Earthquake Los Angeles County

I'm trying to follow it. Hope people are ok. Seems so, so far.

My cousins live presently near the epicenter, though they've just finished building a house elsewhere. I'm not sure if they sold the old one yet, or even will sell it, as they might mean it as a rental. They had also lived near the epicenter of a big San Fernando quake some years ago. Yikes.

The quake's epicenter was near the junction of the San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties.

5.8 isn't that big, at least not in my experience, however, Northridge wasn't that "big" on the Richter scale either.

Now, Loma Prieta, at 6.9/7.0... that was an earthquake!

It's been downgraded to 5.4, though felt throughout much of the southland.

No structural damage reported so far.

Article - http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-quake30-2008jul30,0,6284507.story

My daughter Katrina lives in Los Angeles. My son Jeremy is there visiting her. I just heard from both of them. Their building was shaking, but no damage and everyone is okay.

I'm glad, wandel.

Sounds so far like it may not have been a really damaging one.

We felt it too, but it was more of a rolling earthquake than the shaking kind.

My cousins live in Yorba Linda. Note its location re Chino Hills..


I'm so glad it wasn't worse.

Lots of video at the link.

http://www.kcra.com/news/17028325/detail.html

Southern California Quake Results In Minor Injuries, Damage
Temblor Centered Near Chino Hills

POSTED: 11:50 am PDT July 29, 2008
UPDATED: 3:59 pm PDT July 29, 2008


LOS ANGELES -- A strong earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway and triggering some precautionary evacuations. Some minor damage was reported, along with five minor injuries and people stuck in elevators.

The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas.

The state Office of Emergency Services reports scattered minor infrastructure damage, including broken water mains and gas lines.

The 11:42 a.m. quake was initially estimated at 5.8 but was revised downward to magnitude 5.4, said seismologist Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena. More than a dozen aftershocks quickly followed. The largest were magnitude 3.8.

The quake was centered 29 miles east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County city of Chino Hills.

"We've had some minor reports of some water main breaks and some other service outages, but nothing of a significant enough magnitude to be a threat to life at this point," said Kelly Huston of the state Office of Emergency Services.

Freeway traffic in the area appears normal.

The OES office in Rancho Cordova was activated to help with any response to the temblor.

Huston urged people outside of the Los Angeles area not to call friends and relatives who live near the quake epicenter because phone service in the area was sporadic.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was briefed about the quake and spoke to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, police and other local leaders.

"Our state Office of Emergency Services has reached out to local governments in the affected area to ensure that levees, bridges and other critical infrastructure are inspected and declared safe," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "We are activating our regional and state emergency operations centers and will continue monitoring the situation closely."

A meeting at Los Angeles City Hall was disrupted. Workers quickly evacuated some other Los Angeles buildings.

The magnitude-5.9 Whittier Narrows quake in 1987 was the last big shake in that area. That quake heavily damaged older buildings and houses in communities east of Los Angeles.

"It was dramatic. The whole building moved and it lasted for a while," said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, who was in the sheriff's suburban Monterey Park headquarters east of Los Angeles.

As strongly as it was felt, the quake was far less powerful than the magnitude-6.7 Northridge earthquake that badly damaged the region on Jan. 17, 1994. That quake was the last damaging temblor in Southern California.

No electrical outages were reported in Los Angeles due to the quake, said Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Kim Hughes.

In Orange County, about 2,000 detectives were attending gang conference at a Marriott hotel in Anaheim when a violent jolt shook the main conference room.

Mike Willever, who was at the hotel, said, "First we heard the ceiling shaking, then the chandelier started to shake, then there was a sudden movement of the floor."

Chris Watkins, from San Diego, said he previously felt several earthquakes, but "that was one of the worst ones."

Delegates and guests at a cluster of hotels near the Disneyland resort spilled into the streets immediately after the quake.

Joseph Maddalena, who runs the historical documents and memorabilia dealer Profiles in History, was on the phone in his office in Calabasas, near Malibu, when the earthquake struck. He quickly put down the phone and ran to check on his 14-year-old son who had come to work with him as he prepared for a Thursday auction of 1,100 pieces of Hollywood movie memorabilia.

"Our building shook pretty good," he said after discovering his son and his employees were unharmed and the building was fine.

"The window in my office kind of bowed out but it's all right now. Everything is fine," he said.

Strong Earthquake Strikes Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The strongest earthquake to strike a populated area of Southern California since the 1994 Northridge quake rocked the region from Los Angeles to San Diego on Tuesday but caused only limited damage and a few injuries.

Strongly felt but considered moderate, the magnitude-5.4 jolt struck at 11:42 a.m. and centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County city of Chino Hills. It was felt as far east as Las Vegas.

Dozens of aftershocks followed, the largest a magnitude-3.8.

"And there goes the earthquake -- earthquake, earthquake, earthquake!" Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine declared as shaking interrupted a council meeting. "The building is rolling."

The magnitude-5.9 Whittier Narrows quake in 1987 was the last big shake centered in the region. That quake heavily damaged older buildings and houses in communities east of Los Angeles.

As strongly as it was felt, Tuesday's quake was far less powerful than the deadly magnitude-6.7 Northridge earthquake that topped bridges and buildings on Jan. 17, 1994. That was the last damaging temblor in Southern California, though not the biggest. A 7.1 quake struck the desert in 1999.

Merchandise toppled from store shelves and bricks fell from walls of old-style buildings, local television stations reported.

The state Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento received scattered reports of minor infrastructure damage, including broken water mains and gas lines.

"Nothing serious enough to be an immediate threat to lives, but there is some disruption to utility service," spokesman Kelly Huston said. The damage was in the greater Los Angeles area.

Minor structural damage was reported throughout Los Angeles, along with five minor injuries and people stuck in elevators, said City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, serving as acting mayor. She said there was flooding in one department store.

The California Department of Transportation and California Highway Patrol were assessing freeways to check for damage. Traffic appeared to be flowing easily, however.

"We have no reported damages or cracks to structures," said Caltrans spokeswoman Maria Raptis.

The jolt caused a fire but no injuries at a Southern California Edison electrical substation in La Habra, about 12 miles southwest of the epicenter, spokesman Paul Klein said. Damage there and to other equipment led to some power outages in Chino Hills, Chino, Diamond Bar and Pomona, he said.

Near the epicenter, all the customers of a Chino Hills Starbucks ran outside and bags of coffee beans fell off shelves, said worker Jamie Saleh, 24.

"It was very, very strong. It was rolling and ... there wasn't a pause. it came on really strong and just kep going."

Chino Hills was incorporated in 1991, so much of the construction is newer and built to modern safety standards, said city spokeswoman Denise Cattern. She said there were no reports of harm in the city of 80,000, although cell phone service in the area was disrupted. The biggest employer in town, the school district, is out of session.

I've got cousins in Long Beach and LA itself. Looks like both of those aren't too terribly close to the epicenter. Waiting to hear if they're okay.

Now they're saying it was only a 5.4. That isn't even news. It might crack a few pools and make the water slosh around funny. That's about it.

Watching the news last nightm they had video from various places and the showed a clip from the set of Judge Judy. It was kind of funny as she started shaking around and then looked confused before realizing it was an earthquake.

Yeah, she probably just thought at first her electric ben wa balls had a short.

I get your pov, cjhsa, but in the case of my cousins near the epicenter I was worried. Just heard, and only 'crockery' lost. Good.

I well remember watching the stuff in erlenmeyers and other flasks in our lab wave, and that might not have been at 5.4 that evening. I well remember other earthquakes worse, but the one with the bottles is the one that I most remember. Bottles being easier to figure than ceilings at higher magnitudes, which I also participated in.

Just read back.

Why do I bother - I took the title as I thought it was meant.

Cousins in LA are okay.

Its quite common to feel the initiation of an earthquake as if youre having some sort of attack on your Central nervous system. Many people think theyre having a stroke, then,when they realize its "just an earthquake" they feel relieved , That is , just before the panic of being in an earthquake sets in.

I was in one in Taipei once. We were at the 20th floor of a building and it began to sway. My colleagues started panicking about how he was getting really dizzy . Then he remembered that ir was an earthquke and he began laughing in a weird madman fashion. I ws more scared of him than the quake. That one was about a 4 and our Taiwanese hosts disnt even bat an eye. (They did worry about whether this American was sane though)

SIL and family, who are on holidays in California, didn't really notice it - only when they heard it in the news.
However, they had to leave their hotel in the Yosemite National Park - the fire was only three miles away - shortly after they arrived there.