Magnitude 7.2 quake around 120 miles from here, followed by 23 aftershocks / trigger quakes so far.
It was a real roller, lots of lateral motion, lasted around 20 seconds. Literally shook me out of bed (afternoon nap) and got everyone out of the house. We also felt 3 aftershocks.
No significant damage here, in San Diego area, or in California so far. I expect reports from near Mexicali, BC, will not be as rosy.
7.2 on the Richter scale is not a small earthquake. As a student of geophysics, I am happy to to see the earth relieve it’s tensions and pressures in earthquakes of this magnitude. We certainly don’t want to see any larger earthquakes in the populated areas of the west coast.
I glad to see that there isn’t much damage from what I have been able to discern so far.
You’re right, Doug. The Haiti quake was 7.0, and by the math* 7.2 is twice as strong.
*[ E = 10 ^ (1.5 * (m2 - m1)) ]
We’re up to 140 aftershocks so far, but still only felt those first few here. A few building collapses and deaths in Mexicali, and injuries in Calexico.
San Diegans like to think we’re relatively safe from the Big One here. Unlike LA or San Francisco, we’re relatively far from the San Andreas, 120 miles away. But today’s quake was basically on the San Andreas fault system. And if that’s what a 7.2 feels like, something tells me that a 9.0 big one - 1000 times more powerful - will not be a fun experience.
9.0s tend to occur on subduction faults (ie, a head-on collision), which the San Andreas isn’t. The SA is a lateral fault, so the bulk of the stress is sheering rather than colliding. It makes sense that the greatest power would be generated by the latter, just as in a car accident.
I don’t know where you get your info, Simon. According to my sources, the Big One will be a disaster of epic proportions, with an epic cast and bad acting.
At the rate we’re moving north, San Diego will be a suburb of Vancouver in a few years. Then I’ll walk over and explain it all in person.
We were on our way to Easter dinner at my couisins. Imagine the surprise I got when they said there was an earthquake. I think I was on the 210 freeway heading west at the time.
