Footage of terrifying underwater earthquake called ‘nightmare fuel’ by viewers
We all know what an earthquake looks like on land - cracking through the ground and tearing down buildings.
But have you ever thought about what it might look like underwater?
That's a whole different kettle of fish. It's still chilling, just in a whole new way.
A Reddit post has gone viral in the subreddit Damnthatsinteresting, with the user Tw1stedWeav3r saying the video shows a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.
At the beginning of the clip, a group of divers is seen peacefully swimming, looking at the fish and coral around.
Advert
Then things take a turn - sand starts billowing up from the bottom and a loud noise is heard.
This increases to a crescendo - sand is everywhere, the divers hang onto rocks so they're not swept away and the fish are seen wildly swimming around.
To put this in perspective, a 7.2 on the Richter scale is no slouch - according to Michigan Tech, anything between 7.0 and 7.9 is classed as a 'major earthquake' and can cause 'serious damage'.
It's an eerie video, and one that's stirring up a lot of conversation on the post that has more than 30k votes.
"That would be an odd experience," the top comment on Reddit reads - and it seems like everyone agrees.
"Right? Like some of those people probably have no idea what just happened. On land you can recognize immediately what an earthquake is. But in the ocean, it especially moved so fluidly in one direction it’d take me a while to get a grasp on what just happened," another Redditor wrote.
Many are trying to work out how an underwater earthquake might actually feel.
"I imagine there would be some significant noise and water pressure/movement disruption so they would likely have a sensory cue also," one person suggested, while another agreed: "Much like a subwoofer bass, you’ll definitely feel the pressure wave pass right through you."
Experiencing an earthquake looks relatively safer underwater than on land, but some commenters are speculating whether there are any hidden dangers.
A comment reads: "I was just wondering if the pressure waves could be potentially dangerous underwater. I know explosion shockwaves hit much harder underwater, and ones that would have had little to no effect on land might collapse your lungs or break bones underwater."
Other Redditors are more succinct in their analysis of the video: "New fear unlocked," one said, and another called it "the most interesting nightmare fuel I’ve seen in a while".
Whether it's on land or in the sea, we're pretty sure we'd like to avoid earthquakes altogether, thanks very much.