NASA Gives 99-Percent Probability Of 5.0 Earthquake In LA

losangeles.cbslocal.com ^ | October 20, 2015 11:21 PM | STAFF

[Finny]

I’d consider a 5.8 to be enough to write home about, fer sher!! And an aftershock, to boot? Oh well ... part and parcel of being a Californian.

[Jeff Chandler]

The Sylmar quake woke us up. We were in a ranch style house about 20 miles southeast of L.A., and the house was shaking horizontally, like somebody shaking a box of Cracker Jacks. It was loud. The dogs went crazy and my mother ran out into the living room screaming to get under the kitchen table. I got out of bed and discovered it was impossible to walk, so I went back to bed and rode it out. It almost emptied my aquarium.

I went to (high) school that morning and they called us out of class into the square to tell us they were indeed having school that day, so some friends and I left and went to have some fun at the beach.

I know what you mean about the fear. It’s a primal fear, deep in the gut, the kind I imagine a caveman felt when he was about to be eaten by a lion.

I do not like earthquakes.

[Finny]

It was a good day to go to the beach! Good choice! Thanks for sharing the story with me. I remember in the Northridge one, which hit at something like 4 in the morning, running up the hallway to the "safe" spot in a closet, and the floor shifting underneath me, left to right, like in a carnival fun-house. Except it wasn't very damned fun!

[Lou L]

I have experienced a 4.7 quake in the mid 1980’s in Southern Cal. It came at night, and definitely woke me up. I was being a little glib with my comment, meaning only that California is pretty used to 5.0 quakes.

[Finny]

I agree with you — to me, a 5.0 is kinda wimpy, as far as quakes go if you’re in a half-way modern structure. I suppose it would be disaster, though, for certain kinds of structures. A 5.0 in a third-world setting would probably do lots more damage.