When one thinks of life in Southern California, high on the list is the weather, the beaches, the weather, glitzy Hollywood with it’s celebrities and the weather. Also somewhere in that list is it’s predisposition to earthquakes, yet somehow in 5 years of life here, it’s not something I ever really consider. I remember about 3 years ago feeling a light quake one day at work, but it lasted about 4 seconds and as my father was fond of saying, it “was nothing to write home about”.
Today however, that predisposition was brought home to me with a jolt, or should I say a lot of rolling and swaying! Let me start with a visual reference, I work on the 18th floor of this building
Work
It’s not a very tall building compared to others in LA, but aside form the building you see behind it, it’s the tallest for miles around. As a result, you definitely feel pretty high up. I sit by the window. At about 11:30am this morning I felt a slight sway in the building. This happens from time to time as the building is built to move in the event of a quake, and a strong wind or big truck driving past can sometimes create a slight movement. What followed a couple of seconds later was very distinctly different however. A very noticeable rolling and bouncing of the entire building! This lasted for about 8-10 seconds during which there was for the most part complete silence in the office (apart from someone yelling “woohoo” as if they were on a roller coaster!). I sat motionless, gripping quite tightly to the edge of my desk unsure of what to do. I was thinking the whole time, “at what point do I get under the desk?!” I don’t want to take any risks, but at the same time I don’t want to be crying, in the fetal position on the floor as my co-workers point and laugh at “the stupid Brit”. I get enough of that already. (It’s good to know my vanity/stupidity will eventually kill me). Thankfully the decision was made for me, for as quickly as it had started, it was all over. Everyone gathered around the TV to watch the news, which was essentially a static shot of a seismograph. There was definitely a high level of adrenaline, but it’s easy to spot the California natives from everyone else as they have a slightly more composed appearance. Even those who lived in LA in 1994 for the last big quake which killed 72, injured 9000 and caused $25bn of damage, would talk about how this was “nothing compared to Northridge”.
- Local news coverage
The quake turned out to be a 5.4 on the richter scake which is not massive, but certainly significant. It’s certainly an alarming reminder of the potentially dangerous nature of life in SoCal, forget terrorist attacks! The really scary part is how unpredictable earthquakes are and even with all our technological advances, we are still unable to predict when and where they are going to happen. Hopefully today’s experience was an isolated one and that next time it happens I won’t be on the 18th floor!
(News coverage photo courtesy of Tryphoon)