Today is the 14 th anniversary of the big quake at 431AM. I thought it was a nuclear bomb going off and suddenly realized the ground was shakening VERTICALLY up and down. Thankfully, I was in a safe structure with nothing heavy above. Got out of the house before the aftershocks. The aftershock could do the worst damage after the main quake. Then, again, sometimes there are pre shocks. Quiz: Is it better to escape the building during the quake or wait until it stops? Do you know where to go where it's safe?
One should be ready for the next big 8.0 quake due here. It's now been 151 years since the 1857 Fort Tejon quake which was 7.9 on the richter scale. A big one should be due in the next 20 years. If there's an 8.0 quake then the aftershock will likely be 7.3 on the richter scale. This is still much more powerful than the 6.7 Northridge earthquake.
California has a whole "spaghetti" system of earthquakes scrunced in behind the San Andreas fault. All are ready to release energy at any time.
The 5.9 quake in Rio Hondo was pretty vicious in 10/87. This one had a more horizontal slide and shake motion. 730A in the morning.
I remember the shaker in 9/01...two of them about 5 something on the richter scale.
Get ready...know where to turn of gas and electrical. Have back up water and food. Have a battery operated radio. Know what to do if the city has a 2 week black out (rolling black outs). And so on...an earthquake prepared kit may be available on the market.
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I was fully awake, having a cigarette on the balcony of our townhouse in Glendale when the Northridge earthquake hit. We had stayed up watching the entire "Lonesome Dove" mini-series. The house structure made noises I never want to hear again as we hugged tightly in the upstairs hallway. Afterwards, as we walked outside and looked at all the other scared faces of our neighbors, it felt very surreal. My emergency preparedness kit is about 60% complete and includes a crank radio.
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