The strange little red thing on the gas pipes (left) is an earthquake valve. It shuts off the gas automatically if there is an earthquake.
"It's required in Los Angeles County," said my landlord.
I found out about it when we didn't have any hot water one morning. It turns out our earthquake valve shuts off for garage doors, cars in the driveway, garbage cans and fence gates slamming, too. The gas company charges $60 to come and turn it back on again.
I was in an earthquake once, years ago in San Francisco, a little one that sent me into the street in the middle of the night, with all the other non-Californians. For a long time afterwards, I felt that my bed was moving all by itself. The house itself was moving. It was a creepy feeling.
Sometimes I ask people what the big Northridge earthquake was like in 1994. "I saw the freeway rippling like the ocean," one girl said.
I've experienced a few earthquakes...in 1969 when I was 3, then in 1990 and 1992, then in Argentina in 1997. Each and every one terrified me. It's horrid. And the strangest thing is that things do feel as if they are swaying, not shaking.
Posted by: Wendz | 01 August 2007 at 08:24
The earthquake valve: another L.A. icon! My godz, so many memories are flooding my mind as I read those postings of yours. I love them.
Posted by: Alex | 09 August 2007 at 06:06