This Morning's Earthquake/ Malibu

[CallMeKate]

I hope anyone living near Malibu is safe this morning. It's too early to have damage/injury reports yet. (Prelim estimate for magnitude is 4.2... there have also been a few aftershocks.) I've only felt one here in the northeast US... it was the big one centered in Virginia in... I think 2011.

 

[WhatInThe]

Didn't they just have a 2.5 this week? Let alone several over the last 6 months. Waves of quakes normal or one step closer to the big one?

 

[Nathan]

More rain=more water weight in the aquafiers. That causes more quakes. Few Quakes during drought years.

 

[Been There]

I wasn’t living here in Virginia in 2011, but people around me have told me their stories about the types of damages they got from the 2011 earthquake. Supposedly, we don’t live on a fault line, so I don’t know if we could have a serious quake or not.

 

[CallMeKate]

I wasn’t living here in Virginia in 2011, but people around me have told me their stories about the types of damages they got from the 2011 earthquake. Supposedly, we don’t live on a fault line, so I don’t know if we could have a serious quake or not.

That's the only one I ever felt... and I was in PA! I was at my computer and I thought the cat bumped the bottom of my chair... but then I saw she was sleeping at the other side of the room. Hubby who was on the top floor of an office building and felt the "swaying" called right away and asked it I felt it here... I was shocked to hear it was centered a few states away. @Been There

 

[Don M.]

At some point....probably centuries from now....the San Andreas Fault may turn much of California into an "island". The earth is always changing, and every locale has some environmental "risk". Even here,, in the middle of the country, there is a risk of a major earthquake from the New Madrid Fault.

 

[jujube]

I made it through one bad earthquake when I was living in Turkey. I had just found out that morning that I was pregnant, so it was a doubly-scary event.

 

[bowmore]

We live 10 miles from Malibu and slept through it.

 

[CallMeKate]

We live 10 miles from Malibu and slept through it.

Glad to hear that, @bowmore ! When the first reports came out that I heard, they were going to be checking for structural damage after the sun came up... hoping there was no damage.

 

[Myrtle]

Glad it wasn’t worse. I’ve never been in an earthquake an I hope to keep it that way.

 

[win231]

We live 10 miles from Malibu and slept through it.

Same here - 20 miles from it. Felt nothing.
I don't think 4.2 is enough to cause much damage.

 

[Devi]

Meh. While we were in California, a 4.2 wasn't much of anything at all. It had to start at 5.0 to even begin to get exciting.

 

[Tish]

I lived through the Newcastle earthquake measuring 5.6 in 1989, it was terrifying.

 

[Devi]

I should say that we were in California's 1994 Northridge Earthquake which hit 6.8 where we were. Now, that was something.

 

[win231]

I should say that we were in California's 1994 Northridge Earthquake which hit 6.8 where we were. Now, that was something.

Sure was exciting. 6 miles from me. I drove to work that morning through Coldwater Canyon. Saw lots of damaged homes & streets.
When I got to work, the place was a mess & after several big aftershocks, the few people that were there went home.
There was no water & some dirtbags were selling bottled water for $40.00/bottle.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

This is the first I'm "hearing" about it. I've never experienced a quake but my good friend in Cali felt a minor one. There are fault lines running through N.J. Even when the 2011 quake in VA happened (linked article) and was felt all the way up to Jersey, we didn't feel it in our area.
https://www.nj.com/weather/2016/08/5_years_ago_big_earthquake_shook_the_ground_in_nj.html
From a newspaper article in 2017:
"Northern New Jersey, which straddles a significant ancient crack in the Earth's crust known as the Ramapo Fault, recorded 16 earthquakes last year, an unusually high number for the area."
https://www.northjersey.com/story/n...among-most-active-earthquake-zones/678332001/
I'll be looking for more news reports about the Malibu quake.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

That's the only one I ever felt... and I was in PA! I was at my computer and I thought the cat bumped the bottom of my chair... but then I saw she was sleeping at the other side of the room. Hubby who was on the top floor of an office building and felt the "swaying" called right away and asked it I felt it here... I was shocked to hear it was centered a few states away. @Been There

N. E. PA, here. Yup, I was watching TV when that happened. I thought something big must have exploded, but there was sound- so no explosion.
Poor California. Rain may cause earthquakes, no rain causes draught-those guys can't win.

 

[win231]

After the big Northridge quake, madam to the stars - Heidi Fleiss was interviewed. She said she didn't feel the earthquake.
The interviewer asked her, "How could you sleep through a major earthquake?"
She said, "My bed doesn't move for less than $1,000.00."

 

[Sunny]

4.2 isn't a particularly strong earthquake. When I lived in WA state, we had a 6.1. No houses fell down, and to my knowledge, no one was hurt. Lots of things fell off shelves, lots of furniture overturned, etc. I was outside at the time, and the ground started shaking in a weird way. At first, I thought there was something going on with me (maybe I'm having a stroke!) but then I looked up and saw people running out of all the buildings, which seems to be what everybody instinctively does in an earthquake.

I think if houses are strong and sturdy, they can withstand a surprising amount of shaking.