EARTHQUAKE!
A fairly large earthquake has just struck the los Angeles area. The reports state it was about a 5.4 to 5.6 on the Richter scale and relatively shallow so it felt pretty strong. They are reporting that it was only 7 kilometers below the surface. It lasted at least 2 minutes from my guess. The news is saying people as far away as Las Vegas felt it as well. There are reports of some damage in some communities East of Loas Angeles.
My building in downtown Los Angeles shook pretty strongly but we are not evacuating. This was the biggest one I have felt since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake here which was a 6.8. That one did massive damage to my university there in Northridge.
Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.
Wow! I just woke up and heard about that by way of a friend who instant messaged me during the night! Are you ok over there?
ReplyDeleteWow, do you live in one of the newly refurbished lofts, by chance?? I always wanted to live downtown in one of those gorgeous Deco buildings (Eastern...ahhhh..), but because I was afraid an earthquake might severely damage them, and wasn't sure if they had been at all retrofitted (not to mention the fact that they were outrageously expensive! :) ), I never did it.
I hope you were able to recover well from it...I was terrified of a large earthquake the entire time I lived there, and the hardest one I ever felt was only about a 4. Take care!!!
Yes, I am ok. It felt pretty strong but not a really bad earthquake by California standards.
ReplyDeleteI don't live downtown, I just work there. However, all the newly retrofitted lofts have been upgraded to current earthquake standards.
I lived through the big Northridge earthquake so this was not too bad. I am not looking forward to the "big one".
I was thinking after I leave Tokyo next year about moving to Los Angeles so as to escape the "Big One" everyone says Tokyo will have in the next 20 years. Seems L.A. isn't exactly a stable place either.
ReplyDeleteThe last trembler to hit Tokyo happened when I was in the shower at midnight after coming home from a ride! I thought at first my leg was just slipping on the tub.
Hi Jason.
ReplyDeleteA "Big One" is supposed to hit LA also. The 1994 Northridge earthquake here did billions in damage and killed dozens of people. That is going to be small compared to the Big One. Moving from Tokyo to LA to avoid the Big One won't work.
But So Cal is still a great place to live. Besides, if you move somewhere else, you have to worry about hurricanes or typhoons or tornadoes, tsunamis, etc.