Ok let me explain publicly. On the west coast you have bedrock broken up by a series of strike-slip faults, where plates are sliding along each other. A 4.8 there is a series of little jolts that doesn't travel far. The east coast is VERY FUCKING DIFFERENT. Bedrock is one big sheet for one.

Thank you for explaining in detail! I knew it was BAD, but not how or why!! Yikes on BIKES!!!

Thank you for making me feel like less of a wimp for being freaked out. It felt like a lot!

"Why is the media going bananas about a man biting a dog? Man-dog bite interactions happen all the time!"

you both are right.

And the biggest recorded earthquake in North America was New Madrid, in Missouri, 1811.

Yeah, several co-workers and friends felt it in my state of Vermont - over 300 miles away

A 4.8 is not “a series of little jolts” in CA, it causes damage here too - we also must stop train service, check for damage on essential services, bldgs, etc. That size is notable anywhere & the response is universal. But we’re used to negligible East Coast airtime.

I think it's weird that I've seen multiple posts making the NY vs California comparison, because my geocentrism-in-news related thought was "I suspect I'm going to hear a lot more about this than the much larger quake in Taiwan the other day."

Why do people do this? Like we saw it with the heat waves up north, the deep freezes down south, and hurricanes where they don't normally go " Oh why are y'all acting like jts such a big deal happens here all the time" because these places aren't prepared for that!!! It's abnormal!!

@saxmike71.bsky.social Ok. So this is helpful