Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

San Francisco, Pier 14

The Earthquake Button - cont.

We asked...

Turns out, the "earthquake button" isn't a button that YOU push, it's an alarm that goes off inside the elevator if there is an earthquake (as if you wouldn't know the earth was moving). Apparently, the earthquake button begins flashing and a 'calm voice' comes over the PA inside the elevator to direct you to safety. I do not know where that safety is located, as you're currently enclosed in a steel box that is suspended inside a building, but the point is to keep you calm, and provide assurance that help is on the way.

In the event the building's electricity is working properly, the elevator doors will open (after the earthquake has ended) and you will be directed to the nearest floor. This could mean you will have to crawl out of an elevator to the nearest floor. Or, you may have to jump up to get to the nearest floor's ledge once the elevator door is opened, but the 'calm voice' will tell you which way to go.

For what it's worth, I'd still rather have the 'earthquake min-bar'.

The Earthquake Button

Day 1 in San Francisco and I've learned a few things:

1. The homeless people in San Fran have more personal items than most non-homeless people.
2. San Fran is very pro-Obama; very anti-Palin; very indifferent on McCain.
3. Most buildings in the Financial District are built on 'rollers' so that in the event of an earthquake, the buildings can 'sway' with the movement, instead of 'snap in two and crumble to the ground' (as so eloquently explained by one of our business hosts).
4. Bridges are beautiful. The food is amazing. The air is clean, save for the smog that settles over the city throughout the day.
   
5. Each elevator comes with an "Earthquake" button, so in the event you're stuck in an elevator during an earthquake, you can ... um... hit a button?
   

Let's talk more about the earthquake button, for a moment. You're in an elevator. It starts to shake. It stops. You panic, and then you realize that vibration was nothing euphoric, and you've just been in an earthquake. You're in a closed space - suspended by cables likely compromised due to the recent shift in the earth's floor - and you're going to push a fucking button? And then what happens?

Unless that button is going to eject me from the elevator and land me safely on the ground, I'd prefer there be an earthquake mini bar in the elevator, or an earthquake 'you're-the-last-people-on-earth' box with candles and chocolate. If I'm going to be stuck in the elevator during an earthquake for some time, the earthquake button might as well be a useful survival tool.