Tiki Mugs VS. California Earthquakes: Q &A

I was curious if any califorinan tiki mug collecters have ever had any problems with earthquakes and their collections. My brother and I want to build some shelves in our house but I'm afriad of earthquake damage. I was thinking of putting a 1-2 inch lip on end of the shelves, just in case but if anyone has any other ideas or comments, please let me know

there is a great SEARCH feature here on tiki central. many of your questions can be answered by looking around the site.

here some earthquake posts

My mugs survived a few quakes in the 3.5-3.8 range (felt stronger because they were centered very close to my home) in December, just a few days after I secured them all to their shelves with quake putty. It goes by several names ... quake wax, museum wax, museum putty. It all does the same thing. It's good stuff and won't damage the surfaces. As long as the shelves stay in place, so will the mugs.

[ Edited by: JenTiki 2007-02-07 17:22 ]

I had my mugs on (homemade) shelves that lined the walls, so the mugs were resting against the wall. Quake Putty is the key. I also put fishing line around a row of like 10 or so for extra security (see below). Fortunately, I never experinced an Earthquake.

A question for all you Portland people, do you get Earthquakes here? I just set-up about 50 mugs on a nice wicker shelf I found and wanted to know if I need to do the same approach.

Thanks!

I've been in Eugene, OR (2 hours South of Portland) for 5 years now and have yet to notice any earthquakes. You hear of them, mostly off the coast but inland a bit things are pretty mild. Of course it is a possibility. Please note that my earthquake-o-meter was calibrated in Southern California so others may disagree. I usually have to worry about my own clumsiness.

Checking with the USGS (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/) I can see there have been several small quakes in the Portland area so you are in an active zone. The USGS has global information if anyone else is interested. Share and enjoy.

I agree. Quake putty. Gotta get some.

My mugs survived the Northridge quake (I was living in Burbank)... But I was lucky, the quake had a North /South shake direction. My mugs were on a East/West wall - they shook along the wall instead of off the shelf. Sounds funny but it's true. In the kitchen, I had cabinets on two walls - those on the North/south walls doors opened out and all the contents spilled out - The East/West cabinets stayed shut and things just jostled around. The only Tiki damage I suffered was my pair of Hawaiian Hula figures by Treasure Craft. The Wahine dove off the shelf and broke her legs. A little super glue here and there...she was good as new. My 30" Panasonic Flat screen TV was a different story.