Back to ExperiencesNovember 10, 2000 "Community Connection" -- Special Edition Call-in Program at the KMRS Radio Station in Morris, Minnesota. Bill Eckerson, Host
Bill: I want to welcome two guests today, Professors Pam Gades and Peter Whelan. Good morning, Pam. Good morning Peter. Pam, I've forgotten which department you work in.
Pam: I work in the Computing Services department.
Bill: All right, both in the University of Minnesota, Morris here. And we want to talk about a very interesting project that Pam is putting together about recollections of the 1993 earthquake. And in just a little bit, we'll be asking for your phone calls and your recollections of how things went. Describe what you're doing with this project, Pam.
Pam: Well it's really nothing to do with the Computing Services department. I'm working on my Master's degree and I'm finishing it up and this is going to be my final project. My Masters is in Liberal Studies, but the focus is on educational technology. So, I hooked up with Dr. Whelan because he wanted some more work done on his pet project about the area earthquakes. He's already done some research with student groups who've gone around and done some interviews and such for the '93 quake. He wanted to see this thing blossom and grow and I thought, well, I'd like to tie this in with educational technology and so we're coming up with a Web site that people around the area will be able to use. Hopefully the interest would be area citizens, but also schools would want to use this as a way to do learning with the earthquake information.
Bill: Sounds like a lot of fun. And you've gone out and talked to a lot of people already?
Pam: Yes, I've gotten people to email me, I've had phone calls, and talked to people face to face. I've got lots of interesting stories.
Bill: Peter, tell me about the earthquake. How was it, comparatively speaking, as far as earthquakes go. What caused it?
Peter: Well, the one in '93 was about 4.1 on the Richter scale, which means it was very modest. In California, we wouldn't even get out of bed for it. Of course, out here they are unusual enough. It's actually caused, Bill, probably by separate plates of Minnesota -- actually Minnesota in divided into several sub-sections. And as the plates move relative to each other, it is sort of like two cars passing by each other. One going in one direction, one going in the other direction, and as they pass if they are right adjacent to one another, there's going to be friction--a shaking which occurs. This actually occurred here along what is now known as the "Morris Fault." Which is located right below Morris -- maybe even right below the station here.
Bill: You don't associate Minnesota with earthquakes. Is it a common occurrence, or not?
Peter: Well, actually it is sort of common. It's interesting that as you look over the historic records, for let's say the last 100 years, there's been a regular succession of earthquakes which have stretched more or less along the Long Prairie, Morris, Ortonville axis. This is something which has been called the "Great Lakes Tectonic Zone" and you can probably safely predict that here in Morris we might feel an earthquake every 10 to 20 years easily. Again, low, probably nothing to be concerned about, but we will feel them.
Bill: I'll tell you what I felt on this earthquake ['93]. I was sitting at home and it was an afternoon. What was it, 3 o'clock in the afternoon or something? I think that's what it was? Just sitting around watching television and I had just put up some equipment for the graduation and the Morris High School. And I heard this rumbling. I lived in a trailer park at the time, and they had been taking houses in and out of the place on a regular basis, and so when I heard this rumbling I thought, well this is kind of odd to have people moving homes at this time of day and it was a Sunday, wasn't it?
Pam: It was actually a Friday night. It was graduation night.
Bill: But it was an odd time for somebody to be working and I heard this rumbling and it kept getting louder and louder and I thought, is somebody going to run into the back of my house or something with this thing? By the time I got really concerned I jumped up and looked out the front door and it had stopped and it was a bright day out and there was nothing there. My neighbor said, "Hey, did you feel that? That was an earthquake! (laughing) Yah, I stuck my shovel in the ground and it started shakin'!" (laughing)
Peter: That's interesting and I think that is consistent with what a lot of other people…and I hope that other people this morning might be able to call in telling their stories like that because this idea of sound with earthquakes is actually sort of a new one. But we've had them described as sounding like a plane was going to fly into the barn (a crop dusting plane of course), a train was coming down the track, maybe it was a large grain truck rumbling down the road. And it is interesting that many people will tell us that there was a directionality to it. They say that the noise came out of the north and it went to the south. So there's some fascinating stories out there which I think Pam is getting.
Bill: If someone would like to call us at 589-3131, we'd like to put them on the air and just tell us briefly what you recall about this event. What are some of the stories that you've heard, Pam?
Pam: Well its fun when I get stories from people who have had experience with both the '75 and the '93 earthquakes. One that I'll share is from Al Buss at the high school. He teaches in the wood shop there and he said that during the '93 earthquake, he was standing with his feet kind of spread apart with his hands behind his back and they had just finished parking some cars because he was helping out with graduation, and he said he could just feel the cement ripple under his feet and he heard all the rafters --the metal supports and stuff -- rattling. But he could feel it, and the other men who had been helping out standing by him, they weren't as securely planted on the ground as he was, and they didn't feel that ripple. Some of them were moving around. He said it was very much like -- felt like it was the same intensity as the 1975 earthquake. He was in his wood shop, kind of in the same area, when that happened. He said the steel-trussed beams started shaking and there was a lot of noise. He had the kids step outside. He said he thought there may have been an explosion and he wanted to get the students out of the building.
Bill: There's someone on the line who would like to share their story. Sir, do you have a story to share?
Caller: Yes, I'm calling about the earthquake information. We were at my stepdaughter's graduation up at the high school ['93]. And at the moment the keynote speaker was speaking and there was a slight noise and it accelerated somewhat. And all of a sudden it sounded like there was a "boom" and at the time, the speaker had quite an appropriate comment. He stated, "Well, I guess I can't beat that one!" And my daughter was down from Brainerd and she did manage to be taping the program and she did have it on tape and several of the radio stations and news stations contacted us and reviewed our tape. It was quite an interesting evening!
Bill: OK, well all right. Thank you very much for calling sir.
Bill: Pam was just talking about the 1975 earthquake. Peter, can you tell us anything about what students and yourself have studied on that one? Was it similar?
Peter: The '75 earthquake was similar, yes, and it was a little bit more powerful and I've talked to people, and Pam has as well, who have experienced that. In 1993 I had a group of students, three high school students, who were being sponsored by the University of Minnesota, Morris here, who were interested, and what we did was to go out and talk to a large number of people within a week or so after it had happened to get their stories. And again, they are delightful stories. Again, talking about the high school graduation, this idea of the "boom" and of course the very appropriate response on the part of the speaker. Again, it says a lot about our students, doesn't it?
Bill: (laughing) Yes, it does. And I remember that I was just about to come to the college here in 1975 and I saw that in the newspaper and my parents said, "Ah, we just moved out of California and we're going to move back into the earthquake zone!"
Peter: That's interesting because I too had just moved out of California and I thought I was coming to the stable heartland and all of a sudden I find out that we have earthquakes. Again, modest.
Bill: This is Community Connection and Paul, you have another caller.
Paul: Yes I do. Ma'am, you have a story for us?
Caller: Yes I do. The '93 earthquake that you're talking about. I was trying to put my granddaughter to sleep and I was standing by the crib in the back bedroom and I noticed that there was a rumble, but the train tracks go through here. We thought it was a train coming. But then the brass ginger jar on the dresser -- the lid on it started gently rattling and it got louder and louder and the thing really shook. And then this rumble, it came from about the southeast and it went right through. You could feel it going underneath the house and it headed northwest or west. And, I remember distinctly the one we had earlier, in the 70's somewhere ['75], and that one was much louder. We'd had a train wreck in Donnelly, so we all knew what that sounded like. And this one, you could feel it coming … the ground shook. You could just feel the waves. I was standing up in Glen and Gertie's store, and Gertie looked at the electrician and she said, "What did you do?" "Well," he said, "I didn't do anything!" And I went to the door and looked out and there was no train. And I said, "Do you think that could have been an earthquake?" Well, yah, it definitely was. You could feel the waves going underneath. That one, particularly, because it was stronger -- I think it was 5 something. They're fascinating. I was in another earthquake on the San Andreas fault, where my brother lived. That was similar. You could feel it coming. Everything rattled and shook. And then it receded. And I guess that's about it.
Bill: Well, thanks very much for your story, Ma'am.
Paul: We've got another one here, Bill. Hang on one second while we get another one punched up for us this morning. We're on Community Connection here this morning. Oops, she hung up. Hang on, we'll get her back. Go ahead until I get her back.
Bill: All right. We'd like to invite people to call. I think we'll keep Peter and Pam here past the news if you want to stick around and take a few more phone calls. OK. We'd like to have people call in at 589-3131 and let you tell you're recollections about the 1975 or the 1993 earthquakes.
Peter: One comment here, Bill. The last caller mentioned about the waves and about the brass ginger jar rattling. There's actually a scale that we use out here. Not the Richter scale. Most of these we measure according to a modified Mercalli scale. It's a roman numeral scale which goes from I to XII -- roman numerals. XII is total destruction. The radio station would come down on us if we had a XII here. Most of these come out to be about on the average of a VI or VII in terms of the Mercalli scale. And at that level, we do find that things are shaking on the wall, perhaps knick knacks fall off, people feel the waves. I like the callers' stories -- they are very interesting things, aren't they?
Bill: Yes, they are, and we have another one on line here, if Paul wants to put them on? We'll talk here for another minute or so and take care of the news while Paul takes care of the phone over on that side. How many people have you been talking with, so far, Pam?
Pam: Well, I haven't actually kept numbers, but I'd say I have probably about 20 to 25 maybe.
Bill: People are pretty cooperative as far as telling their story?
Pam: Well I think it's kind of funny in this area. We've asked for stories but a lot of people don't feel comfortable calling. I'm glad we have the callers today -- that's wonderful -- but they like to just catch me in the grocery store or downtown or something and say, "Hey, I've got a story for you." That's just great. I hope people continue to do that and we have a Web site. They can go in and submit their story that way too. I'm also going to be at the Senior Citizens Center next Wednesday from 10:30 to 12 and people, if they want to talk face to face, rather than calling the radio or calling me up on the phone, are welcome to come down to the Senior Citizens Center here in Morris and I'll be there to take down their stories.
Bill: What's the Web site address?
Pam: It's http://www.morris.umn.edu/earthquakes.
[tape noise]
Caller: ['75] I heard this earthquake rumble towards us and a bunch of cups that were in the cupboard were unstacked. Then the cattle always had to be let out to pasture, so when we went out there after the quake, they usually hurry through the gate, but they had to be herded and drove through. They were afraid.
Bill: You're cattle didn't like the earth shaking…
Caller: No, they were afraid. They were really …. you could tell!
Bill: Thanks very much Ma'am. Take care.
Paul: We have another caller. A gentleman who had a barn that was rattling quite a little bit. Sir, you have a story for us?
Caller, Marlin: Yah. Marlin Rinkenberger from Chokio. I was working at the barn ['93]. I thought first that it was thunder. And I looked down and the cattle looked around kind of wild like they were going to run somewhere and didn't know where to go. The barn shook and I realized it had to be an earthquake. That was quite a deal.
Caller's Wife, Verna: Now, Bill, this is Renna Rinkenberger. I was up at my house, and we have a great big LP gas tank on the east side of the house and I felt everything start to move and I have pictures and plates on the walls and they were starting to swing and move and the things on the counters were jumping and then there was that loud boom. And I thought, well, that LP tank exploded. I didn't even think to grab my purse or anything, I just dashed out of the house to see. My husband was in the barn and I went in on the east side of the barn, and while I was going in the east side of the barn, he come out of the back side of the barn and was coming to the house to see if I was all right. And, well, we finally got together and we figured out that it had to have been an earthquake.
Verna: But, back in 1975. We were both separated that time too. My younger son was out in the back working in the salvage yard and I was out in the back working in the garden with my two younger daughters and we were pulling weeds and it was kind of hot out there, and I had sun stroke at one time. When the ground started to move and all at once we heard an awful bang and I thought a tire had exploded -- a big tractor tire -- and then my feet moved apart and come back together and I didn't want to scare the little girls so I told them I think we better go in the house. Then I hollered at my son, "Did a tire blow?" and he said, "No, it had to be an earthquake!" Before that, we had heard this several days before that too and we just figured they were dynamiting a slough or something so that the water would drain. But no, this was actually it, and boy, it was scary. Things were upset in the house too. Now, I want to put my husband back on because he was on the way to town or something, here….
Marlin: Well I was on my way to Herman that time and when we got to Herman everyone was talking about the earthquake and we didn't know nothin' about it. We asked what they were talkin' about, and they told us that it was an earthquake. . . Thank you.
Bill: Thanks very much for your story. Bye.
Bill: Hello. You've got a story for us?
Caller: Yes, I do. The one in 1975. I was working at the S & L store, which was a huge building where the McGinnis store is now. I was helping a lady trying on shoes and I was running up and down the stairs trying to get the different sizes and so forth and all at once we had this terrible rumbling, and I said to her, "My goodness!" I always parked my car by the railroad track behind the store and I said, "Well, I bet the train hit my car!" (laughing) The whole building was just a rumbling, so I had to run back to see if it was still there! (laughing). It was still there and then I suppose it took us about an hour or so before we found out what the problem was -- that it was an earthquake. That's a very short story, but it was funny at the time.
Bill: That was the '75 one, right?
Caller: Yes.
Bill: Thanks for calling.
Caller: You're welcome.
Bill: P:eter, you were going to say something a moment ago.
Peter: Yes, I was interested in a couple of the previous callers mentioning the behavior of their farm animals. And actually, this is something that has been part of lore for hundreds of years. The Chinese have a story about when the snakes come out that that's when there's going to be an earthquake in China. Many times, dogs will begin to howl. But a lot of times, abnormal behavior in animals -- they seem to be more sensitive to what is going on and it's interesting, it's almost that they can predict that something is happening. This has been noticed around the world and apparently our senses are just a little bit more crude. We can't sense it as well as animals.
Bill: Has anyone tried to document it?
Peter: They have tried to and there are several books out about this very thing. One of them happens to be "When the Snakes Come Out", but it has to do with earthquake prediction and perhaps that, rather than using instruments, maybe the behavior of animals is critical in predicting when something is going to happen.
Bill: All right. That's fascinating.
Bill: Pam is going to be at the Senior Citizens Center on Wednesday from 10:30 to 12:00. If you didn't want to get on the radio and talk, you can also come over there and talk to Pam about your earthquake experiences as well.
Bill: So, have we talked about everything that we need to here?
Pam: Yes, I'm really pleased with the response. Thanks for everybody calling in.
Peter: I would like to thank everybody who called in, and . . . give Pam a call. She is doing one of the neater projects around here and I think this is going to become part of our local history, so please share in it.
Bill: Do you want to give your phone number as well?
Pam: Sure, you can call me at 589-6376 during the day, and in the evening its 589-2147.
Bill: Or else come in and see you at the Morris Senior Center next Wednesday, November 15th from 10:30 until 12 o'clock. Thanks for coming in this morning.
Pam: Thanks so much, Bill.
Peter: Thanks.
Bill: Peter Whelan and Pam Gades have been our guests this morning on this Community Connection program on KMRS.
Bill: Thanks very much, and we appreciate the calls, everybody.