Northridge earthquake

On Tuesday May 5 at 10:35am there was a 1.5 earthquake under this empty lot in Northridge.

When I look at that lot I am kind of curious if there was a building there at some other point. Perhaps it was there prior to the big Northridge quake in 1994.

At the time of the January '94 quake, I lived about 15 miles from the epicenter but you would not have known that by the damage in my apartment. I woke up to the sound of my refrigerator being thrown up against the wall. My bookcases rattled and tossed everything on the floor and then fell over into the pile. My TV hit the ground. I remember feeling so raw after it. I remember for the following months my friends and I didn't stray much from our neighborhood. I did have one friend who had a job in Venice and he said to me one day, "Have you been on Pico or Olympic lately?" And I said, "No." and he said, "Oh, I invite you to try driving it these days, it is the 10 freeway now. It is gross." The 10 collapsed around Fairfax and they had to shut it down for repairs which meant that everyone had to ride surface streets (Olympic and Pico).

I remember after the quake Geologists said that the Northridge Quake was on a fault that they did not know existed.

It is hard to imagine going through one of those again. But I am sure I will. It could be worse. It could be Newport/Inglewood Fault zone.