EarthQuake

5.0 It felt bigger but we were closer than usual.

GW

I felt it in Carlsbad CA.

I live in Temecula, about an hour east of Los Angeles, and I felt it. I hope everyone is OK.

I live near Redlands and didn't feel it at all. Obviously it wasn't on the San Andreas fault (which I live almost on top of). I hope no one here suffered serious damage to either their person or their homes.

I am about 8 miles from the epicenter so I felt it. It drove my Oscar fish wild! I had to go and hug the fish tank for it to calm down lol

Are you kidding? That was nothing!

Two five mags. Be careful - that can be indication of a bigger one coming. Most of the time not so don't get panicky. Just be ready. Cascadia subduction zone is just above you and that is way overdue for a big shake. The plates seem to be shifting in a few areas of the world right now so you might just get a few more. Hopefully they will stay at 5 mag and under.

Am I reading this right?

Los Angeles Earth Quake recorded a few hours ago

3.1 - 4.7 4 hours ago. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/...ci10410401.php

2.7 in Las Vegas <--- gee, that's all I need, I was gonna buy a house there in the coming months.

I've only been living in California about a year now, so the whole earthquake thing is weird to me. It does worry me though that there hasn't been a HUGE quacke in quite some time, and me thinks we might be due for something soon. I hope not though.

Back east we had tornadoes, but usually there was a fair enough warning for those....quackes...not so much.

I'm in Valencia and I didn't feel a thing. Hopefully everyone is ok.

i just seen it on the news...sounds like all is well. I guess just par for the course.

Thom - There's a few fault lines out there that might get iffy.
Cal is on converging plates - N. Cal is part of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Right now our magnetic pole is moving very rapidly (for a pole) toward Siberia. As magnetism in rocks starts to align with the magnetic pole - the physical pole starts to shift as well. So now we have the physical pole starting to shift - BUT - now we also have the technology to understand the mantle a bit better and the rotation of the mantle is also shifting.
In other words, we are starting to get true polar wander - which means we have plate shifting in reaction to centrifugal force.
We are going to get quakes - possibly some major ones at the plate boundaries. Back in 2006 we had a major bout of 8 mag quakes - 6 within a year timespan (9 months, I think it was) which is an unprecidented number within our history.
The pole is still moving, though, so we can expect more turmoil.

Now Kevin - You are sitting on the S. end of the Kermadec Islands - which are the edge of a subduction zone that runs all the way up to Alaska off the coast of Russia, so you are used to the quakes too, but here's the fun stuff for Japan:

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, stretching from BC to N Cal is overdue for a Mag 8 - 9 quake (Uh....Ken...that will level Seattle. It sits on sediment and there is a fault running through the middle that is connected to the plate subduction area. Planning on staying there long?)
In 1710 there was a mag 9 on the subduction zone - and it sent a killer tsunami to Japan. Recent studies are indicating how large that tsunami was and if the same thing were to take place today, you will have a major catastrophe in Japan. I have no idea how long it would take for a tsunami resulting from a Cascadia slip to hit. Your people might have a chance to evacuate. Who knows? They only recently gained the info that the tsunami of that year was the result of a quake here.

Damnit, you guys have me reading about earthquakes instead of working. Found an interesting map on page 2 of this document. http://www.terrapub.co.jp/e-library/scpb/pdf/025.pdf

I think I'll be moving to Oregon, well south of Portland and east of the coastal mountains.

Back to work...

John

Earthquakes aren't so bad you get use to them pretty quickly. If we lived in another country like Iran then it would be nightmare. Our buildings are made pretty well.