Recent Earthquake - California

[Manaz]

Hi all,

For those in the impacted area, I hope all is Ok.

 

[DCBStingerGT]

Hi all,

For those in the impacted area, I hope all is Ok.

Hi @Manaz , where was this Earthquake ?

 

[eljay]

While it was felt all over SoCal and as far away as Vegas, and is reported to be the biggest shake in two decades, it only appears to have caused real damage in the moderately-populated, somewhat-isolated area around Ridgecrest and no deaths or major injuries to people. There, one home burned, mobile homes jumped their "foundations," and places like liquor stores and groceries lost a lot of inventory. They'll be having a serious clean up. There've been c. 200 aftershocks so far, but the news hasn't reported anything like the damage from past big quakes I've been through, maybe because of the types of buildings in the Ridgecrest area.

I'm more than 100 miles away, 12 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, and it was strong enough to give my a mild sea sick feeling, since the gentle swaying lasted maybe 15 seconds. The wags are already calling it a "6.4th celebration" and given the pops and bangs I'm hearing from illegal fireworks this afternoon, it hasn't seriously cut into the Fourth of July celebrations hereabouts.

I'm guessing anyone close to the epicenter isn't on the forum today, but cleaning up and assessing damage to walls and foundations.

 

[turboAWD]

NM, eljay gave a much better response..

 

[Manaz]

Hi @Manaz , where was this Earthquake ?

Sorry - California. Thread title edited appropriately.

 

[eljay]

Sorry - California. Thread title edited appropriately.

That's OK. Those of us in CA are self-involved enough to know you didn't mean the quakes in New Guinea or Canada. But the Ring of Fire was living down to its name today.

 

[Manaz]

That's OK. Those of us in CA are self-involved enough to know you didn't mean the quakes in New Guinea or Canada. But the Ring of Fire was living down to its name today.

Yeah, I suspect it wasn't news to anyone who's there - but for others around the world, it gives a little more context.

I'm glad to hear that the damage appears to be relatively light, and the injury count should hopefully be low!

 

[Peeso33]

Bloody hell, another one, 7.1

 

[eljay]

Just downgraded to 6.9, but I'm still shaking at 7.1!

 

[Manaz]

Bloody hell, another one, 7.1

I hope all are OK.

 

[turboAWD]

Wow - crazy!

 

[robz32]

damn...stay safe Cali friends.

 

[eljay]

Magnitude's back up to 7.1.

Here near L.A. the shaking only caused a brief pause in the game at Dodger Stadium. This one was much bigger than yesterday's and lasted a loooooong time; I didn't start counting immediately, but I got to 25 before it started to abate, so we had probably 30 seconds of bouncing here in SE LA County. A friend on the Riverside/Orange County border reported more movement, but still not the kind that causes damage. Shaking tonight was felt all the way east to at least Vegas and the Mexican border to the south.

CalTech Seismology is on TV now, and our resident expert, Lucy Jones, is now calling yesterday's a foreshock, so there's a possibility of aftershocks to tonight's that are the size of yesterday's; aftershocks will go on for years. (They generally diminish in force, so we don't feel most of them.) The intensity tonight in Ridgecrest and the adjacent China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station appears to have been very intense, but again, no news from there yet. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of new damage.

Just to give an idea of the damage and the terrain along the fault, this is from yesterday:

In other words, no one is going to be driving their Stinger out there for a while.

 

[CKeeler]

Never felt either of them. And I’m surrounded by people who felt it.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Never felt either of them. And I’m surrounded by people who felt it.

Hi. What an odd way to introduce your presence. Are you saying that you are in LA and you felt NOTHING?!

 

[CKeeler]

Hi. What an odd way to introduce your presence. Are you saying that you are in LA and you felt NOTHING?!

Sorry I haven’t introduced myself. Just been lurking for a while. I’m in Riverside county 60 miles east of Los Angeles. People in my community said they felt and people in the next city over said it tumbled for near 40 seconds. Even my in laws said they’re pool was almost splashing out from it.

 

[niko]

I was at the dodger stadium while the second one happened, being a old stadium it felt like the seats were about give out. People were screaming running from underneath the pillars. It was crazy. Glad nothing happened tho and everyone was ok.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Sorry I haven’t introduced myself. Just been lurking for a while. I’m in Riverside county 60 miles east of Los Angeles. People in my community said they felt and people in the next city over said it tumbled for near 40 seconds. Even my in laws said they’re pool was almost splashing out from it.

So where were you when all this splashing business was going on?

 

[CKeeler]

My family and I were at a friends house. None of us felt it. But people down the street did

 

[eljay]

I'll never stop being amazed at how quakes work. During the biggest one in my lifetime, Sylmar, I lived 45 miles from the epicenter. I had a stack of about a dozen books stacked on a stool. The stack remained on the stool, neat as a pin, but two books had flown out of the middle of the stack and landed on the floor.

When I was teaching, there was a mild quake. I didn't feel it at all because I was walking around the room, but my seated students all felt it—eyes like saucers, ready to drop.

Still no reports of major injuries in the area around Ridgecrest, but a home and a mobile home burned, gas and electric have been out in some areas, some water lines have broken, and there's a lot of damage to homes, businesses and store inventories. And the aftershocks continue, 3000+ so far, but they're not being felt beyond the desert area, so far, fingers crossed.