Don’t Let the Media Freak You Out
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
United States
June 10, 2016 6:34pm CST
At about 1:00 o’clock this morning there was a 5.2 earthquake in Borrego Springs, California. The media headlines read “Earthquake Rocks Southern California” and “Quake Felt from San Diego to Los Angeles. Well, they are exaggerating.
I live about 100 miles from the epicenter of the quake. It would be a three hour drive. That’s far closer than either San Diego or Los Angeles, and I slept through it. I’m a light sleeper, but nothing registered on my Fitbit, not even a “restless” episode.
A 5.2 quake is considered moderate. It shakes the ground, and if you are very close, it’s like being in a carnival fun house. But there is usually no damage at all, and there was none reported with this quake. California has stiff building standards to help reduce damage from large quakes. But this one was not large. It wasn’t even unusual. The San Jacinto Fault where the quake originated is fairly active. People there are used to a little shaking every once in a while. There was no damage, and no rattled nerves.
If you read reports online or heard the reporters on the news, you would have had a different impression. This is why people who do not live in California often freak out at the very mention of earthquakes. The media likes to be dramatic. But natives listen for the magnitude, depth and location before we react. This one was a yawner.
Have you ever experienced an earthquake? How big and was it shallow (lots of shaking) or deep (not much shaking)?
19 people like this
18 responses
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
11 Jun 16
Glad it wasn't a bad earthquake .
We experience earthquake activity here.
Usually I don't bother to run out and things get OK soon.
There was a bad one a couple of months ago.Lots of shaking . What was scary is that we were on the 5th floor and there was nothing we could do.
You tend to forget all the tips . I clutched my mobile and a bottle of water .
I understand about the media part. Then all friends and family keep ringing up to know how you are . We do the same .
And a couple of weeks later the district management holds a 'disaster management' programme....
5 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
It is good to be prepared. I was once in a condo I owned on the seventh floor of a condo tower. The building rocked from one side to the other. When it finished it's arc in one direction, it swung back in the other direction. The sound it made when it was at the peak of the arc was frightening. You didn't know if it would recover, or tip over. But California buildings are constructed with earth movement in mind. We were fine. I had to laugh at the two men next door to me. They were screaming like little girls.
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
@responsiveme Concrete structures with rebar (steel poles) inside are very strong, but without it, they cause lots of damage and are dangerous in earthquakes.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
11 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace That sounds really scary. You see I don't think the buildings here are really earthquake resistant.
The houses here were originally designed to suit the geography of the place, but now everybody builds concrete structures.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
11 Jun 16
There was a quake? I live in the SF Valley and felt nothing.
4 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
I'm in south Orange County. I felt nothing too, slept through it. It was in Borrego Springs, way east of Temecula.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
13 Jun 16
@enlightenedpsych2 Right. It was shallow, so felt farther away than most 5.2 quakes, but not big enough to be felt where most of us live.
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
13 Jun 16
@enlightenedpsych2 No, because if an earthquake is not large enough to feel, it is not large enough to cause damage. It didn't even tilt paintings hanging on walls.
@JamesHxstatic (29242)
• Eugene, Oregon
11 Jun 16
I experienced many little ones when I lived in the OC. I recall one day I was in the old county courthouse there when there was a pretty good one. There must have been about twenty little ones that day and evening.
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
Little ones are interesting. Moderate ones are a reminder to check our earthquake kits. 
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
Earthquakes happen everywhere, but some are so minor, no one feels them. Even this one was not felt very far away.
1 person likes this
@Dena91 (15860)
• United States
11 Jun 16
I have a dear friend who lives about 30 miles from the epicenter and she said it wasn't too scary for her.
When we visited my grand mom for a summer, I noticed her chandelier swaying and asked her why it was doing that. She calmly said there was an earthquake. Since she was so laid back about it, my brother and I stayed calm as well.
And the media would have a hard time freaking me out as maybe on a busy week, I may have a news channel on for about 5 minutes. They all make me sick with their twisting of the news and shoving their agenda at me 24/7. Unless there is a massive something happening, we keep it off in our home. And should we have to have it on, we're very careful to believe very little of what they say. Don Henley was way ahead of the times back in the mid 1980's when he released my favorite solo song by him, Dirty Laundry. That song is spot on.
Have a blessed day
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
Isn't it sad that the entertainment department is now in charge of the news?
2 people like this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
11 Jun 16
We had three earthquakes last week, I don't think anyone felt any of them, they were very low magnitude. I have felt only two earthquakes in my life, one of which had an epicenter in Quebec, and the other was closer, but I forget where. Neither was damaging, just shaking.
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
My daughter moved from California where she was born and raised to Oklahoma. Now they have more earthquakes than we do. Tornados, ice storms, snow, excessive heat and earthquakes, that's Ok, but isn't.
@valmnz (17099)
• New Zealand
11 Jun 16
For a change this one didn't hit the news in New Zealand. we are very used to strong earthquakes here. The amount of damage etc depends very much on its depth. We have regular earthquakes, thank heavens, as no one wants a repeat of the one that caused so much damage in Christchurch about 5 years ago.But even 5.2 close by can be enough to cause concern here.
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
As long as they are small, and nothing is damaged, no one here minds them very much. But people who moved here from somewhere else and have not experienced them from childhood feels much differently.
The wind causes more damage here on a regular basis.
@DeborahDiane (40054)
• Laguna Woods, California
12 Jun 16
Actually, we get approximately 100 of them a week in Southern California, but most of them are so week that people don't feel them. I have felt dozens, but rarely have they done any damage. Sometimes, the only way I know we have had one is because a door will slam shut or our chandelier will start swings. 99% of the time, they are no big deal.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
@DeborahDiane The swinging lamp or cord hanging from the ceiling fan are good indicators too.
@DeborahDiane (40054)
• Laguna Woods, California
12 Jun 16
I agree with you completely. I have some friends who live in a three story building who felt a small amount of gentle swaying, but that was about it. No big deal!
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40054)
• Laguna Woods, California
14 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace - I agree! Any earthquake that I can sleep through is not worth worrying about!
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
15 Jun 16
@DeborahDiane We need to make our own Richter Scale/Snooze Scale.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
If I sleep through something, like I did, then it must have been small or very far away.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
@paigea This is the case with all of their hyperbole and not just weather. 
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
11 Jun 16
Don't believe much of what you read. Their voices when they describe events must be learned in drama camp. Their tone certainly isn't appropriate.
@paigea (35678)
• Canada
11 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace One problem with sensationalizing every day things like for instance here, a snow storm, is it means we start to ignore warnings.
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
The majority of them are small, happen all the time, and are not shown on TV. They show only the horrible ones, where people have not built strong buildings. This give people a false view of them, and leads to fear. It is best to be prepare for the worst, and then put them out of your mind.
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
15 Jun 16
@miniam I rode one of them in a highrise. It was the only scary one I have experienced. It all depends upon the building you are in when it happens. A low rise would not have been frightening.
1 person likes this
@miniam (9154)
• Bern, Switzerland
14 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace
Just glad l have never experienced a strong earthquake
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
11 Jun 16
I've never been anywhere near an earthquake. I suppose the media likes to dramatise, especially if there's no 'real' news for them to report.
Interesting that you say it would take tou 3 hours to drive that 100 miles. Is it very built up? I would expect to do that in about 2 hours.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
12 Jun 16
@DeborahDiane Thanks for explaining, Deborah. I hadn't thought about it being as the crow flies, it would be considerably more miles to actually drive.
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40054)
• Laguna Woods, California
12 Jun 16
It is about 100 miles "as the crow flies", but the road is very winding. It is a state park in the desert and it takes quite a while to get there.
3 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
@jaboUK I didn't figure in "pit stops" with the distance either. LOL
2 people like this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
11 Jun 16
Much ado about nothing. But they have a living to earn, however they choose to earn it.
I remember being awoken in the wee small hours once, as a child, and bundled up to the local church with all the other scared people wondering what to do... I think the epicentre was closer to Greece than to us, but it was a novel event for many. And a panic-ridden one for others, houses in the area were made from sandstone, predominantly.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
14 Jun 16
@ElizabethWallace I imagine sandstone anything would crumble and fall in a proper quake, rather than the tremors we were experiencing.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
14 Jun 16
Yes, it is the buildings and bridges that cause the damage, if they were not constructed for earthquakes.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
15 Jun 16
@pgntwo Sandstone, probably, but not everything. Building codes create earthquake safe buildings, even tall ones. Of course, if it hits 9, like the one a few years ago in Japan, then not much would stand. But most buildings where I live survive in fairly large quakes. Only some of the older ones have damage.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
11 Jun 16
No I haven`t but I am living near a fault line, some have felt tremors but I think it was all in their head
1 person likes this
