I HATE quakes. I am also a native Californian and have lived here my entire 41 years, and I STILL hate them. I never get used to them. They scare the #$&* out of me. Also, the type of fault that the quakes occur on is a factor in whether or not they are 'felt' over a large span/area, along with one's actual proximity to the epicenter. Anyone who lived through the Northridge quake in 1994, I think, will agree that after that one, we will never take quakes for granted or take them lightly. That was the scariest thing I have ever been through in my life (and I have been through many quakes), and I didn't even live IN Northridge. Anyway, after that, we all learned the difference between a 'slip thrust' fault vs. the 'regular' faults that most quakes occur on. There happens to be a slip thrust fault that runs underneath Beverly Hills, and when it fires off a tiny 1.3 earthquake, you can bet I feel it even though no one else does, because it is right underneath me and the slip thrust faults are more violent, if you will. So imagine a 5.4 quake on the Beverly Hills slip thrust fault that runs underneath me. My already shaky building would collapse on my head! But what am I going to do? I can't control the quakes nor stop them. I can't spend my days worrying about the next big one - though, as Pink Budgie said, when a quake happens, that
is where my mind goes - 'Will this quake trigger another quake, like the huge Landers/Big Bear double header of 1992?'
By the way, the Orange County quakes from last night - which have continued into today - are happening on a fault that runs parallel to the Whitter Narrows fault, which, as many SoCal residents know, has produced moderately sized quakes in the past. I think we had a quake on that fault in 1987 or 1989 or something.
AND, for anyone paying attention to the news, in the last month or so there has been an 'earthquake swarm' (another fun California lingo term for all of you out-of-state DIS'ers to learn!) occurring on faults located sort of near Palm Springs, and
very close to the mighty, infamous San Andreas Fault - which is basically overdue for a huge eruption, as we are reminded by the folks at CalTech every so often. This swarm has made the scientists take notice because of its scary proximity to the San Andreas and because of how ripe the San Andreas is for a massive temblor. So far, so good. Nothing major has happened. Actually, in the last year or two, there were earthquake swarms happening in Nevada and also some other state whcih escapes me. There have been all sorts of mini-quakes in the Yellowstone area lately too (and anyone who watches those gloomy end-of-the-world shows that air on Discovery or
National Geographic from time to time knows that steady quake activity in Yellowstone could mean something very, very bad is about to happen in the fomr of a 'SuperVolcano'). And of course, there have been large quakes happening lately around the world in other countries.
So I would say that the earth is very seismically active all over these days. It is scary to think how vulnerable we all are to nature....or the cosmos. We have a massive asteroid headed fairly close to us in 2029 and again in 2036 (it is not hitting us in 2029, but it will be close enough to dip below our satellites, but the astronomers and scientists don't know about a 2036 hit yet), and the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, possibly suggesting that we will come to a mysterious end. Again, not a darn thing we can do about it. No sense in worrying. If I am meant to be swallowed up in the ground or hit by a giant asteroid, then that is how I will go out....
And I will be wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and taking pictures as I go!!
It was so large they had to shut down all the rides for inspections. Did they have to do that this time?
) and then go back to the doorway. It must have happened all very fast but it seemed like a long time to me.
