Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California • Hacker News Board

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#21

Post by branchless » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:09 PM UTC

appleshore wrote: post #9

I didn’t feel it in West LA but my cat became extremely spooked. He was in an ultra hunting mode, flat to the ground and scanning the room. I never seen him act like this especially for this duration. He wouldn’t eat treats or respond to anything. I wonder if it was just the vibration of the ground or if there’s some other factor alerting him.

Are you sure on the exact time? Was the cat nervous during or before? Has your cat been acting suspiciously in recent days? I think the cats are in on this.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#22

Post by rjurney » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:09 PM UTC

JDazzle wrote: post #18

ralusek wrote: post #7

I feel like we're woefully underprepared for earthquakes. It feels like pushing away technical debt on a societal scale.

There are so many building regulations, and grants to help older buildings meet standards that were not in place when they were built, awareness and education campaigns, and built-in procedures and policies in place that a regular California resident doesn't need to let the fear of an earthquake take over their life. California is as prepared as any state can be for an earthquake and it is constantly looking for bett…

Well, not really. Compared to Japan...

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#23

Post by etxm » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:10 PM UTC

I saw a picture of a pinot that fell off a shelf and broke.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#24

Post by point78 » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

kenhwang wrote: post #16

appleshore wrote: post #9

I didn’t feel it in West LA but my cat became extremely spooked. He was in an ultra hunting mode, flat to the ground and scanning the room. I never seen him act like this especially for this duration. He wouldn’t eat treats or respond to anything. I wonder if it was just the vibration of the ground or if there’s some other factor alerting him.

I felt it pretty clearly in West LA. My dog decided to roll onto her back to get a massage out of the earthquake.

Got to love the difference between cats and dogs

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#25

Post by foota » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

ngold wrote: post #20

eof wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the lack of damage from this shows a high degree of preparation. This same earthquake 50 years ago would have likely been much worse.

I was in Los Gatos for the epicenter of the 89 quake that was 6.7 I believe. It was pretty bad. It looks like this was handled much better.

6.7 is a lot stronger than a 6.4 though, as well.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#26

Post by wwweston » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

rjurney wrote: post #19

cgoecknerwald wrote: post #2

I felt this (near Caltech, Pasadena). I spent the entire duration trying to figure out what was shaking my desk. I hope this doesn't trigger anything larger. Does anybody know if this was close enough to the fault line to possibly affect anything? EDIT: I see they have updated the article to a 1 in 20 chance. [1] https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ [2] https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci3844…

Small earthquakes are a good thing, not a bad thing. They relieve stress on the fault without having a major slippage. I think.

The stress-relief model makes sense to me, but apparently it doesn't work that way:

https://www.sfgate.com/earthquakes/article/do-minor-quakes-p...

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#27

Post by reverite » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

There's a few articles that go into a loosely defined faulting area dubbed the Walker Lane[1][2][3] in which it's theorized that the East Pacific Rise (a rift), under the Gulf of California, may be expanding directly north. I know some geologists were surprised at first at the 7.4 Landers earthquake in 1994, and the article goes into that the Walker Lane seems to follow US 395, so I wonder if this is just a continuing extension of geologic activity associated with it.

[1] https://volcanohotspot.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/splitting-no...

[2] https://www.wired.com/story/walker-lane-move-over-san-andrea...

[3] http://www.bldgblog.com/2019/04/walker-lane/

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#28

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:14 PM UTC

Note that this quake was not on the San Andreas - it was in the Eastern California Shear Zone, a separate fault system near Death Valley. The epicenter was about 125 miles away from LA, and almost closer to Las Vegas (which also felt this quake). The limited damage was largely because it was far away from any populated areas - the nearest cities are Ridgecrest (pop 27,000) and Trona (pop < 2000).

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#29

Post by iscrewyou » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:15 PM UTC

rjurney wrote: post #22

JDazzle wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are so many building regulations, and grants to help older buildings meet standards that were not in place when they were built, awareness and education campaigns, and built-in procedures and policies in place that a regular California resident doesn't need to let the fear of an earthquake take over their life. California is as prepared as any state can be for an earthquake and it is constantly looking for bett…

Well, not really. Compared to Japan...

Because Japan has way more earthquakes. Relatively, we are pretty well prepared in references to buildings. Now food supplies and power? I feel like people aren’t mentally prepared for that.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#30

Post by iscrewyou » Thu, Jul 04, 2019, 8:17 PM UTC

foota wrote: post #25

ngold wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in Los Gatos for the epicenter of the 89 quake that was 6.7 I believe. It was pretty bad. It looks like this was handled much better.

6.7 is a lot stronger than a 6.4 though, as well.

If we are splitting hair, a 6.4 can technically be more dangerous compared to a 6.7 if the waves and the oscillation of the building coincide and amplify.