When you think of Christmas chances are earthquakes don’t really come to mind; however, it seems this year quite a few took place over this holiday. Within a mere 24 hour period there were at least 9, click here to see the full breakdown from the Sacramento Bee.
(USGS)
This happening on Christmas Eve and just before Christmas morning itself (pre-dawn hours). According to the USGS, the worst of these quakes was 3.2 magnitude while the rest were from 2.5 and up. The magnitude for those not too familiar with earthquakes is something used to measure the energy released at the source of the quake itself.
The Epoch Times reported as follows on these quakes:
The biggest quake hit near the town of Idyllwild, in the San Jacinto Mountains east of Los Angeles, at 8:24 p.m. on Christmas Eve. USGS said that it was 9.6 miles deep and was felt as far away as Rancho Cucamonga city and Redondo Beach.
While earthquakes are not something California is not used to they are still quite scary even on a small scale. The ones that occurred over this holiday do not seem to have done much if any damage and overall were not able to dampen the Christmas cheer. However, had they been larger in magnitude they could have caused harm to buildings or other things of the sort.
Vancouver, Canada also faced an earthquake over this holiday and the one they came to experience was much higher in magnitude. It ranked in as a 6.3 which as you can see just from comparing numbers is a lot more than what the 9 in California ranked in at. It is likely that these quakes themselves were influenced by the one in Vancouver as they came just after it had occurred.
All in all, though it seems everyone in the affected areas is safe and sound. While it might sound quite scary to experience an earthquake or so many in such a short period of time, it likely brought people much closer together and thus enhanced the spirit of Christmas as a whole. If you’re in an area where earthquakes are common but you’re not sure what to do when one happens please check out the video below.
In October, California governor Gavin Newsom announced the launch of the first state-wide earthquake warning system. The system uses reports from sensors embedded in the ground to detect tremors.
A warning is delivered to mobile phones using the wireless Emergency Alert system, which delivers critical warnings and information to the public on their wireless device, or the MyShake app.
It is always better to be as prepared as possible. While these were smaller earthquakes that doesn’t mean bigger ones won’t be happening sometime in the future. The more you know, the better prepared you will be. That all having been said, it is pretty mind-blowing that 9 happened in such a short period.
The video below goes over common earthquake myths, check it out to learn more!
Sources:
https://www.10news.com/news/national/9-earthquakes-shake-california-on-christmas-eve-and-christmas
https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article238708288.html