Are you ready for a BIG earthquake?
...evacuating the premises. I have never actually experienced a large earthquake but a large earthquake is a natural disaster that would very much frighten me because of the fact that southern California may be due for a large one in my lifetime. Although movies may not portray exactly what occurs in reality, I have seen movies where big earthquakes have struck and also news reports on television and newspapers with coverage of earthquakes. These images and occurrences are imprinted in my mind because of the fact that many people have died and been severely injured in these earthquakes. Earthquakes are never predicted but rather just occur and sometimes leaving behind mass destruction. The small earthquakes that I have experienced didn’t leave any destruction and came rather randomly at different times of the day. The latest earthquake that I have felt happened about two to three years ago. I was in a hotel room in downtown gaslamp probably on the 10th+ floor and while I was walking out into the hall way of the floor the hotel started to sway. I had to hold on to the wall to keep myself from falling. The chandeliers in the hall way were moving back and forth in a repetitive motion as the ground shuck. As I looked outside the window and saw other tall buildings swaying in the sky. This was a very frightening experience for me especially because I was high up in a hotel and I felt the vibration of this earthquake more than any other I have experienced. This is nothing compared to an earthquake that creates mass destruction and San Diego may be experiencing one within our life span, so understanding the explanation may help you understand this natural phenomenon. What is an earthquake? The word earthquake is effectively a self-defining term-the Earth quakes, the Earth shakes, and we feel the vibrations. Earthquakes may be created by volcanic activity, meteorite impacts, undersea landslides, explosions of nuclear bombs, and more; but most commonly, they are caused by sudden earth movements along faults (Abbott 55). Faults are cracks in the earth where the rocks in its sides slide past each other. Pressure builds up around the rocks until the stress is so great that the rocks fracture and move along ...