I’m told I handled this morning’s 6:30am earthquake very well. I remember it, if just barely. Half dream, half decisive action!…Or so I’m told. Then, back to dreaming until waking up later and confirming that it wasn’t actually a dream.
Some of the local TV news anchors here, who were on air and on camera during the moment that the 4.4 magnitude temblor struck, handled it better than others.
Here’s our local CBS affiliate in action as “disaster” struck…
Contrast the CBS-LA team’s fairly calm response with that of the two anchors who were live on Tribune-owned CW affiliate KTLA at the time, particular the award-winningly hilarious reaction of Chris Schauble on the right, caught on tape for all of posterity…
While Schauble’s reaction was, in fact, priceless, and worthy of being played over and over (and over) again, in truth, his reaction was more likely the correct one, given that the anchors are hanging out on a set with hundreds of pounds of electrical lights hanging precariously from a grid directly over their heads.
In any case, to those who were wondering, we’re all fine here at The BRAD BLOG World News Headquarters. Though we have come across a few reactions on Twitter today that we can both relate to, and, found very funny…
Need an earthquake plan? Just grab the one you love and strike a Pompeii couple frozen-in-ash pose, hold it till it stops. Worked for us.
— alan tudyk (@alan_tudyk) March 17, 2014
Portia and I woke up and all of the furniture was in a different place. Then we remembered we moved. #earthquake
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 17, 2014
Woke up to earthquake, prayed, went right back to sleep. If only there were constant natural disasters, I'd be the most pious man alive.
— Geoff Tock (@geofftock) March 17, 2014
Who ordered the SHAMROCK SHAKE? #earthquake
— Jerry Jaeger (@jerryjaeger) March 17, 2014
#earthquake Never forget. pic.twitter.com/iSZNB3Bc51
— RagingTeabagger (@RagingTeabagger) March 17, 2014
All fun aside, we’re glad that everyone’s okay, but the L.A. area has been in a bit of an earthquake hibernation for almost two decades (largely since I moved here, not long after the horrible Northridge Quake of 1994). There have been a number of small aftershocks in the area today (none that I’ve felt), but the L.A. Times reports that Robert Graves, seismologist from the U.S. Geological Survey, warns that while today’s quake was “rather typical”, it could be a prelude to a larger one.
“Always the possibility that it’s a foreshock,” Graves told the paper, explaining that some 5% of earthquakes are followed by an equal or larger shake. He says that if that happens, it would occur within the next several hours.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
Some perspective from a long time California resident.
As quakes go, this one was rather puny — not one to get all that excited about; certainly not enough to drive one under a desk.
I can recall the 1954 Tehachapi quake because it was strong enough to throw me out of my bunk bed and onto the floor. But I still have an amusing memory of my parents standing in the hallway, trying to hold the pictures up on the wall.
The 1971 Sylmar quake lasted so long that I started to feel motion sickness. That one caused structural damage to buildings and bridges.
In relation to the Sylmar quake, the 1994 Northridge temblor was much shorter but, by far, the most violent I’ve ever personally experienced.
This one was no more severe than a number of the aftershocks from those earlier quakes.
Thanks for the perspective, Ernie. Cool to hear about.
To be fair, Ernie, first, watch the CBS video above which gives a better idea of the amount of shaking going on in the area and then remember that both news crews (at both CBS-LA and KTLA) were sitting under hundreds of pounds of sharp light fixtures hanging precariously on pipes just above their heads.
In that sitch, I think I might have headed under the desk as well, for the initial shaking in any case.
Still, it’s not beyond me to have fun with the guy who actually did that on live television, is it? 🙂
Brad wrote:
Pussy! 😉
Ernie said @ 4:
Correct.
I’m with Brad on this one…(no offense Ernest!) You just don’t know when it starts if it’s gonna get worse or what.
Anyone else remember poor Kent Shockneck’s reaction to what I think was one of the Northridge quake aftershocks…is name didn’t help the reporting about this after it was done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWAlkZVyTOg
I don’t blame the anchors for ducking and covering, rather then keeping their poise on television, but the picture of the fallen lawn chair is perfect in retrospect.
I’m getting worried though, because I live in Salt Lake City and I can’t remember an earthquake since about 40 years ago, which was really weak. We all know we live on a massive fault-line here which is about due to blow after 500 years of inactivity.
Sorry, but any tremor is going to send me cowering under my – well built – coffee table.