Sitting on a Powder Keg

We had what on the Richter Scale would be a small earthquake on Monday, but the effect where I live was a sudden loud jolt followed by several seconds of shaking.  My first reaction was that something had exploded nearby.  I knew the Newport-Inglewood fault that runs down the coast has a lot of potential for a devastating quake, but never knew the fault that gave us Monday's jolt has equal potential and is a lot closer:

Monday's temblor, centered in the southern suburb of Laguna Niguel, could be the first measured on a fault discovered only 13 years ago and running along the coast from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa to San Juan Capistrano — close to the San Onofre nuclear power plant.

The little-known fault — called the San Joaquin Hills thrust — is similar to the fault that triggered the deadly Northridge quake in the San Fernando Valley 18 years ago.

Unlike the famous San Andreas fault, which can be seen on the surface, the fracture in the earth's crust that makes up the San Joaquin Hills thrust fault is entirely underground. Because there is no visible break in the earth's crust at ground level, the fault is perhaps more dangerous because it's unclear exactly where the boundaries are.

Scientists weren't aware of the blind thrust faults that triggered the 6.7 Northridge earthquake in 1994, or the 6.0 Whittier Narrows quake in 1987, until after the ground began shaking.

Experts say Monday's temblor should serve as a wake-up call, particularly to Orange County residents who mistakenly believe that quakes are more of an L.A. problem. Scientists believe that the San Joaquin Hills thrust fault is capable of generating a magnitude 7 quake or greater.

If a 7.0 let go on that fault I'm not sure much of South and Central Orange County would survive. I was surprised at the violence of Monday's small quake - a 7.0 would be a ride I definitely don't want to take.

If That Was a 3.9, I Don't Want to Be Around for the Big One

At 10:37 there was a loud bang followed by several seconds of shaking.  I thought we'd just had a pretty big earthquake.  I'm not usually scared by those things, but that one got my attention.  It sounded like something exploded very nearby.

Reports are it was only 3.9, but it was centered down near San Juan Capistrano which isn't very far away. It was also fairly shallow - lots of energy released not too far away. Really rattled the house.  The cat didn't care much for it either.

Washington Is a Disaster Area, but Not For the Reason Obama Approved

How self-centered are they in Washington?  From the Daily Caller:

Obama's shake-up shakedown -- Good news for DC residents who are still picking their way through the shattered wreckage of this once-beautiful city, now ravaged by the earthquake last August. Help is on the way, thanks to Emperor Obama! TheDC's Neil Munro reports: "Obama declared D.C. a disaster zone Tuesday because of the August 23 earthquake that damaged some pinnacles and a gargoyle on an Episcopal cathedral, frightened some zoo animals, dropped some bricks into an alleyway alongside Ecuador's embassy, and cracked the stones near the top of the Washington Monument. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the town of Mineral, Va. But the town's application for disaster aid was rejected by the federal government, even though the nearby high school and elementary school are damaged and unusable, said Bernice Wilson Kube, Mineral's vice-mayor... Virginia suffered roughly $150 million in uninsured damage from the earthquake, mostly due to damaged buildings. Washington D.C., however, was granted the lucrative status of 'major disaster,' according to a White House email sent Tuesday afternoon. 'The President today declared a major disaster exists in the District of Columbia and ordered Federal aid to supplement the District of Columbia recovery efforts in the area affected by an earthquake during the period of Aug. 23-28, 2011,' read the message. That declaration ensures the nation's taxpayers are on the hook for three-quarters of whatever damages the local government can attribute to the earthquake." Turns out all the West Coast folks who said DC overreacted to the quake were right. They were just a few months early. You've heard of crony capitalism? This is crony tectonics.

Pathetic.

5.6 Earthquake in Oklahoma

UPDATE: USGS has upgraded the quake to 5.6.

Looks like this morning's quakes were foreshocks for this event:

A 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck near Oklahoma City in the Midwest, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Saturday.

The USGS initially reported the quake as a 5.8 magnitude.

The quake was a shallow 3.1 miles deep and was centered 4 miles east of Sparks, which is east of Oklahoma City.

I'm reading reports of people feeling the shaking all the way from St. Louis to Fort Worth. Lots of people in Oklahoma City reported hearing it too.  This might explain it:

The #earthquake east of Oklahoma City was quite shallow, thus it was able to travel longer distances and create the roar

This is now the strongest quake in Oklahoma history. Most of the country is turning back their clocks tonight. Oklahoma is turning back geologic eras.

UPDATE:

Lincoln County Emergency Management is reporting significant damage in the southern parts of the county. In some cases chimneys have collapsed through the roofs of homes. Damage to the Prague library includes collapsed air condition ducts and a collapsed wall.

Several roadways have buckled, including Highway 62 and other county roads.

There has been no word on any injuries reported.

Today Oklahoma Will Be Warmer and Shakier Than Southern California

My relatives in Oklahoma got a taste of what living in So Cal is like:

At least three earthquakes shook much of central Oklahoma early Saturday, rousing people from their sleep as far away as Kansas City.

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 2:12 a.m., with an epicenter about six miles north of Prague in southern Lincoln County, according to a report from the United States Geological Survey. A 3.4 magnitude aftershock was reported at 2:27 a.m. from the same location, the survey reported. The survey also reported a 2.7 magnitude quake at 2:44 a.m.

Chatter on social media sites Facebook and Twitter and NewsOK.com indicated the quake was felt as far away from the epicenter as Bethany, Oklahoma City, Norman, Tulsa, Wichita, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo.

4.7 will certainly get your attention, and judging from Facebook, it did.

While Southern California Practices, Northern California Has the Real Thing

Today was the California ShakeOut, a statewide earthquake drill that occurred at 10:20 this morning.  Just to keep everybody on their toes, at 2:41 there was a 4.2 earthquake centered near Berkeley in Northern California.  It looks like the quake was located on a major fault zone, so for the next couple of hours people should stay alert in case this was one of the 5% of quakes that is a foreshock for a larger event to come.

UPDATE:  The quake has now been downgraded to 3.9.

How Would You Like to Be at the Top of the Washington Monument in an Earthquake?

Some folks were and the security video shows some scary scenes:

Political Tweet of the Day

From Charles Krauthammer:

Earthquake, hurricane, Obamacare. When does it stop? Seven more and I vote we let the Israelites go.

Obama, Earthquake and Hurricane - Strike Three for DC!

As I was out running around I heard a 5.8 magnitude earthquake had hit the Washington DC area and everything  was shutting down.  Capitol Hill, the Pentagon...even JFK Airport in NYC, 200 miles away!

Boy, those East Coasters are a bunch of wimps.  In California a 5.8 wouldn't even make me look up from my computer.

No, the earth did not open up and swallow the town, but there's a 5% chance that quake was a foreshock so there's still hope.

However, it was a big deal for them and I'm sure a celebrity telethon is now in the planning to pay for all their psych treatment bills.

Obama has been enough of a disaster in that town, then you have an earthquake, and this weekend a possible hurricane.  Strike three.

In honor of today's quake, I'll rerun my earthquake story posting for your amusement:

At 4:57 am on June 28, 1992 I was fast asleep when the house decided to start doing the fandango. The pitch black pre-dawn morning suddenly began flashing bright white and black again as transformers starting going off around the area. The 7.3 Landers earthquake was on.
Landers is about 80 miles or so as the crow flies from my house, but with a 7.3 shaker, that's not very far. We were really getting a ride.
We had two small children at the time, 3 and barely 1, and my wife, being the wonderful mother she is, immediately leaped out of bed and ran down the hallway as the transformers flashed to get to my 1 year old son's room.
Me, being the wonderful father that I am, immediately leaped out of the bed and ran over and held onto the entertainment center.
Hey, we can have more kids but that TV was expensive!

Sad to say, yes, it's true. And by the way, that wasn't the last large earthquake that day. At 8:05 we had a 6.4 quake in Big Bear that though not as strong, was closer to us and shook us just about as hard and as long.

Reading the News While Learning Nothing

I've complained in the past about the stupidness that seems to emanate from local TV newsreaders whenever there's a car chase in Los Angeles and the TV people are forced to go off teleprompter.  They just can't let the pictures speak for themselves but have to fill every moment of air time with insipid conjecture and dumb questions.

There were no pursuits last night, but we did have the chance to let the anchors off the teleprompter once more as an earthquake rattled through Southern California.  Understand that while earthquakes are certainly news, they're not exactly rare around here.  We have them with sufficient frequency that they really shouldn't be much of a mystery to people who regularly report (or read) the news.

Last night as the quake rumbled through I immediately flipped over to Los Angeles Channel 9, the only station with a local newscast on at 9:30 pm.  It took them a minute or two before they broke away from their canned report to go to earthquake coverage, and then it was a non-stop parade of stupid.  The anchors who were working are not rookies or new to California - these people have been on the air here for years and yet they seemed to know absolutely nothing about earthquakes or what can be expected after a large event.  I was just about to throw my show through the screen.

I used to teach earthquake preparedness to my employees at the bank, so I probably have a little more knowledge of the subject than the average person, but surely people who have reported on earthquakes for years and have heard the same things I've heard from the experts at Cal Tech would have learned something from all that.

Surely not.  Geez, those people were worthless.

The banter between the anchors, and even the questions posed to various emergency officials showed a complete lack of understanding of the subject.  And, of course, they always end up with some yahoo on the phone reporting from near the epicenter who says something like "I barely caught the glass with my teeth in it before it fell off the nightstand!".

I swear the viewers who were watching last night lost several IQ points along the way.

Next time, Channel 9, call me.

5.7 (Downgraded from 5.9)

Another reminder that we live in an earthquake zone:

This one lasted quite awhile. Started out rather slowly with a gentle rocking motion, but after about 15 seconds there was a noticeable increase in intensity. One of the stronger ones we've felt in Orange County in awhile.

This was more than likely an aftershock to the big earthquake they had earlier in the year in the same area.

Are We Having an Unusual Number of Earthquakes?

Nope, probably just an average year:

Folks who work at the United States Geological Survey Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo., don’t just track temblors, they also answer the public’s questions via phone and email. The number one question they’ve been getting lately: “Is this the end of the world?” according to Heidi Koontz, the center’s Public Affairs Specialist.

News of four major quakes in as many months, in Haiti, Chile, Mexico and Indonesia, has prompted a tinge of panic in some who would otherwise consider these events pure coincidence.

“I received a call from a psychiatrist who is getting an influx of patients who are really concerned about the end of days,” says Koontz, “and he wanted us to pinpoint science and provide him with links to science that would help allay the fears of some of his patients. He needed some hard facts and he said that that actually helped.”

Koontz explained to the doctor what seismologist Harley Benz explained to Fox News. That seismically speaking, this is all pretty normal.

“You can expect earthquakes in locations where we are known to have earthquakes,” explains Benz. “And in this case, in Sumatra, it's one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Likewise Chile is one of the most seismically active areas in the world.”

According to the USGS Earthquake Center website, earthquakes can also occur in clusters, which may explain why this year has been front loaded with so much activity. Statistically, the globe is on track, so far this year, to be relatively average in terms of the number of larger quakes that hit annually. An average year will produce 17 quakes with a magnitude 7.0 or greater.

Things have been pretty quiet in Southern California for the last 15 years or so. Unfortunately, we're due for some shaking.

7.2 Easter Earthquake

I wasn't going to post anymore today but my reverie was interrupted by a large earthquake near Mexicali. Cal Tech has it at 7.2 which is a sizable quake capable of doing a lot of damage. The area this hit is not known for a lot of quality construction so there's no telling what they'll find once they get looking around.

There's never a good time for a big earthquake, but this location and timing is not good for a lot of churches in Southern California. Every Spring Break churches send hundreds of kids down to the Mexicali area to work on missions projects. Since Spring Break is going on right now in many school districts most of those kids probably arrived down there yesterday. I'm sure there are some anxious parents right now.

I used to handle church insurance in Imperial County which borders the part of Mexico where this quake occurred. I would expect to see a some of damage in the Calexico/El Centro/Brawley areas due to the relatively poor construction you find in a lot of older buildings in that area. I recently wrote about one church I had looked at in Calexico and I'd be surprised if that building didn't sustain major damage.

Aftershocks will probably occur for years, and based on normal earthquake behavior we can expect at least one aftershock in the 6.2 range and many in the 5 range.

This area is also troublesome for seismologists...and Southern California residents...because this area is not that far from the southern end of the San Andreas Fault and the area where the next "Big One" is expected to start. We've had a pretty quiet 15 years around here, but it looks like we may be heading into a busier period.

UPDATE: I'm reading the cities on the quake map as aftershocks start adding up and I had church clients in every one of those Imperial County cities: Seeley, Westmorland, Brawley, El Centro, Ocotillo, Calexico, Niland...all of them.

By the way, earthquakes aren't covered on most church insurance policies sold in California. There was a time when you could buy it, but that pretty much ended after the Northridge quake. My advice, if you have significant damage be sure to set it on fire before you call the insurance company. Fire is always covered.

If the House is Rockin...it's Southern California

We just got rocked a little by a 5.0 earthquake at 7:49 pm that was centered 1 mile south of San Bernardino, that puts it about 40 miles from here. Not terribly strong here, but it did last awhile. Started out as a mild rumble, similar to what we feel when a heavy freight train is going by, and then kicked it up a notch and rattled the loose stuff around the house.

It's always interesting living where the ground does the fandango every now and then.

Of course, as I'm watching the only news station (Channel 9) covering it at 8pm they're busy talking to someone who, based on the interview, probably has somewhere between 3 and 10 teeth. I don't know why they insist on spending 5 minutes with this guy. The anchors are embarrassing.

I documented a previous earthquake experience here.

UPDATE: The shaker has been downgraded to a 4.5, but being rather shallow at only 9 miles, the people closer to it than us got a pretty good ride. We actually heard it coming. Both of us felt a slight movement and heard something odd. We looked at each other and said "what's that?". Then the main shaking hit and we knew it was an earthquake and not just a train going by.

In Arkansas There's a Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On

Something is moving around under the hills and hollers of Arkansas:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Nov. 28) - A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come.

By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.

They say that things that start in California will eventually go nationwide. Just don't send your tornadoes to us.

Mother Nature Calling

Well, that was weird. That's the first time I've ever ridden out an earthquake in my car. First reports suggest it was a 5.4 centered near Chino Hills, about 20 miles from my house.

Oops, there comes an aftershock as I'm writing this. Not strong, but enough to feel. We'll be expecting quite a few of these, and based on past events, we should expect at least one aftershock in the 4.4 neighborhood. We'll definitely feel that one.

I was driving and had pulled up to a red light and stopped, but the car didn't stop moving. It was shaking a bit side-to-side. At first I thought something was wrong with the car, and then I looked at the traffic signal and it was moving even though there wasn't any wind. Cellphone service was disrupted because I was unable to call home. DSL works (thankfully) but the home phone circuits are all busy.

Ride 'em cowboy!

I've written about earthquake experiences before - you can read it here. The USGS Earthquake map for Los Angeles is here.

The worst part of this whole experience is watching the local TV anchors as they make dumb statements and ask stupid questions. That, and the call-ins from concerned citizens who are trying to describe a scene which is completely unchanged, with the exception of their rattled nerves.

UPDATE: It's starting to get silly. All of the local TV stations have been wall-to-wall with converage for over two hours now and so far all they've been able to show is a few broken bottles and an old brick building that lost the facing. If you want to get on TV, just look around for a TV truck and I guarantee you somebody will interview you.

It is a little disconcerting that all the cellphone networks were offline for quite a while after the initial shock. The first cellphone I ever had was given me by the bank I worked for and we got them specifically because we were told they'd still work even after an earthquake had messed up the land lines. Maybe not.

Israeli Politician: "Earthquakes Are Caused by Gays"

I'm not sure if there's a lot of science to back this up:

AN Israeli politician has blamed a spate of recent earthquakes in the Middle East on gays

Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party said the only way to prevent the earthquakes was for parliament to stop liberalising laws concerning homosexuals, AP reported...

Mr Benizri said earthquake damage could be avoided if the parliament stopped “passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes''.

Mark Steyn adds this:

Oh, you can scoff. But why do you think the San Andreas fault runs through San Francisco?

It could be all the petulant foot stomping that's doing it.

My Earthquake Story

Whenever hurricanes are rampaging through the Gulf I usually refer you to my hurricane story. Well, on this day of a mild earthquake in Southern California, I'll give you my earthquake story as recounted many times from the stage:

At 4:57 am on June 28, 1992 I was fast asleep when the house decided to start doing the fandango. The pitch black pre-dawn morning suddenly began flashing bright white and black again as transformers starting going off around the area. The 7.3 Landers earthquake was on.

Landers is about 80 miles or so as the crow flies from my house, but with a 7.3 shaker, that's not very far. We were really getting a ride.

We had two small children at the time, 3 and barely 1, and my wife, being the wonderful mother she is, immediately leaped out of bed and ran down the hallway as the transformers flashed to get to my 1 year old son's room.

Me, being the wonderful father that I am, immediately leaped out of the bed and ran over and held onto the entertainment center.

Hey, we can have more kids but that TV was expensive!

Sad to say, yes, it's true. And by the way, that wasn't the last large earthquake that day. At 8:05 we had a 6.4 quake in Big Bear that though not as strong, was closer to us and shook us just about as hard and as long.