. It was the only quake I've ever felt and it was creepy. I am not sure how those of you who live in earthquake zones get used to it :shrug:

[Donnachaidh]

36. yes. Northridge quake was tremendously loud

But thinking about it after the fact, the noise might have been from the building being jackhammered into the ground. Weird thing, it got deadly quiet before it hit. All the other quakes we were in were too.

[Donnachaidh]

37. we were two blocks from the epicenter in Northridge

Loud doesn't cover it :rofl: We thought we were being bombed.

[Mojeoux]

39. It was like a super big truck was passing, only no truck, no passing. NT

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

40. Yonkers, NY over 20 years ago. i woke up to shaking and a loud rumbling sound. 5.7 earthquake.

My husband thought it was the building's boiler blowing but my first word was an earthquake.

[SnoopDog]

41. The low rumble woke me up before the quake occurred...

A few years ago, in Reno NV, I was asleep.

A very low rumbling woke me up. It lasted a good 5-10 seconds before
the quake actually occurred. Then the quake stopped, the rumbling then stopped
about 5 seconds after that.

It was like the earth was groaning before the quake snapped into being...

Growing up in CA I had experienced many quakes - I never heard the precursor
rumbling.

It was truly eerie the rumbling in Reno before the quake.

[Blue_In_AK]

42. I've been in lots of earthquakes.

Some of them you hear, some you don't.

[uppityperson]

49. Cabin shaking in Fairbanks, thought was a moose on the porch

turned out a small quake one ridge over

[GreenStormCloud]

43. Sometimes there is a sound.

The one I was in that had a sound was like a train going past.

[FourScore]

44. No. But I understand sometimes they do rumble. n/t

[driver8]

45. I was in the Northridge quake in '94 about a mile from the epicenter.

I heard the rumble before I felt the shaking. The rumble woke me up about five seconds before the quake hit.

[Drahthaardogs]

46. I have been in a lot of earthquakes in Alaska

The only one I ever actually "heard" was the big 7.2 one we had about eight years ago. It was a "rolling wave" not a "jumping wave" earthquake and it just seemed to last forever. IT was a low rumbling sound.

[Blue_In_AK]

51. Ironically, I was in Los Angeles during that one,

only the third time I had been out of Alaska since 1980. I was worried for my family, but everyone down here in Anchorage came through it just fine. I remember some fairly strong ones in the '80s, but lately it's been pretty quiet here. TOO quiet...

[SoCalDem]

48. Panama ..many quakes (nothing big)

although one split our outdoor staircase in half.. we kids thought it was cool:)

all our cupboards had latches on them so things would not topple out, and we had no glass in any windows so there was little possibility of much damage...of course we had cracks in the walls & tile floors:)

We've had many 5-ish ones where we live now.. mostly shake shake boom..over... types.

every now and then we get a quivery slide-y one & that's a novelty

[Duer 157099]

50. Believe it or not, the scariest part of a quake is the sound

The cacophony of all the things rattling and whatever sounds the earth itself is making. That's the really terrifying part.

[Cali_Democrat]

52. More than antything, you hear the creaking of the wood

...the moving of the buildings...car alarms and sometimes people screaming.

[footinmouth]

53. Hedgehog, I remember that same quake

I also heard the rumble, so did my dog. For some reason we ran to the front door, saw nothing, ran to the back, saw nothing there either. I found out hours later it had been a quake.