I felt it up here in Santa Barbara. I was outside and it was a nice rolling feeling for at least 5 seconds or so. I said immediately, 5.0, 100 miles away. Boy, I’m good!
That would be me. Once I realized it wasn’t serious and no one appeared to be hurt from it, I was thinking, “I’m going to be in Los Angeles for Blizzcon in October! What if another one hits?!?” Floods, hurricanes, tornados, I’m good. I generally expect the earth to stay put. 
During the March after Northridge I was at a huge Trek convention (Yes, I’m a geek!) in Pasadena when we had the biggest aftershock we’d had in a while, something like a 5. I was sitting when it started and just sat there waiting for it to stop; it was a looooong one. The out-of-towners were freaking out, but the rest of us were like, “Yep, that was a good one!” 
It’s been long enough I suspect I’d be freaking a bit if I was in something like that again, but I think I wouldn’t go running out of a bathroom in my underwear in public! That poor woman.
You mean when did I stop being a moderator? Ages ago. Can’t remember exactly when, it’s been so long.
As other people have said, one of the scary things about the earthquake, when you feel it, is that you are thinking that this might be a huge earthquake with an epicenter right away.
Also, for me, is the fear that even a mild one can do some damage if it lasts a long time, and this one was going for several seconds.
I was 5 for Loma Prieta and I remember it fairly well. We were in the backyard, and my instinct to get under the table kicked in, so I immediately ran toward the house.
You guys are all okay? No injuries out there?
(CNN was freaking out about this on the afternoon, which meant I was freaking out for about 10 seconds before I realized the cute newscaster was saying things like “…ground shook for less than 30 seconds”, “nobody noticed”, “no reports of casualties or damages yet”. So now I’m just bemused.)
I’m always in my car for the good rolly ones. pout
… epicenter far away. far away!!!
I missed this one, though I’m a native Californian and was here in Reno for that macro-cluster we had a couple of months ago.
My sister sent me a text message that said:
And I thought: what? Was this text message even meant for me? But clarification swiftly came. So I’ve called my Mom & Dad, who live in Diamond Bar (not that far from Chino Hills, nor the epicenter). They were at work, of course. I got Mom’s report: They did evacuate the buildings at Disneyland to check for gas leaks, and some of the attractions’ computers took them 101. Disneyland itself was not evacuated, however, and things were back to normal very quickly. Dad hasn’t reported in, though I’m sure he’s fine, and neither of them have been home yet.
I won’t think that I miss earthquakes sometimes, though, because I had been feeling homesick for shake-and-bake when the last macrocluster hit.
That’s a pretty cool side effect, really.
I channel-surfed immediately after the quake, and was surprised that no one used the usual smartass cliches, such as “Whole lotta shakin’ going on” and “All shook up” and “Shake, rattle and roll”
Earthquakes seem to bring out the tiredest cliches from news people.
Yikes! I’m glad to hear everyone’s okay!
I wasn’t here for Northridge, but the most violent shaking I’ve experienced here was the Hector Mine quake, at 7.1. That sucker felt and sounded like a massive freight train was inches from my window. My bed was shaking so hard I couldn’t get out of it!
I, too, grew up in the midwest (St. Louis), and I’ve actually experienced more earthquakes there than I have here, interestingly enough. One of them made my bed bounce across the hardwood floor so hard that it ended up a couple of feet away from the wall by the time it was over.
I actually got out of bed for Northridge, after I heard stuff falling over.
A friend of mine (whose birthday is today, oddly enough) was thrown out of bed by Northridge.
What most people don’t factor in though is that that reporter, Jim Cantore, is 47% cardboard.
All this talk of getting shaken out of beds and reinvigorated grandfather clocks has me jealous of your environs. Oh to live in a quake zone again. I remember a dynamic Earth thread I started where a poster told of sitting on a Pac coast mountain ridge and, as an earthquake hit the area, hearing the land come rumbling from beyond a distant vista, toward, and eventually past her. Ah… I’m not sure I ever could have moved from the spot, alive, grounded and with little prospect of things ever possibly getting any more amazin’.
When the shaking stopped, we all looked around and I said 5.5. Looks like I was pretty close.
No damage out in Chatsworth, but it was a good shake. I used to mountain bike in Chino hills. Man that would have been a ride.
Best comment about the 94 Northridge quake was in the LA Times the next morning. They sent a reporter to get quotes from guests a high end hotel in Warner Center (Woodland Hills area)
He got a quote from a bride who had spent her wedding night in the hotel. It’s all my fault, the earth moved
I was up near the top of one of the high rises in downtown LA, and the shaking was pretty amazing that high up. It felt like it started slow, and then built up, and then kept rocking for a while. Our building is not built on rollers, so the shaking was pretty unnerving since I knew it wasn’t designed to do that. One of my coworkers was seriously freaked out. The earthquake was right before noon, and no one wanted to take the elevator down to grab lunch in case there was an aftershock.
I was home for the one we had a few years ago; I remember sort of half-waking up as my house slammed down into the ground and hoping the shaking would stop soon so that I wouldn’t have to get up.
That was an excellent headline. But I wasn’t really interested in the paper the morning after that quake, I guess. I was just thrilled to see the sun come up, let alone see a paper. It was damned dark when it hit and it seemed like forever until the sun came up. Longest, what, three hours? of my life.
I got very good at estimating aftershock magnitudes. When you have them for several months, I guess you sort of develop a sense for them. And the phone conversations that went, (Them)“Blah blah blah…whoa, there was an aftershock! You’re going to get it in a second!” brief pause (Me)“Oh, yeah, nice rolling one!” I wonder if I still have that talent. It’s been years since I felt a quake of any size at all.
Earthquakes are surreal.
We had a vase fall off a shelf in the garage and break, and that was the extent of our damage. A few things fell over in the house, but nothing of moment.
This thing about the Great Shakeout in November sounds really interesting, but it also gives me the creeps imagining just how bad things really could be. It’s about the only thing that makes me wish I lived closer to the coast instead of inland.
I remember being really freaked out after the Northridge Quakes when Dr. Lucy told us that WASN’T the Big One. I was like, “How could it possibly be WORSE?!”