Action, Adventure, Earthquake: What Does One Sound Like?

When I was kid, we’d go to the Griffith Park Observatory, which is an exhibit of all things science.  Moon rocks, electricity, and, of course, earthquakes.  There was a seismograph on display, showing all the earthquakes that had occurred in the last day.  Of course, all the kids were jumping up and down in front of that seismograph, trying to “make” an earthquake.

But the seismograph only shows one piece of earthquakes, especially when it comes to describing the experience.  For the research for Miasma, the other experiences were just as important to know:

What the heck does an earthquake sound like?

Surprisingly, while there’s a lot on how earthquakes work and on the damage, there’s not much on the actual experience.  The University of San Diego has a number of recordings made during quakes, all indoors.  We hear objects falling, the screams.

And the fear.

My own experiences with earthquakes are inside buildings, which is different than the setting in Miasma, outside, atop an island similar to Mokolii Island.  Curiously, the most memorable indoor sound I heard was the sound of the house as it moved back and forth. Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Some examples of outdoor earthquake sounds:

Outside, there would still be objects falling — but likely bigger objects.  During Virginia quake, the spires on the National Cathedral fell and landed on the ground.  So, the cracking of the spires as they broke, and the crash as they impacted with the concrete sidewalk.  Didn’t see that, but it’s not hard to imagine.  Brick chimneys always came down during the quakes in L.A.

Cracking sound, too, of concrete and other building materials breaking, metal being torn apart.  That one, unfortunately, is not hard to imagine when seeing pictures like this from the Department of Transportation.

Church bells might start ringing if the quake was big enough.  From National Geographic:

On December 16, 1811, a powerful earthquake jolted the 400 residents of the town of New Madrid, Missouri. The intense tremor set church bells ringing in Boston, Massachusetts—1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away.

People screaming in panic.  Though this experience is indoors, it can be applied anywhere.  When the Tacoma, Washington quake hit (early 90s), one of the female soldiers ran up and down the barracks hallway screaming, “Earthquake! Earthquake!  Earthquake!”  Other people might pray or swear.

A tree branch might creak as it moved — pulling from experiences with high wind.  A sharp crack as it breaks.  Leaves rustling from the movement.

Covering all the senses in an an action scene helps bring to the experience for the reader and make it more vivid.

What do you think fear sounds like?  Tell us about it!

hope you’ll drop in for a visit with my article Writing a Novel When You’re Right-Brained on Vision: A Resource for Writers.

 

Action, Adventure, Earthquakes — 3 Interesting Facts

An earthquake makes a great action scene.  Hollywood’s done a number of movies, including Earthquake and 10.5.  More recently, the TV series Bones had what looked like an earthquake but turned out to be a water main break.  As the shaking starts, Booth says something like, “Washington DC doesn’t have earthquakes.”

A year later Virginia was struck by a 5.8 earthquake that damaged the National Cathedral and the Washington Monument.

Hollywood is all about making the earthquake exciting, so moviegoers see the ground splitting open and then snapping shut after it swallows a hapless Red Shirt.  Or the ground splits open and follows the fleeing heroine (hmm — Didn’t know earthquakes could see and think).  Of course, the reality is quite different.

These are some interesting facts I discovered while researching earthquakes for my contemporary fantasy, Miasma:

Richter Scale

The Richter Scale is no longer used.  According to the Southern California Seismic Center:

Because he [Richter] defined his scale in terms of these torsion seismometers, once these instruments were replaced by more modern equipment, the conversion used to turn seismogram readings into a measure of magnitude was no longer the exact same scale established by Richter in 1935.

Thank goodness fore research.  This would have been easy mistake to make.

Taking Cover

When I was growing up in Southern California, we went through earthquake drills.  One of the things taught was when an earthquake starts to get into a doorway.  That’s now outdated advice, according to the US Geological Society:

In past earthquakes in unreinforced masonry structures and adobe homes, the door frame may have been the only thing left standing in the aftermath of an earthquake. Hence, it was thought that safety could be found by standing in doorways. In modern homes doorways are no stronger than any other parts of the house and usually have doors that will swing and can injure you.

Locations

When the word ‘earthquake’ is mentioned, we immediately think of California.  The state has been the site of several very destructive major quakes — I’ve been in two.  For Miasma, I based my story on Hawaii, and that state has earthquakes.  In the last week, there were 14.  Just for a comparison though, in the same time frame, California had 398!

What kinds of interesting facts have you run across in your research for your book?  Tell me about them!

I hope you’ll drop in for a visit with my article Writing a Novel When You’re Right-Brained on Vision: A Resource for Writers.  I also have a guest blog on setting on Sue Santore’s blog on October 28.