[valve bouncer]

Hopefully he likes quakes that are low level where no one gets hurt.

Here in So Cal we do tend to get complacent about them since we have so many of them. We haven't had a really BIG quake in a long time and I think that sometimes we forget how deadly a quake can be.

The Whittier quake was a bit scary, being kinda close to the epicenter in Rosemead. I remember jumping on my bike and riding around town seeing broken glass everywhere and houses with collapsed porches, and chimneys.


I am certainly glad I wasn't close to the epicenter of the Northridge Quake in 94. I sure felt that one.

The magnitude is essentially useless for measuring the intensity that *you* felt during a particular earthquake. The Japanese do use magnitude but they also use a system that tells you the power of that earthquake where you are on a scale of 1 to 6+. Anyway read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale
Far more relevant scale imo.
We had one here in 2001 that I felt as 5+ (6.8 magnitude)....the most unpleasant 20 or so seconds of my life.

 

[Westy]

The magnitude is essentially useless for measuring the intensity that *you* felt during a particular earthquake. The Japanese do use magnitude but they also use a system that tells you the power of that earthquake where you are on a scale of 1 to 6+. Anyway read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Meteorological_Agency_seismic_intensity_scale
Far more relevant scale imo.
We had one here in 2001 that I felt as 5+ (6.8 magnitude)....the most unpleasant 20 or so seconds of my life.

Bad time to be sitting on a fencepost eh?

 

[valve bouncer]

Bad time to be sitting on a fencepost eh?

Bah, wasn't me who had to dig the splinters out.
Actually, was a bad time to be on the 4th floor of a shopping centre with a glass atrium above your head. I know that the higher up you are the more the building will shake, that's what it's supposed to do, but I remember distinctly thinking "this building is going to collapse any second now".

 

[Nick]

I felt this one.

I felt that one too ... and I was 120+ miles away in Littleton NH.
I was in San Marino in SoCal many years ago at my Mom's old place and felt a 'small' quake, which was strong enough to make waves in her pool. Freaked me out.