This is topic What to do during an earthquake in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Andrew D'Vrey (Member # 285) on 01-11-2000, 01:13 AM:
I'm sure this has happened somewhere. Every time I hear about an earthquake in California I have to wonder about fellow projectionists down there and what the projection booth is like during a quake. Anyone have stories to tell?
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"And the monkey flips the switch."
- Major Don West, "Lost In Space"
Andrew D'Vrey
IATSE Local 219
Posted by Scott Ribbens (Member # 180) on 01-11-2000, 03:49 AM:
Where to start. After the Northridge earthquake (which happened very early in the morning and there was no one in the theatre), the theatre that I worked at, which happened to be two auditoria on the ground level, and two underground,did not have much damage. There were a couple of cracks in some drywall, and one set of auditorium doors was slightly ajar(just enough to make them stick a little on closing) but no structural damage. All of the ceiling tiles in the whole complex stayed up and in place with the exception of two small fill peices near a wall in the upstairs booth. In the theatres, aside from all of about 5 surround speakers that swung a little bit on the omnimounts and needed to be repositioned, all of the surrounds stayed up on the walls. A few of the plastic wall bracket covers for the omnimounts came loose and fell off, easy enough to snap back into place though. Most of the stage speakers had to be repositioned, none of them came down. I experienced a couple of good after shocks while getting things back in place, not to bad though. For the first few weeks after the quake, people would ask at the box office if the movie that they wanted to see was playing downstairs, or upstairs. If it was downstairs most of them would just turn around and walk away. A few weeks later, that question stopped being asked, and all was forgotten. As far as the booth goes, all of the projectors had to be repositioned anywhere from a couple of inches to a couple of feet. The platters also had to be repositioned. Not to bad considering the way it shook.
From what I understand, the other theatre down the street had about as many problems as did mine. Not many, and no big problems.
But the AMC not 100 feet away from the theatre down the bolck from mine, that was another story. Ceiling tiles down all over the building. Surround speakers fell off of the walls. The fire sprinklers for the underground theatres went off. The fire sprinklers in the elevator went off. I don't know what else may have happened there. I do know that they had part of the theatre closed for a week or two.
A theatre near the epicenter that was in two buildings, one had two large theatres, the other had three smaller theatres, one building across the street from the other. While the building with the two large screens came through in good shape except for a few ceiling tiles and equipment that needed to be repositioned, the one across the street did a lot worse. Projectors that had fallen onto the platters. Sections of the roof and walls came down. In an old Box Office mag. there is a picture of this booth after the quake. Not a pretty sight. But I've gone on long enough.
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quote:
"More human than human" is our motto.
Scott
Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-11-2000, 05:31 PM:
Not in CA, but in KY, I ran a booth in an 1,100 seat theatre, during the earthquake that hit there in the early 80s. Of course, I didn't know if the theatre was caving in or what (it was 1921 vintage), so I HEADED FOR THE DOOR! It started as a low rumble, not heard, but felt, like a good s/w. Just enough time elapsed to wonder what the heck was going on, when it got stronger.While running for the booth door, I remember having trouble getting traction under my feet on the vibrating concrete floor. It felt like both ends of the room were being twisted in opposite directions. About as soon as I reached the lobby, it was over.
The noise of the quake was amplified in the theatre very well, as the room had a low resonant frequency. The manager later told me that an older gentleman came out of the auditorium during the commotion and, with an angry glance towards my projection booth, grumbled "What's he DOING up there!?" 
A friend of mine, who was running a booth in another city, said he shut his show down during the earthquake (these were single-screen theatres), saying he didn't want anything to happen to the equipment. I said 'to heck with the equipment', I didn't want anything to happen to ME!
It WAS an experience!
Posted by Rick Long (Member # 213) on 01-11-2000, 07:04 PM:
A few years back a friend of mine from New Zealand showed me a copy of the Theatre Code which required that,
In the event of an earthquake,the projectionist shall;
(1) turn up all auditoium lights,
(2) contiune the performance.