# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**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, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/41 "2005-06-16T22:58:13Z")
Forget 4.9; as far as I can tell from the USGS website it’s been downgraded to [3.7](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/quakes_big.html). It’s the incredible disappearing earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/42 "2005-06-16T23:09:19Z")
This is the third recent CA earthquake (well, that 7 pointer up in way northern CA may not count much) that I’ve been inside and wide awake for and yet somehow completely missed. Have I really become that jaded? ---
**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 17, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/43 "2005-06-17T00:39:27Z")
> [@Orbifold](#): > > Forget 4.9; as far as I can tell from the USGS website it’s been downgraded to [3.7](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/Quakes/quakes_big.html). It’s the incredible disappearing earthquake. Look right below that 3.7. The 3.7 was an aftershock, which I also felt, but figured was a truck. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/44 "2005-06-17T00:48:13Z")
> [@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? Quite safe. Many of the buildings are built on rollers, so it’s a weird feeling during a quake, but it apparently absorbs/dissipates the energy so that the building doesn’t crack or something. They have told us that we are actually safer in the building than on the ground during a quake. I’m in a 50 story building, near the top. When you get here, ask your new coworkers about the quake; they’ll tell you all about how your building will feel during one. But, really, I’d be more worried if I were at home (shorter building, nearer the ground, no rollers) than at work for a major quake. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/45 "2005-06-17T02:13:23Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > Definitely. Eating ice cream can solve all the world’s problems. Especially mint chip. Mmmmmmm. My favorite flavor—just had it yesterday. Evidently I was a bit premature. ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/46 "2005-06-17T02:22:15Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > Look right below that 3.7. The 3.7 was an aftershock, which I also felt, but figured was a truck. Whoops, you’re right. That wasn’t there last time I looked; I must have caught the list between updates. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/47 "2005-06-17T02:25:16Z")
I live over 100 miles from Yucaipa but still felt a pretty strong jolt. In fact it was so sharp and over so quickly, I thought it was something more local in the 4.0-4.5 range. Usually I’m pretty good at guessing the magnitude/distance of an earthquake, but this one threw me. I suppose the local stations are desperate for breaking news now that the Michael Jackson trial’s over and no rich, white, pretty women have gone missing recently, because they broke into programming and carried live, unbroken coverage all afternoon long. Even CNN had an hour-long “Breaking News” segment. Guys, guys! A 5.3 quake in California is NOT THAT BIG A DEAL. It’s like a mild hailstorm in Kansas or six inches of snow in Boston. Gets your attention, but that’s about it. At least I got to see Lucy Jones at the USGS press conference again, she’s such a sweetiepie. I did want to smack around that journalist who asked, “So is there any danger of a tsunami from this earthquake?” (Lucy’s answer: “Ummmm…no.”) And then there’s that random caller who said she was finally updating her earthquake preparedness kit, including fresh bottled water and…life jackets. In case of tsunami. WTF??? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/48 "2005-06-17T03:06:09Z")
_sigh_ Missed another one. ☹ > [@KGS](#): > > At least I got to see Lucy Jones at the USGS press conference again, she’s such a sweetiepie. I did want to smack around that journalist who asked, “So is there any danger of a tsunami from this earthquake?” (Lucy’s answer: “Ummmm…no.”) And then there’s that random caller who said she was finally updating her earthquake preparedness kit, including fresh bottled water and…life jackets. In case of tsunami. WTF??? Actually, I’ve heard that SoCal should expect a tsunami from time to time… … Just not one caused _on the land mass!_ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/49 "2005-06-17T04:06:25Z")
Cool, my first earthquake. I’m in Seal Beach on business and I was in a meeting when it hit. Only lasted 5 seconds or so. After the first couple of bumps, we all thought a truck backed into the loading dock downstairs, but it went on a little too long for that. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/50 "2005-06-17T04:13:51Z")
OK, so I’m way late to this thread. I work on the 13th floor of my building in downtown LA. It was an odd coincidence that someone slammed a door in our office just when the quake hit – we were very confused for a minute. Anyway, I’ve lived here all 30 years of my life, so quakes, particularly of that magnitude, are nothing new. But it was the first time I was that high up in a building when one struck. The last quake we had where I was on the 5th floor of a building, it was a very gentle swaying, and you truly got a sense of how the highrises sit on rollers. Made me a little dizzy, honestly. Today was a different story. No swaying. That sucker hit and bumped us up and down. Brief, but it seemed pretty violent. On the other hand, my wife, who was working a solid 35 miles closer to the epicenter than I was at the time, said it didn’t feel like much to her. Go figure. ---
**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 17, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603/51 "2005-06-17T17:53:54Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > 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). One thing that was utterly disgusting about that movie is that when they did the scene in “San Bernardino” (where the last nuke fell and got stuck halfway down the shaft, they actually had the gall to make San Berdoo look like this heavily forested plain, which really cheats the viewer for seeing the city for what it actually is…a dirty, rat infested slum for a quarter million schleps. Shame on them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-la/308603.md?page=2)