Kelson Vibber made an interesting post - What would have happened if this quake happened during Comic-Con this past weekend? Pure pandimonium if it was closer, I'll tell you that.

Wife is fine. Parents are fine. Right now it's being called a 5.8 based in Chino Hills. About 45-60 seconds of movement. Still in downtown LA.

(waiting to hear no sympathy from jumbach =)

Have we heard from calliaume or teppanyaki yet?

jumbach - See, *that* is an earthquake, especially given where it was. I'm surprised we're not hearing of more damage frankly.

In reference to jumbach's posting about an earthquake and zarchasmpgmr's comment regarding the Northridge earthquake specifically, I thought I would mention something here.

If there is a major (read: 7.0+ and/or one with heavy damage) earthquake in SoCal, you can either expect me to be absent from this here journal for a while or using it to communicate with a lot of other people quickly. The absent bit is more than likely because I'll be working, given that I work for a major utility company in SoCal and work in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. This combination could lead to a very busy Carl. The other bit involves me using the journal as a quick status message board, at which point I'll probably have most posts plublic and available for anyone to comment on so that family and friends can check in.

Just sayin' up front that these are both possibilities.

It was only a 5.6.

=)

If there is an earthquake is SoCal in the next hour, it's my wife's fault. The cat decided she wanted attention NOW. Jen, in petting her, said "Are you okay? Are we going to have an earthquake?"

One hundred years ago today, a major earthquake hit San Francisco. There is a whole lot of press going on about it, including a ceremony in the city this morning, and a recap on "American Experience" (yes, I watch PBS too).

Here's the important thing to take way from day's anniversary -- have an emergency plan ready, and review it from time to time. In a major disaster, it might be several days before vital services are restored, as we saw with Hurricane Katrina. Don't have a plan yet? Start at http://72hours.org/. It's designed for San Francisco, but let's face it, it's a start! There is also http://www.ready.gov/america/index.html, which I don't think is as comprehensive.

And, most importantly, don't panic. (obHGTTG)
</soapbox>

EDIT: I'm trying to use the event of 100 years ago to encourage you to plan in the event of *any* emergency. I'm not trying to advocate that people who live in areas where earthquakes happen are the only ones that need to prepare. Just ask people in NYC on the afternoon of 9/11/2001, or those that were impacted by Katrina, or those impacted with the Oklahoma bombings, or ... Regardless of *where* you live (yes, even you jiggery_pokery), you should have a contingency plan in place and review it for relevancy. That's all I'm saying.

I'm in San Diego today, and have been in meetings all day. Just got back to find out there was *another* earthquake, and this one is closer to home - Yucaipa. Must get on phone. I assume no news is good news, buuut.

For a little while tonight, we were under a tsunami warning. It's just not something that you hear for SoCal, ya know?

BTW, this was due to the 7.0 earthquake out in the Pacific Ocean near the CA-OR border. Doesn't look like were a lot of people who really felt it, according to the USGS site.

Of course, how did I find out about this? ForecastFox displayed a Severe Weather Alert.

If there is a major incident that covers all of SoCal (ie a 7.1 earthquake centered in a residental area), don't be horribly surprised to see me missing for a few days. I work for a utility company, and if I can lend a hand, even if it's to backfill for someone who is out in the field, I will.

That being said, I might also be able to use my journal as a communications source with family, so don't be surprised to see some anonymous comments pop up if something like this were to happen either.

In case you didn't hear, there was an earthquake in SoCal today. Prelim results say a 5.5 magnitude out about 20 miles SW of Palm Springs at 8:41 am.

While we definitely felt it, it seems a lessor quake. When you have lived in earthquake country all your life, you tend to be a little callous over things like this, so before we turned on KNX 1070 (*waves to marieoroumania*), Jen and I did a quick "How strong was it?". I said it was out in the desert and about 4.2. Jen said it was a 5 something. The cat, to her credit, was laying on me when the quake hit, and didn't even flinch.

So, now that I have regaled you with this, I'm going outside to mow the yards.