As SoCal goes we’re not in incredible earthquake danger. The faults lie elsewhere… or so we’ve been told. Still, it’s tough to be a new Californian and not be a little obsessed over earthquakes.
The map at the top of this entry shows all the tiny quakes from the last 24 hours.
Earthquake Alert is already installed on my tablet. The filters have been adjusted to show everything “local.”
California shakes often. Most times the shakes are too small to care about. Without sensitive instruments they’d pass unnoticed.
What an earthquake feels like depends on many factors: the magnitude, your distance from the hypocenter (considering the depth of the quake), the type of soil or rock you are on, the building you are in or if you are outdoors & what you are doing at the time. Under ideal conditions, you are lying or sitting still in an upper floor, right on top of a shallow earthquake, you might feel a 1.8 if you were paying attention. Usually, however, it takes at least a magnitude of 2.0 for multiple people to notice a quake & recognize it as a quake. A 4.0 usually gets a lot of public attention if it happens under a populated area.
Stef has lived in California over three years. She has yet to feel one. The last one I felt was when I visited California at age 18.
People here tend to be blasé about the little ones and fearful of “the big one.” I’m fearful of any one. I’m a quake newbie.
