UPDATE: July 29 2008 LA/OC California 5.4 Earthquake!

I'm not to sure how many of you guys are here in the LA/OC area, if you were you would have felt a magnitude 5.4 earthquake just hit at about 11:45 this afternoon.

Thankfully, intial reports on the local television and radio have zero reported injuries and minor damage.

NBC4 Coverage

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake struck Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California Tuesday, but authorities said there have been no reports of damage.

Link

This felt a lot bigger than a 5.4 though and as I'm writing this right now there have been close to 30 aftershocks in the local area. The quake hit in Chino Hills just below the San Adreas fault line. To me I feel like this is just a precursor to bigger things to come. California, and especially Southern California have been long over due for quite some time now.

A study completed by Yuri Fialko[3] has demonstrated that the San Andreas fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for the next "big one," as it is commonly called, that is, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater. The study also concluded that the risk of a large earthquake may be increasing faster than researchers had previously believed. Fialko also emphasized in his study that, while the San Andreas Fault has experienced massive earthquakes in 1857 at its central section and in 1906 at its northern segment (the great San Francisco earthquake), the southern section of the fault has not seen a similar rupture in at least 300 years.

Wiki Link

Look I am new at this and although I hardly ever post I am an avid reader of all message boards on this site. I wasn't to sure where to put this and I am quickly just putting this together right now as my girlfriend takes a shower. I have my bags packed and my Charger filled with a small supply of food and water. I dont know where I am going but I have to go make sure my family is OK. I am sure they are but everyone is honestly shaken up. I'm seriously pissed. How could I have been not prepared! I know I must sound like a NOOB but what would you guys have done? What are you guys doing right now? What if this earthquake was much bigger? What if this is just the beginning of something bigger? Right now CNN is covering the story and they are saying to expect after shocks for the next couple days. I am not paranoid or anything but I have just had a feeling that something bad or something bad will be coming and coming ever soon. I know a lot of you guys feel the same way as I do.

What would be your exit plan if you lived in Orange County? Where would you go? What freeways would you take?

[edit on 29-7-2008 by Charger15]

[edit on 29-7-2008 by Charger15]

What would be your exit plan if you lived in Orange County? Where would you go? What freeways would you take? I am just saying if anyone else out there has a game plan step up and reply please. This is breaking news.

I am soo pissed also at the cell phone situation. I mean if a 5.4 earthquake totally wipes out the celluar network imagine if something bigger happened? Holy ****. Give me a break. CB radios? I dont know I'll have to research survival techniques when I get back. But how do you survive if you live in a metro area???

Guys, calm down.

The earthquake was strong, but it's not enough to warrant this kind of panic. I'm reasonably close to the earthquake epicenter - a mirror from the office upstairs actually fell and broke - and things are back to normal already.

The only reason it felt stronger then a 5.4 was because it was closer to the surface then most quakes are.

reply to post by Charger15


a good ham radio should be part of everyones survival/bunker plan. A lot of the guys i know are like minded (survivalists) and it seems that a good network would be set up that way should something happen.