* EDITED * 5.4 Earthquake Hits Chino Hills

[chinohillsbecki]

:CHINO HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- A magnitude 5.4 earthquake hit late Tuesday morning two miles southwest of Chino Hills in San Bernardino County....Maybe from the Chino Hills Civic Center! However, the latitude & longitude (as listed by the USGS website & their link to the Google map) was smack in the middle of Carbon Canyon Road in CHINO HILLS (about 1.5 miles WSW of my house)!!! Originally stated as a 5.6, the shaker was upgraded to a 5.8 and then downgraded to a 5.4; it has been listed as a fairly shallow (only 6-7 miles deep), moderate earthquake. Whatever, it rocked & rolled like there was (gonna be) no tomorrow! Even though I was born & raised in Southern California, I have this irrational paralyzing fear of earthquakes (earthquake-phobia or whatever you want to call it) so my version may perception of events may tend to be a little overstated.

Reports from my home are as follows: 1) DH & I were both at work 30-50 miles away; 2) both teenage girls were home and one of them initally became hysterical but has calmed down considerably in the last three hours; 3) both dogs are just fine and appear completely unphazed by the shaking (I'm jealous); 4) cell phones service was restored after the 1st hour, but landlines were still intermittent after two hours; 5) several items fell off of various shelves in both of the 2nd floor bedrooms (there's a little broken glass to clean up), but everything is still hanging on the walls; 6) lightweight bags of Christmas stockings & stuffed animals fell out of the rafters in the garage and landed harmlessly on the floor; 7) no structural damage or cracks have been noticed (at least none that have been reported to me by DDs; 8) there appears to be no broken windows 9) there has been no gas / water / electrical damage noticed.

DH & I will need to do a more thorough inspection around 6pm when we get home. Hopefully I will get a chance to post an update to this journal sometime tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. If anyone has any questions, please leave me a comment or send me a message.

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One day later...

When I got home last night, I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything my children had reported to me during the day was 100% completely accurate ~ we suffered absolutely NO DAMAGE. I still can't believe that not a single thing was broken ~ when I cleaned up the spilled contents, I found everything intact! Of course, once we found out that everything was fine, then DH was irked that nothing had been picked up (my fault ~ I wanted to see it in situ); he also didn't understand why DD's friend wanted to stay the night (her mom wouldn't be home until 11pm, and she didn't want to be alone)! He thinks we're all over-emotional women since he has no irrational fears himself ~ UGH! Thanks for being supportive honey...

There were reports of cosmetic & minor damage to property in cities to the S (Corona), SSW (Yorba Linda), SW (Brea / Fullerton), W (Diamond Bar / Walnut), WNW (Los Angeles ~ much farther away), NW (West Covina), and NNW (Pomona). Most of the reports involve fallen ceiling tiles and broken sprinkler pipes that flooded buildings, but there was a housing tract in Yorba Linda that seems to have taken a beating and one empty warehouse building in Pomona where the brick facade came down. I haven't heard anything from any of the cities that are E of us (Ontario, Fontana, San Bernardino, Riverside, Norco), but that could be because the reporters who drove in from the west didn't want to drive that far PAST the main story...

This earthquake may be listed as the 13th strongest in recent California history (a 7.3 rocked the desert community of Landers on 06/28/1992), but it will most likely end up VERY FAR DOWN on the list of most damaging (the 6.7 Northridge quake of 1994 caused more than $12billion). Today, most Southern Californians will go back to their hectic lives and they'll probably say, "Forget it! It was just another earthquake! There were no deaths & very little damage! There's nothing to report, so it's a non-event." They'll be right, but the Chino Hills Earthquake of 2008 will always be remembered by me as the 1st earthquake in my memory where items actually left their accustomed placed of honor in my home!

[MemawBrie]

Jul. 29, 2008 at 5:56 PM

ALL of them do. They're all equally devastating.

[dncnmom]

Jul. 29, 2008 at 8:31 PM

I certainly am hoping and praying for you and everyone else out there! I am so glad to hear that no one in your family was hurt. Things can be replaced...family cannot. Stay calm...take your cue from the dogs! LOL

[LadybugD]

Jul. 29, 2008 at 8:43 PM

So glad you all are ok. I have been out all day but, I wondered about you all day when I heard.

[Saucytaurean]

Jul. 30, 2008 at 12:07 AM

Becki, I am so glad to hear no one was hurt.  That's a scary thing for kids to go through...even teenagers!  I know mine would have been freaking out if I wasn't home with them during an EQ.  Take care~

[ToriandKylesmom]

Jul. 30, 2008 at 9:51 AM

I'm so glad you guys made out relatively ok!  After I sent a note to your chatter box, I saw the report on the news.  When they mentioned Chino Hills, I got a shiver.  Take care of yourselves, I'll be thinking about you guys!