Export thread

The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast. President Rafael Correa said at least 233 people had died and rescuers were struggling to reach survivors trapped in the rubble.

Click to expand...

(Yahoo)

Paging @Cog -- I hope you and your family are well.

Oh shit! I didn't even put 2 & 2 together on this one. Hoping Cog is fine!

Please be okay, dude.

Hope you and your family are ok, Cog!

The Pacific needs to chill. This has been a week of text alerts saying there is no tsunami threat to the islands. I'm grateful there's no tsunami coming, but can we limit this earthquake/tsunami crap to once a month?

Looking at the Analytics and most used IP addresses, he looks to be about 112 miles from the epicenter. He should be fine but I'm also sure he felt it.

Hoping its all good Cog!

I'm a little worried for San Salvador about now.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

I'm a little worried for San Salvador about now.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

Holy shit. Roving gangs shutting the city down, drought ravaging the country, and a tiger loose in the city. All of this in the last three days. Whoa.

Dave said:

Holy shit. Roving gangs shutting the city down, drought ravaging the country, and a tiger loose in the city. All of this in the last three days. Whoa.

Click to expand...

It's a beautiful tiger, and I'm glad it's nowhere near the earthquake.

Dave said:

Holy shit. Roving gangs shutting the city down, drought ravaging the country, and a tiger loose in the city. All of this in the last three days. Whoa.

Click to expand...

You know, when I mentioned San Salvador, I knew none of these things.
I was just trying to guess where the next earthquake would be, based on where the tectonic plates meet and the fact that the last two were in Ecuador and Japan.
My guess was that it would be either in San Salvador (assuming the quakes indicate the Pacific and Nazca plates are both rotating like a pair of meshed gears and are going to slam the Cocos plate into El Salvador next) or near Malaysia (assuming the quakes instead show a widening of the Pacific basin, which would increase the pressure in the area of the South China Sea/Bay of Bengal).

--Patrick

The latest one hit Tonga earlier this morning.

WasabiPoptart said:

The latest one hit Tonga earlier this morning.

Click to expand...

Still somewhat consistent with the "Pacific plate is rotating anti clockwise" theory.

--Patrick

Message from Cog:

Me and my family are ok. Lucky our house was not affected. Many others didn't have such luck. But we have no power or water. My place of work was destroyed. Still don't know what will we do. Wish us luck.

G'luck, @Cog!

I'm glad @Cog is (physically) as safe as the tiger.

I hope you manage the aftermath okay.

Yikes! Good luck @Cog!

Dave said:

Message from Cog:

Me and my family are ok. Lucky our house was not affected. Many others didn't have such luck. But we have no power or water. My place of work was destroyed. Still don't know what will we do. Wish us luck.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you're ok!

Be well, @Cog. If you need us, we're here for you.

Lots of earthquakes this month...

Jay said:

Lots of earthquakes this month...

Click to expand...

Trump's still in the race.
The planet is scared.

--Patrick

Update from Cog:

I don't know the geological reasons but the zone I live was barely affected while the center of the City was completly destroyed. There are no public offices or banks or supermarkets working. Right now our house has power and water. As for work, City hall has been relocated and we are trying to recover all our systems. But I don't think we are going to be paid any time soon. I'll let you know if we need your help.

Thank you all for all your support. I only have web access for a while when I'm at work. So I'm here to thank you all

Cog said:

Thank you all for all your support. I only have web access for a while when I'm at work. So I'm here to thank you all

Click to expand...

Thanks for checking in. It lifts our spirits.
Also good to hear you are apparently still employed.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Thanks for checking in. It lifts our spirits.
Also good to hear you are apparently still employed.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

For now at least. I know that they are paying me this month.

Yay! REALLY good to see you! I'll remove the banner now. Let me know if you need anything.

Cog said:

For now at least. I know that they are paying me this month.

Click to expand...

So it's been over a week, how are things for you now?

Personally? I'ts almost criminal how confortable me and my family are. I have a home, food, water, power, work and even web access. But there are thousands of people homeless. I work very close to the place they gathered them and there is more tents every time I pass by. But at least they have refuge. In other cities the local government weren't so competent. The city is still destroyed and they are deciding what buildings should be demolished.

Survivor's guilt. Help where you can but be thankful, not guilty.

More holy shit from this event.



(I have GOT to fix the gifv thing.)

Gifv thing fixed.

In a perverse kind of way, I'm almost disapointed that I miss all that. I didn't see buildings shaking or things falling, even people running because in the theater everybody except us and another family forgot about the emergency exit.

It's amazing what panic does to a normally logical brain.

Dave said:

It's amazing what panic does to a normally logical brain.

Click to expand...

Hey, the 2016 elections thread is over there.

--Patrick

That last aftershock was really scary. 6.8.

It's been 100 days after the quake. Me and my family are among the lucky ones and our lives are pretty much back to "normal", even if the city itself isn't. My parents in law lost their house and had been living with us since the quake. Same with my sisters in law who are living in the small apartment where we used to live. City hall was very affected and now we are all working in a few classrooms borrowed from a local university. We are very cramped. But we have work.

There were 671 mortal victims, but 139 people were rescued from the rubble. In Portoviejo, 299 families are still living in tents, but that's only in "official" refuges.

And yet the news has moved on and nobody outside gives a damn any more (unless they know someone).

Glad your family is okay, man.

Finished the official map of houses and buildings affected by the quake. (In my city)

The center of destruction, was it from old buildings, or not well built? Seems like the out lying areas weren't as badly affected. Such a strong quake would seem like it would have flattened a larger area.

The center of the city was mostly office buildings. Portoviejo is a valley and according to a few experts the earth in the zone was mostly sediments from the river and it liquified during the quake. You can also see a line of dots in the west. All those houses fell into the river.

It's missing a big X that says COG WUZ HERE!

Dave said:

It's missing a big X that says COG WUZ HERE!

Click to expand...

Is this ok?