My SO has taken to calling me Oblivious Girl because I didn’t feel it. I arrived at work at noon and noticed a higher-than-usual number of people milling about outside. Whatever, that wasn’t so unusual, and besides, it was lunchtime. Then I overheard people talking about whether “it was safe to come out” and something about picking glass out of their hair.
My cell phone rang just as I was walking through the office door. “zomg! Did you feel that?!” It was my SO’s first California earthquake and he was excited. “Guh?” “Yeah, just now-- DIDN’T YOU FEEL IT??” Apparently it was strong enough to shake him in his computer chair. (The quake hit just as he had activated some kind of warp speed thing on his ship while playing EVE Online, so for a moment he was amazed by the realism of the effects. )
I honestly didn’t notice the earthquake. All I can say in my defense is I was walking to work at the time, with my iPod on, and was about 75 percent awake.
Yeah, that was probably the biggest one for me (living in Apple Valley), although it was just a notch above the one-two punch of the Big Bear and Landers earthquakes when I lived in Calimesa (AKA “South Yucaipa”).
Actually, I think I’ve felt every major quake here in SoCal since Sylmar in 1971.
Yes, you probably still could identify a quake’s magnitude within one to two points. I still can, and I’ve been out of the SoCal/Cal area for years now.
I am very sensitive to ground movement of any kind these days.
I wish I could figure out a way to test my magnitude sense; about the only thing I’ve got to do that is that the water main construction going on down the street occasionally causing shaking that I’d say is about a 2 or 2.5, I can feel some vibration but only just.
)