OMG We just had a huge Earthquake.

arlyn

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I might have felt it, but I would have written off as a big truck going by.
 

goldilocks

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I'm really close to Chino Hills too - neither of my animals jumped till I felt it (usually the dog knows way in advance) I think it's because it was such a booming jolt. Stuff fell off of shelves, but nothing too bad. Out here, we lost cell phone service till about 10 minutes ago. Did that happen to you too, Hope & techie?
 

starryeyedtiger

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Hope, i'm so glad you and everyone else is ok right now
I would have been a total basket case!!!
 

enuja

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I was in the middle of a mid-morning nap (opps!) and it woke me up. Honestly, I thought it was my cats scratching the bottom of my bed, but it wasn't quite right. When I finally did figure it out and wake up, I slowly walked to the doorway, but I think it was over by that point. My cats were quite discombobulated.

Artemis was calm by 5 minutes later, but Athena took at least 20 minutes to settle down.

I know of some comparative metabolic data on animals during earthquakes; someone I work with had a Tuna in a swim tunnel during a very small earthquake, and it was perturbed, but only after the earthquake, not before.

There is a published paper "Shaken, not stirred: a serendipitous study of ants and earthquakes" by John Lighton and Frances Duncan published in The Journal of Experimental Biology volume 208 p. 3101-3107 in 2005. Some physiologists where measuring the metabolic rates of ants doing regular behavior in the wild, and they happened to get a 7.4 mag earthquake. The ants did not predict it, and in fact did not appear to react to it. Many animals do react to earthquakes; I did, a tuna did, and my cats did, but there is no evidence that they can predict earthquakes.
 
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hopehacker

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My cats didn't seem agitated at all before the quake. They were all laying beside me, just sleeping and relaxing. When the quake hit- they all took off running. Simba seems to be the cat most shook up b the quake. He is still in his box of comfort. The other cats are back to normal.

I don't have a cell phone, but they said on TV that cell phone service went down. I know regular phone service wasn't affected by me anyway.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Oo! Glad everyone is ok! I don't know that I want to experience a real earthquake. I've felt tremmors before, but nothing more thankfully! I'll stay on my relatively quiet side of the country! (when it comes to earthquakes anyway!)
 

rianna

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Glad to see that are TCS members in the area (and their kitties!) are okay!
 

pat

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Glad that all are okay. I will never, ever forget my one WA state earthquake experience - cats didn't seem to have a clue, and neither did I until after the 3 loud booms I heard, my house began to slid back and forth on it's slab (no basement) and the walls to bow out!
 

coolcat

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Originally Posted by HopeHacker

The kitty's and I are fine. It sure mellowed out Simba.
OMG!....
...Thanks to God are you fine....

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
For you and the kittys...
 

enuja

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If, as it appears right now, there are no injuries and little damage, this is actually a really good thing. It's a moderate earthquake, but it happened during the day and everybody felt it. It's a good reminder to people in Southern California that we live in an earthquake area. There is a greater than 97% chance that Southern California will have an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 or greater in the next 30 years. We keep revising the building codes, but it's important that people be willing to pay the money to retrofit buildings to not collapse in a larger earthquake. It's been a while since southern californians really felt the ground shake.

This is a good thing, because by increasing awareness it is likely to reduce damage and loss of life in the future. 5.4 is probably about perfect as a reminder. Strong enough to shake you up, weak enough to hopefully not hurt anyone.

Now, if a 5.4 happened somewhere without the building codes we've got here, it could be a horrible disaster. And 5.4 earthquakes have killed huge numbers of people in the past and in other places. But, in Southern California, it's a good warning to stay prepared.
 

maherwoman

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We live in Pasadena, and I was also napping when it hit. I tried to get off the bed, but the rolling of the earthquake kept me from being able to get up! It was a bit crazy here...the dogs next door were barking beforehand and actually woke me up just before the earthquake hit.

Interesting morning, lol! I moved here literally within months of the Northridge quake, so this is the biggest I've felt since that one in '00 that was centered in Joshua Tree. And, I was pregnant at the time, which made it feel even worse!

Earthquakes are interesting, and I always feel fascinated afterwards...but during, I'm a mess! LOL!! I even called my daughter by my oldest sister's name at first! And I NEVER do that! It was just so disorienting, I yelled out "Becky!" instead of "Emily!", lol!

Anyway, it's good to hear how minimal the damage is, and that no one's seriously injured or perished (that we've heard so far). I did hear on the news that a guy broke his leg trying to get into a doorway, or some such...but I don't remember the details. I did see the report on the water main break in LA, though.

Hugs to everyone, and special hugs to my California kitty lovers!!

Rosie*
 

butzie

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Originally Posted by WELDRWOMN

Wow! Won't be too much longer and LA will be a suburb of San Fran! Glad you are OK!!!!!
I glad our southern friends are okay and the damage was minimal. I do like the fact that LA will be SF's suburb. (This is supposed to be comic relief!)


Loma Prieta was no joy either.

Right now, there is a fire threatening Yosemite. I remember that the time we went to Yosemite and took Mom. It was after the big fire there and the tree devastation was just unbelievable. I just hope that the fire can be contained soon, and houses and Yosemite are spared.
 

catsknowme

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Originally Posted by techiegirl

Woo Hoo! Well that was fun!


It wasn't THAT bad but it was certainly the biggest since Northridge I think. The thing with Northridge tho is that it kept going and going. At least this one was shorter.
OMG - that is so California

Of course, Orange County's building codes are much stricter than L.A.'s, so it's safer to be in those areas. The worst damage seems to be in L.A. county.
We have had a 6.5 in 1980 and a 6.4 in 1985 up here, but the building codes are so strict and our winter storms (100+mph winds and big snows) do a good job of winnowing out the weaker structures, there wasn't really any damage, except falling groceries. A big disappointment to the media

It IS a good wake-up call for the Californians who aren't ready for a big-one, which is inevitable: at least a 6.7 within 30 years

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0414203459.htm
 

judi

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Originally Posted by HopeHacker

I'm still shaking. It was a HUGE jolt. WOW I don't know what it was on the scale, but I'll bet it was at LEAST a 5.
I read that it was about 5.8.
 

ibelonginthezoo

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My POOR "cougars" had their first REAL earthquake today!!! They were SOOOOOO SCARED, especially Cali, who hid under the couch for 6 hours. Shortly after she came out, we had a knock on our door, which sent her under the couch for another 2 hours (Poor BABY). Now she's back to getting into trouble again.

Since we live only 4-5 miles from the epicenter, the shaking was VERY STRONG!!!! The quake was only a 5.4, but because it was SOOOO CLOSE to the surface, it felt more like, at least, 7.0 quake. We havent had a quake with this violent of shaking in 15 years.

The experts say that it was a warnning saying that THE BIG ONE was going to be coming soon. I hope I am FAR FAR FAR AWAY from here when it hits. I have lived in earthquake country my whole life, but I will NEVER get use to them.
 
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