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Largest of four big Mexico quakes felt in O.C.
August 3rd, 2009, 12:21 pm · 72 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
The mainshock was centered 343 miles south-southeast of Tijuana
9:15 p.m. update
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred beneath the sea floor in Mexico’s Gulf of California at 11:59 a.m. PDT, producing seismic energy that was lightly felt more than 700 miles away in Orange County. Scores of people in such places as Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Ladera Ranch, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin, Orange, Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Los Alamitos, Laguna Niguel, Trabuco Canyon, Laguna Liguel and San Clemente filled out online “Did You Feel It?” reports with the US Geological Survey, which says the 6.9 shaker was the largest of at least four sizable quakes that happened within a one hour period, with the main shock occurring on a strike-slip style fault on the boundary of the North American and Pacific plates. The shaking from the largest event began about 6.2 miles deep and caused some jiggling and swaying in the upper floors of high rises in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, says Sciencedude readers.
A reader with the screen name onewhoknows wrote: ”I definitely felt it on top of an office tower in Costa Mesa. The vertical blinds in my office were all swaying back and forth.”
The seismic energy also shook buildings in San Diego and in Phoenix, Arizona, and shaking was felt as far away as Corpus Christi, Texas and parts of Ventura County, California, seismologists said.
USGS list of the number of people in various cities who felt the 6.9 quake
The quake was preceded at 11:55 a.m. by a 5.8 quake in roughly the same area, and was followed by a 5.0 and 5.9 quakes within an hour of the main shock, says Sue Hough, a seismologist at the USGS in Pasadena. Hough says the main shock appears to have been caused by an unidentified strike-slip style fault in the general region of the east Pacific rise, which separates Baja California from mainland Mexico. Hough says the “swarmy” nature of the event is not unusual, due to the structure of the faults in that area.
The USGS issued another statement late today, saying: ‘The Gulf of California earthquakes of August 3, 2009, occurred in the plate boundary region between the North America and Pacific plate. At the latitude of the earthquake, the Pacific plate moves northwest with respect to the North America plate at about 45 mm/y. The plate boundary beneath the Gulf consists of a series of transform faults separated by small spreading centers or pull-apart basins: earthquakes occur as the result of strike-slip faulting and normal faulting. The seismographically recorded radiation pattern of the main shock of August 3, 18:00 UTC, implies that the shock occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting, but the earthquake has not yet been associated with a specific geologically mapped fault. The largest historically recorded shocks from the Gulf of California have had magnitudes of about 7.
There have been no initial reports of heavy damage, death or injury.
Live Twitter discussion about the earthquake
The Associated Press reported that, “There was a risk of a small, localised tsunami in the area, officials and experts warned.”
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lol…that’s funny i didn’t feel anything and i work in GG…
I live in GG and i didnt feel a thing too.
don’t worry, I live in SD and i didn’t feel anything.
Don’t worry, I live in Mexico and didn’t feel anything
I didnt feel anything either and I work in cypress… interesting!
Nothing here in beautiful Costa Mesa. Any word on damage yet?
I work in Lake Forest and didn’t feel anything. I asked around 50 people so far and no one felt anything. Sounds to me like another Government hoax….
both of my daughters felt it here in Ladera Ranch, we were sitting on the couch……and I didn’t believe them.
Working in Brea, didn’t feel anything
The swimming pool was making waves and I couldn’t figure out why. It was the strangest thing - the water was moving up and down the entire height of the waterline tile. I didn’t feel the earth moving. So I thought, maybe it’s the wind. Then half an hour later I see the news story on the Baja quake. Aha mystery solved! I didn’t note the time but the pool may have been making the waves a few minutes before 11:59am; maybe there was a precursor quake.
Mission Viejo, didn’t feel a thing.
I work in Irvine on the 9th floor and felt the building swaying and windows rattling.
Nothing In santa ana….
I didn’t feel anything and neither did my coworker and we work in Aliso Viejo.
Work in Santa Ana, didn’t feel a thing.
Didn’t feel a thing in HB.
I am at work in Irvine and did not feel it. My daughter is home in Ladera Ranch and did not feel. I thought I felt an earthquake last night in Ladera Ranch…maybe I had a sixth sense on todays…
I live in Tustin and didn’t feel anything. I did feel something last night at around 11 pm though, too, just like Dazzling. How funny.
I’m in Mazatlan, Mexico and felt NADA. Don’t believe me, Science Dude, check my incoming IP, it should say Telmex. Must be a slow news day. This one os being hyped up for some reason.
The funniest story was this one, and it’s starts with the suggestive headline:
Earthquake in Mexico Felt in Phoenix
“An earthquake centered in Mexico’s Gulf of California has been felt in Phoenix.
The U.S. National Earthquake Center says the magnitude-6.9 quake struck at 10:59 a.m Arizona time and was centered 331 miles southeast of the border city of Tijuana.”
The best part was the last paragraph:
“A Phoenix Fire Department spokesman said he wasn’t aware of the quake but said the department had not received reports of structural collapse or other damage that might be expected from an earthquake.”
Then the ‘rest-of-the-media’ are having a hayday…..
Strong earthquake hits off northwest Mexico, Reuters India
Earthquake strikes off Mexico coast, The Times (UK)
Strong Earthquake strikes Gulf of California in Mexico, guardian.co.uk
There’s already 300 stories on this when Googled under ‘news’.
Reminds me of the pigmageddon fiasco. Hysteria.
The quake shook buildings in San Diego and Phoenix. It’s not being hyped.
According to whom, did it “shake” bldgs. in San Diego and Phoenix? The media. That’s who. Commenters here report feeling nothing. To “shake” a building suggests that it would also have to suffer minor to significant damage. None has been reported in either city. As a matter of fact, I found an L.A. times story on this “news” and it reported that only ONE office bldg. in San Diego had a few people evacuate from it. Probably going to lunch.
Let’s look at the last paragraph of the quoted news story I supplied from FOX news in Phoenix shall we?
“A Phoenix Fire Department spokesman said he wasn’t aware of the quake but said the department had not received reports of structural collapse or other damage that might be expected from an earthquake.”
Read it again. I see nothing in that except the acknowledgement that anyone knew that anything happened at all.
You’re the Science Dude, right? How much energy would have been lost by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake by the time it was “felt” in either San Diego or L.A. when the epicenter was 343 miles SW of Tijuana and approx., 6.4 miles below the surface? I know the answer to that - A lot! it wouldn’t even shake the water in your fish bowl.
C’mon, Dude.
I work on the 46th floor in DT Los Angeles, and we all felt the building move…..
The story is about the 6.9 quake being felt. You commented before reading the story.
You’re wrong, bud. I felt it in Costa Mesa.
im near la, though small, i am positive i felt it. this was also before i read the story
First of all, I would like to clarify that the Editor wrote that the earthquake “was lightly felt more than 700 miles away in Orange County, including by people in Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Ladera Ranch, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Tustin, Orange, Laguna Niguel and San Clemente. And that many people “felt a sway or jerk while working in the upper floors of high-rise buildings in the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa area.” He clearly wrote SLIGHTLY and in HIGH-RISE buildings (where higher-level floors have magnified movements).
Nothing is being hyped here. It is very likely to feel these kind of shakes when one works in a high-rise building. I don’t know where you live, but the even during the 5.4 Chino Hills Earthquake last year in Los Angeles area, people at Las Vegas, San Diego, and Phoenix felt the quake. And this earthquake at Baja is 6.9 Magnitude, meaning that it is 15 times more intense than the 5.4 Chino Hills quake. The intensity also depends on the ground composition. During the quake last year, although I certainly felt some intense quaking, people from my area reported that the shaking was not as intense as Downtown LA (even though I live 20 miles closer to the epicenter). I later read a local article that wrote shaking was not intense in the area where I lived because the ground was mainly granite, because my community is in the foothill area. Downtown LA’s ground composition, on the other hand, is much less dense. So of those many people who said they did not feel a thing, it is reasonable because they might have simply lived or worked in single-level buildings or that the ground composition (such as at Yorba Linda, La Mirada, etc) is much denser compared to coastal communities like Tustin, Irvine and Huntington beach. So clearly, it proves that such earthquakes can be felt hundreds of miles away. This is not a government conspiracy =.=!
Seismic readings from these areas would tell the real story.
Are they available?
What’s the story doing making it to Fox News, anyway?
Are they having a dry news day? Are all the major media, for that matter?
I can see a major earthquake, but come on, anecdotal
reports like this? I am in Aliso Viejo, smack in the middle of where people said they felt a slight tremor. I didn’t feel a thing.
I work in downtown Los Angeles and although I couldn’t feel anything moving, the buiding was creaking for quite some time. A couple of us came out of our offices to see if anybody felt anything and then somebody found it on the internet. Who would thought it would reach Los Angeles from this distance.
did not feel anything in Newport
…working on the 19 floor in Irvine…the window shades were rocking back n forth…
Did I miss something?
Wow Gary, San Diego is different than Laguna Niguel.
HERE IN BUENA PARK, HEARD HOUSE RATTLE BUT FELT NOTHING, HOPE THIS DONT SHAKE UP OUR EARTHQUAKE FAULTS AND TRIGGER A BIG ONE HERE
WELL ROBERT, THAT’S EXACTLY THE IDEA! SCARE THE PUBLIC!
ARE YOU SCARED? IS THAT WHY YOU TYPE ALL IN CAPS?
In Aliso Viejo and didn’t feel a thing!
I work on the 11th floor and felt that quake, but burley
“burley”?
sheesh
Nothing felt in Irvine here or from friends who live in Oceanside. Who are all these people in OC that felt the quake in Mexico?
felt it on the 9th floor in Costa Mesa, kept shaking and creaking the building for 20 seconds
I’m on the 16th floor in Irvine and felt it. I think the fact that the building is on rollers helped accentuate it.
I work in DT LA on the 46th floor, and we all felt the building move.
Didn’t feel it here in Anaheim.
I didn’t feel a thing in Yorba Linda but my cat was going crazy and couldn’t figure out why. Wonder if he felt it?
I live in New York City……did’nt feel a thing either
I felt it in Irvine on the second floor.
V-
Relax! It is also one of the lead stories on cnn.com as of 2:30 pm PST. Defense much?
I definitely felt it on top of an office tower in Costa Mesa. The vertical blinds in my office were all swaying back and forth.
Newport - first floor - thought it was weekend hangover - but other prairie dogs peeped up too……………..
i live in mexicali,baja california which is north of the epicenter of the earthquake end a lot closer then S.D and O.C and we did not feel any thlng
All is well in Colorado! Didn’t feel a thing.
Work here in Santa Ana and I didnt feel a thing.
Hi I live in the Gulf of mexico and didnt feel anything either. In case your wondering I am a squid and sponge bob told me to say hi.
Work in Irvine. Didn’t feel the shake, rattle and roll either.
I work in Irvine and didnt feel a thing.
Irvine, 11th floor, didn’t feel it, but others did.
Anyone in Santa Ana feel it?
Yes.
LOL Surrrrre they did.
4th floor in Irvine, felt it.
I was in my car at noon (in a parking lot in Laguna Hills)..OK, so .that was the little tremor I felt,. I thought it was probably one of those little microquakes.
Didn’t feel anything in Cabo San Lucas
didn’t feel a thing!
funny, i was watching a movie at that time but didn’t feel a thing.
I didn’t feel anything at HB either..and i was there at 11:59am
Didn’t feel anything in Laguna Niguel… just the humidity… it was really miserable.
We felt the 6.9 earthquake that hit at 10:59 a.m. (not 11:59 a.m. - the article is wrong) in Irvine. We work in a 14 story building. The building swayed for about 3 minutes.
You’re looking at the wrong time zone.
What do you mean Gary? The report reads: “11:59 AM PDT”
Irvine is in PDT, so how can you say that they’re “looking at the wrong time zone”?
The USGS says 11:59 a.m.
3 minutes??
wow…
People felt it here in Newport Beach, CA. Just a lil swaying but enough for the blinds to sway and for people to feel dizzy.
Would the waves really be transmitted that far through desert? If waves travel all the way to Phoenix, why do most OC commenters say they didn’t feel a thing?