# Earthquake in LA **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603 "2005-06-16T20:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/21 "2005-06-16T21:46:15Z")
> [@Faruiza](#): > > I think it’s saying to eat some ice cream. What do you think? > 😃 Well, I already blamed the earthquake for the fact that I had some M&Ms. So I think you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/22 "2005-06-16T22:00:50Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Can any of you California Dopers tell me what you experience when a quake hits while you are asleep? I am talking about a minor tremor not a huge quake. A minor tremor (weaker than this one, say) probably wouldn’t wake me up, but I’m a heavy sleeper. When I’m awake, they feel like a trucked has just backed into the building by accident. That’s usually my thought too, before my brain remembers that I’m in California. Larger tremors feel like the building is being shaken like a big snowglobe. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/23 "2005-06-16T22:04:14Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Can any of you California Dopers tell me what you experience when a quake hits while you are asleep? I am talking about a minor tremor not a huge quake. I slept through a minor earthquake shortly after I moved to California. I felt left out later that day, when everyone else was talking about the earthquake and I had no story to share ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/24 "2005-06-16T22:04:58Z")
I felt it, a pretty good jolt. IAMNAG, but I have atually heard that these minor “major quakes” are actually good at preventing really big ones as they ease some of the pressure. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/25 "2005-06-16T22:07:45Z")
Oh man…I’m moving to L.A. in two months and threads like this make me really nervous about work. I think I may be in one of those highrises…are they safe in earthquakes of this magnitude? Last time I was in an earthquake was when I was really young in Quebec. They were pretty severe but it was solid bedrock so almost nothing happened in terms of damage/deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/26 "2005-06-16T22:07:55Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Can any of you California Dopers tell me what you experience when a quake hits while you are asleep? I am talking about a minor tremor not a huge quake. The only experience I can recall with being woken up by a quake occurred a few years ago in Chile, while I was visiting my sister and her family, who were living there at the time. The shaking was still going on as I woke up, and I remember my first thought was “Earthquake”, or something similar. The shaking stopped as I got out of the bed. I opened the room’s door and found everyone else had also been woken by it. My sister and brother-in-law did a quick check to be sure all was OK in the house, and everyone went back to sleep. I think the magnitude of that quake was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5. If I hadn’t had enough experience with quakes prior to that to allow my half-asleep brain to immediately realize what was happening at the time, I imagine being so woken up would have been very stressful. As it was I was able to put it out of my mind and go right back to sleep. (Of course later that morning we did plenty of talking about it.) ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/27 "2005-06-16T22:11:19Z")
Victorville reporting…yeah, I felt it…I was the calmest of the group in our office…chicks dig a calm dude in the office. 😛 As for little earthquakes at night, I sleep through some, but when I just hopped into bed and I enter twilight sleep…when an earthquake hits, you’re always thinking to yourself…“Is this gonna get stronger or is it gonna taper off…is the gentle roll gonna turn into hard jerking…should I get a pair of shorts and shoes on now or just stay in bed and ride it out?” When the Hector mine quake hit (7.0 if I recall), I was thinking that way for a good 30 seconds. That is when you start getting a little freaked out. **Silenus** or **Faruiza** , do you live on the north bench area?..that’s where it was centered…about a quarter mile north of Oak Glen Road and about a mile east of Bryant Street. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/28 "2005-06-16T22:17:05Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > I felt it, a pretty good jolt. IAMNAG, but I have atually heard that these minor “major quakes” are actually good at preventing really big ones as they ease some of the pressure. This one might relieve the pressure from a possible 6.0 in the near future, but not a 7.0+…and some earthquakes might add pressure somewhere else on the faultline. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/29 "2005-06-16T22:17:08Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Oh man…I’m moving to L.A. in two months and threads like this make me really nervous about work. I think I may be in one of those highrises…are they safe in earthquakes of this magnitude? Good thing about living in earthquake territory is that everyone knows it, and everyone plans for it. There are very strict safety codes in SF that buildings must adhere to, specifically for earthquake safety. While they’re stricter now then, say, the 70s, I wouldn’t worry. Plus there’s also a bunch of buildings and structures that are being retrofitted at any given time. I can’t imagine LA being any different. ---
**Author:** ![Pstarr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Pstarr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pstarr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/30 "2005-06-16T22:18:06Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Can any of you California Dopers tell me what you experience when a quake hits while you are asleep? I am talking about a minor tremor not a huge quake. The quake we had on Sunday night woke me up. But I didn’t realizethats what did it, I thought I just had to use the washroom. I did and went back to bed not realizing until later that day that it was a quake that woke me up. A few years ago, we had a couple of minor quakes near us and they woke us up as well, a truck backing up into the house is about the best description I have heard. Although today’s felt like a truck driving over the house slowly. Pretty Neat. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/31 "2005-06-16T22:21:40Z")
[USGS Recent Earthquake Map for 34N, 117W](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Maps/US2/33.35.-118.-116.html) Check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/32 "2005-06-16T22:24:49Z")
> [@Pochacco](#): > > Damn, all these shocks so close together are making me nervous. [I figured out why we’re having all these earthquakes](http://smallscreen.monstersandcritics.com/article_1008421.php/Filming_has_begun_on_the_sequel_to_NBC%60s_10.5). God must be a movie critic 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/33 "2005-06-16T22:27:24Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > [USGS Recent Earthquake Map for 34N, 117W](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Maps/US2/33.35.-118.-116.html) > > Check it out. Yeti, that’s your backyard, right? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/34 "2005-06-16T22:29:20Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > [I figured out why we’re having all these earthquakes](http://smallscreen.monstersandcritics.com/article_1008421.php/Filming_has_begun_on_the_sequel_to_NBC%60s_10.5). God must be a movie critic 😉 Shut your mouth, _10.5_ was fantastic! And Tony Almeida’s in it! ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/35 "2005-06-16T22:30:50Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > When the Hector mine quake hit (7.0 if I recall), I was thinking that way for a good 30 seconds. That is when you start getting a little freaked out. Yes, that was the one I was thinking of above. It hit at 1:00AM, [was a 7.2](http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/hector/) and it woke me with shaking so hard the bed was jumping around on the hardwood floors and it really sounded like a train was passing right by my apartment. That’s actually a pretty good way to think about how it feels, is to imagine living right next to railroad tracks and how bad the room would shake and how loud it would sound as the trains passed – that’s what the Hector Mine one felt and sounded like to me. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/36 "2005-06-16T22:39:03Z")
> [@Duke of Rat](#): > > Yeti, that’s your backyard, right? On that map, I’m located where the right tip of the capital “V” in “Victorville” is…which is actually where Apple Valley is located. My office is south of that “V”, where the first white line runs underneath it…That is Victorville proper. The earthquake has been downgraded to 4.9 now. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/37 "2005-06-16T22:39:06Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > Shut your mouth, _10.5_ was fantastic! I enjoyed it too. I love disaster movies, the cheesier, the better. And I had a _lot_ of fun picking apart the science in it, even though I don’t know much about geology 😃 But [the Little Man (the Chronicle’s TV critic) panned it](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/30/DDG036CKMQ1.DTL). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/38 "2005-06-16T22:49:39Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > **Silenus** or **Faruiza** , do you live on the north bench area?..that’s where it was centered…about a quarter mile north of Oak Glen Road and about a mile east of Bryant Street. I live in upper Yucaipa, but over near Calimesa. Near as I can tell, that quake was centered directly under a fellow teacher’s house. Danielle, I _told_ you to lay off the Dark Rites in the daytime! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/39 "2005-06-16T22:52:50Z")
Whenever there is an earthquake, I think someone is walking on the roof. Then I realize that it would have to be an elephant. Then I realize it’s an earthquake. By then it has stopped. Yeah, if we ever have a nice big quake…I’m screwed. I never get around to that duck and cover/hide in the doorway jazz soon enough. And as far as it building tension on other parts of the fault line- sh! I live on that other part! Don’t give it any ideas! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/40 "2005-06-16T22:56:07Z")
Palm Springs checking in - yes, it shook but not as violent as Sunday’s, whose epicenter was about 20 miles as the crow flies from here. But these two are similar in that they were not the usual rolling quakes we have here. They seemed to hit hard and keep going. I always thought we were sitting pretty here on a few kilometers of sand - this one today knocked down a small picture from my computer desk. I heard them reporting it as 4.9. Yawn. Back to my nap. Request to Og - no quakes Monday from 7:30 to 10:30 AM, while I am in surgery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603.md?page=3)