by jcg » Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:19 pm
Hi Nicole,
That's the one. It shook me awake but lasted only about 10 seconds. The epicenter was Westwood; but, the fault broke toward the Santa Monica Mountains just west of Laurel Canyon. Cass' house on Woodrow Wilson Drive is about 5-10 miles east of where the quake was centered. The house must have rocked-and-rolled pretty hard--sorry about the pun.
The Richter scale measures total energy released, which translates to how much area is affected by the quake. It does not really measure shaking intensity. Eventhough the magnitude was only 4.4, it struck under a heavily populated area and only about five miles below the surface. As a result, it felt more intense to those right under or near it then it did to those further away.
The fault was different from the one the house sits on. I don't know the name of the fault that broke; but, it is part of a network of faults that form the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills. It runs along the hills and merges with the Hollywood Fault, which itself forms Laurel Canyon. This is the scarp you see on Vine just north of the iconic Capitol Records building.
In any event, the quake was a doozy! I'll hear Cass' Earthquake song a little differently now.
take care,
jcg