3.8 Quake Rattles San Diego - Video Footage

A 3.8 earthquake centered along the California and Mexico border just south of San Diego has been felt throughout San Diego county. The quake struck at 11:53 PM on September 2, 2005.

I was able to capture this quake on video. The video clip is not very exciting and not much to see. But I am excited because it has already answered several questions I had. It will help in my research.



This is the first quake to be captured using my new "Klesko Cam". 

Let me take a moment to explain what we are seeing on the video clip. First of all, the quake was heard before it was felt. As the video begins you will hear that I am watching the baseball game. I heard a loud roaring sound coming from outside. I stopped the TV. This is when the sound of the ball game stops. If you have a good sound system with a sub woofer you should be able to hear the deep roaring sound. At the same time you can see Ryan Klesko's head vibrate ever so slightly. Five seconds later the S waves (shear waves) arrived and you can see and hear the small jolt.

The loud whistling/ringing you hear is the quake alarm sounding. The quake alarm is a very sensitive device which detects seismic waves. This quake was rather small and the P waves (which was the loud roaring sound and slight vibration) were too slight to activate the alarm. The slower moving and more destructive S waves arrived five seconds later, when we heard the quake alarm.




ABOUT KLESKO CAM
Klesko Cam is designed to record a visual and audio record of earthquakes. The scene is a hodgepodge of household junk. In theory here is what we should be able to see:

First, we should hear the quake alarm start sounding. At the same time we may see Ryan Klesko's head start vibrating. The strength of the P wave vibration will be determined by the strength of the quake.

Next, we wait for the arrival of the S waves. The "S" or Shear Waves travel slower than the P waves. The timeframe between the "P" waves and the "S" waves are determined by how far away we are from the epicenter of the quake.

When the S waves arrives we should see Ryan Klesko start nodding or shaking his head (depending on the direction of the quake from our location).

If the quake is strong enough, we should see the dominoes start tumbling over. I only have one domino right now, but I'm saving up for more. I plan on setting up the dominoes in such a way that it can be determined which direction the quake came from by observing which dominoes fell and how they fell.

If the quake is even stronger, we will see the collapse of the "Diet Dr. Pepper Pyramid".

If the quake is even stronger you may see the camera start to tip over as you hear me in the background screaming and running around in a panic.