And roll they did:
A moderate earthquake occurred at 11:42:15 AM (PDT) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008.
The magnitude 5.4 event occurred 4 km (3 miles) WSW of Chino Hills, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).
Damsel and I were at home and at work, respectively, as shown by the two red spots in the shake map below. We both felt a jolt and then about 90 seconds of light rolling with another jolt sometime in the middle of the rolling. I needed to get my sea legs when I stood up to look out of the window. Neither of us had any damage or anything tip over. Bear, our Shepard/Lab mix dog hid under Damsel’s desk for a long time after the shaking stopped.
Good to hear you are okay; hopefully your home was not damaged. When I heard the initial reports I was hopeful there would be little damage; I sort of figured that the L.A. area could weather a 5.4 pretty well. I remember several earthquakes from my 4 years in Calexico. I was in a 5.9 and I think 6.3 that really shook things, plus several smaller ones. Seeing the blacktop swell up like a wave on the ocean, and raise me up about 2 feet above normal level, and do it 2 or 3 times was pretty awesome and humbling; that was the 5.9. The power of nature is tremendous.
If I rememebr the advice they gave us, it went something like this:
“Earthquake: hit the ground and grab hold of a blade of grass.”
I do not miss earthquakes at all.
All the best,
Glenn B
Most of the damage was at or near the epicenter and minor at that. We were just riding the waves where we were.
I had a short-term job years ago flying a helicopter to the peaks surrounding the Salton basin. A USGS contractor set up lasers and sensors on the peaks periodically to measure land shift in the area. Quakes like the ones you experienced in Calexico, which is within the Salton Net, are numerous and frequent. Most don’t exceed 3.0 though, but when they do, everyone from Palm Springs to Mexicali gets a ride.
We were overdue for this one. Glad it was minor.