Quake name deceiving

38687-4.4 quake march 16 map.jpg

This morning’s 4.4-shaker literally jolted me upright from a deep sleep. It was a quick, hard shove that lasted only 10 or 15 seconds. Thank God. It opened cabinet doors in my garage, on the china cabinet, and knocked over some photographs. But as far as I coould tell, we had no damage.

I live in Temple City, which you don’t normally associate with Whittier. But anything along the “Whittier Narrows” fault or any movement underground “just east of Los Angeles” affects many, many of us here in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond. The Associated Press reported people feeling this morning’s quake from San Bernardino County to Santa Monica. Someone felt it in Oceanside, I read on a blog.

So, calling it a “Whittier” or as the TV local news did right after it hit, a “Pico Rivera” quake is misleading.

As evidence, I remember the 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake which hit on Oct. 1, 1987 with a strength of a 5.9 magnitude. I was living in Monrovia and was exercising on our hard wood floors of our 1924 bungalow. That shook like the dickens. That quake, albeit much stronger, caused $350 million in damage, some of that in Pasadena and Montebello area, and the temblor killed eight people. A woman died from a collapsing parking structure at Cal State Los Angeles. A utility worker near Muir Peak in the San Gabriel Mountains was crushed to death by rubble. Those are both pretty far from Whittier.

So, this Southern California quake was a wake-up call for all of us, not just those in Whittier or Pico Rivera.

This entry was posted in environment, land use, Pasadena by Steve Scauzillo. Bookmark the permalink.

About Steve Scauzillo

I love journalism. I've been working in journalism for 32 years. I love communicating and now, that includes writing about environment, transportation and the foothill/Puente Hills communities of Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut and Diamond Bar. I write a couple of columns, one on fridays in Opinion and the other, The Green Way, in the main news section. Send me ideas for stories. Or comments. I was opinion page editor for 12 years so I enjoy a good opinion now and then.

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