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!

                 

Article Categories: BRAD BLOG, Los Angeles