Most are tiny ones that if you feel it, it just make you wonder "quake or train going by?". Every now and then though, a bigger one comes along that makes everyone stop. Those few seconds of your entire system freezing while you try to gauge how bad the quake is, gets a bit scary. Luckily, we haven't been in any that has caused any damage, but it is nerve-wracking. The one a few hours ago left me a bit nauseous, but I'm not sure if it's from the shaking or that sudden spike in anxiety...
One situation that is burned into my memory was watching an entire restaurant go completely silent while everyone started feeling the building shake. Once it passed, it resumed as normal. It was like someone hit a pause button because no one moved...
The 1994 Northridge quake was quite violent. It felt like my house was picked up and dropped repeatedly. It was shocking because a 4am we were asleep. I remember seeing bright flashes which I think were the transformers on the power poles shorting out. Then everything went dark. I had installed several plugin type emergency lights which came on so at least we could see. A lot of people awoke in the dark. My oldest son was sleeping over at his friends house. Since everything went out we couldn't call to see if he was ok. You have no idea where the epicenter was so we didn't know if he was safe. Got out radios to find out the details.
My cell phone started working after about an hour. We found out he was ok. We also found out about the freeway collapse so the main arteries to get to him were destroyed. There were panicked people trying to get somewhere and everything was jammed. You'd see cars packed full of people's belongings and they were getting out. I waited until the next morning when traffic was better to go and get him. It was crazy.
I did adjust one of my emergency items from that experience. We have water and food, flashlights with batteries, electric generator, etc. When we went out to see what the neighborhood was like, we walked to the shopping center. People were buying water and stuff. The problem was no power so they couldn't run CC's or make change. If you only had a $20 bill and you wanted a bottle of water, guess how much the bottle of water cost? I now have several hundred one dollar bills in case of emergencies.
There were a few impressive exceptions that were really touching:
Radio Shack was selling, batteries mostly, and they were taking CC's and checks even though they couldn't run them.
Burger King was giving away hamburgers. Without power the meat was going to spoil anyway. They had gas so they could cook.
Miller Brewing Company stopped bottling beer and started bottling water which they trucked in and distributed for free.
That was the good side of humanity at work.
