East Coast quake got Californians shaking, with laughter
Last weekend’s 4.6 earthquake 11 miles south of Hollister did
what many earthquakes do: it woke us up, got our hearts racing a
little bit, and made us feel better that the San Andreas was
releasing a little built-up pressure.
East Coast quake got Californians shaking, with laughter
Last weekend’s 4.6 earthquake 11 miles south of Hollister did what many earthquakes do: it woke us up, got our hearts racing a little bit, and made us feel better that the San Andreas was releasing a little built-up pressure.
A quake of that magnitude is usually not enough to cause any damage. It’s barely enough to tilt a picture on a wall or get a chandelier swaying. For Californians, and particularly Hollisteronians and San Benitoites, quakes are just part of the deal for deciding to live here.
Check out The Pinnacle’s earthquake list on page A2 and you’ll see that the Earth is moving constantly in these parts. We live with temblors and accept them as normal, like the afternoon westerly breeze.
As normal as they seem, it seems that an abnormal number of quakes occur when I’m asleep. I’m used to being jarred awake by the alarm clock in the morning and the garbage truck rumbling in front of my house and even the irritating owl that has recently taken to hooting it up in a tree in my backyard each night.
But none of these things shake my bed and cause me to sit up and wonder if my ceiling fan is going to land on my legs.
The adrenaline rush of a quake is something we are used to in these parts. I just don’t like getting a rush of adrenaline at 12:18 a.m. on a Saturday.
Our recent shaker followed last week’s 5.8 quake in Virginia, where I lived from age 6 to 11. I never felt a quake during my time there, though I lived through snowstorms and tropical weather systems that prompted tornado warnings.
Soon after the media reported on the quake, and it was clear that there was no major damage, West Coasters began making fun of East Coasters for overreacting to a seismic event that would have gotten 30 seconds on the local news had it happened in California.
Images of people scurrying from office buildings and rumors of the Washington Monument turning into the Leaning Tower of Pisa set some Californians into mocking mode. One blogger posted a picture lawn chairs, with one of the chairs tipped over. Over the picture was the caption: “2011 VA Earthquake. We WILL rebuild.”
One Tweeter posted, “There was just a 5.8 earthquake in Washington. Obama wanted it to be 3.4, but the Republicans wanted 5.8, so he compromised.”
Admittedly, we freak out when it hails in California, so not all of the criticism we receive is unfounded.
Natural disasters, like Hurricane Irene, are not a joking matter. Naturally-occurring events – no matter how rare – in which no one gets hurt, are fair game. When we have a chance on the Left Coast to say we are tougher than East Coasters, we’ll take it.
Those who talk about how laid back we are in California; how we all surf and have medicinal marijuana prescriptions; how we can’t handle a temperature under 40 degrees; how we’re all tan, have likely never been here.
I’ve tried boogie boarding, but it put sand in places it didn’t belong and I now put my feet, and nothing more, in the ocean. My only prescription is for allergy eye drops. I can handle a temperature under 40 degrees – all of the ice cream I consume is frozen. And anyone who has seen me in shorts knows I’m proof that a guy born and mostly raised in California does not automatically retain color.
So quit judging.
Adam Breen teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School and is a reporter for The Pinnacle. He is former editor of the Free Lance. Follow him on Twitter @AdamPBreen or email him at
ab****@pi**********.com
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