RVs in earthquakes

[Tom]

Last week's CA earthquakes were nature's reminder we're living in earthquake country. Has anyone actually been in their RV during an earthquake? I know that being in a stick house it can be a deafening and scary experience.

Immediately following a large quake when power is out an RV can be a 'safe' refuge. Following the 1989 Loma Prieta quake we evacuated to the motorhome and ran the generator for cooking and watching news.

 

[Bob McNabb]

Tom, I have, indeed, been in a motorhome during an earthquake and it was a "non-event". It was in Borrego and we exited our MH following the shake and were told by friends about what we "missed". They'd felt it because they were in a structure. We didn't even feel it while in the motorhome.

Part of the experience, while in a structure, is the distant sounds coming from another part of the structure. There're forces within the structure, along with unstable personal belongings within that get a good shake. In the recent shake that we felt in San Diego (a 5), an old grandfather clock that stopped working a couple of years ago was sent into a gonging tirade that must have lasted for a minute.

While a motorhome going down a bumpy road may have a corresponding shake, it's what inside the cabinets that causes the sounds. I structure, on the other hand, can provide some noises because of doors shaking.

Of interest may be the fact that a structure built to current standards for wind buffeting is precisely the (same) standards set for earthquake resistence. 

 

[caltex]

Driving down the road during a major earthquake provides a sensation similar to driving a flat tire, as the road moves back and forth under you.

 

[Tom]

Sounds like it's a lot less traumatic than being in the house. Hopefully, the roadway doesn't give way, which is what killed a lot of folks in October 1989. CA is still working on the siesmic upgrades to all the bridges and overpasses.

 

[Bob Maxwell]

Tom,

Several times when we lived in El Centro we were in our class C when one of their many quake storms -10-30 in a 48 hr period, but only from 3.5-4.5, ususally- hit. Also like Bob McNab out in the Anza Boreggo they happened. we usually never noticed them, but if in the rig by our house in El Centro or at a LL ballgame we saw the fans reacting!

We always kept our rig fuelled, topped off with water and ready for a week to ten days of boondocking, just in case.

 

[Ron]

Have friends that retreated to the RV when the last big Quake hit the LA area.  They ended up living in the RV for over a week.  Jan said she felt safer and was reluctant to move back into the house after the damage was repaired.

 

[Tom]

We always kept our rig fulled, topped off with water and ready for a week to ten days of boondocking, just in case.

That sure meets the earthquake preparedness guidelines.

 

[Bob McNabb]

Tom, it also meets most other preparedness guidelines. We were evacuated when the brushfires swept close to our home. We left in our motorhome and after we returned home, the electricity service didn't return for another 5 days. We supplied electricity to our home (refrigerator, TV and lights) for this period with our MH generator.

Let's hear a shout for RV preparedness!

 

[Tom]

Let's hear a shout for RV preparedness!

You got it!

 

[blueblood]

That sure meets the earthquake preparedness guidelines.

I had friends in FL who bought a stick house and was ready to sell their RV when all the Hurricanes hit last year. It became their refuge for over a week. They said without it life would have been absolutely miserable - high heat and humdity and all. As it was they sat in ac comfort with all the other comforts of home. They have decided never to sell. BTW- I was in the Northridge earthquake which a series of sharp bumps not a roller and I'm sure that an RV would have bounced but probably smoothly as one RV company advertises.  ;D

 

[Tom]

Good story Leo. Fortunately their RV survived, although many didn't.

 

[John From Detroit]

All this talk of motorhomes in earthquakes reminds me of a very funny dkit by Red Skelton,,,, He showed how a drunkark might well walk (He was very good at that part) weaving and stumbling all around... Then he said "Same drunk in an Earthquake" and started walking

Like a sober person on a non-earthquake day