But with all the Smog around LA and the over priced living prices, why live there? Grant it the weather is fantastic! But is it worth the earthquakes and potential for the big one?

I love living here. I haven't felt a single one so far. And yes, it's worth living here. I come from Tornado Alley which usually leave MUCH worse devastation. The weather definitely outweighs most of the cons.

I've lived in the LA area all my life. Smog is significantly less than it has been, and is overestimated by those looking to knock the area. Not every place is overpriced, and you learn to shop and live smart (or go broke). Don't believe everything you read and yes, it is worth the potential natural disaster. No place is safe from natural disaster, and I hope all in the southeast are making proper preparations for Isaac.

What I always say is - "There's a price to pay to live in paradise". Southern California is a beautiful place to live. I live in a beach community since moving here from Chicago as a teenager in 1969. Raised my family here and a little earthquake now and then is really nothing. 350 days a year of sunshine. Winters in the 70's, BBQ on Christmas day and 1 mile to the ocean. 1 1/2 hr to the Desert activities, 1 1/2 hr to the Mts. for snow activities. Can't beat it. When the "big one comes" we're ready, as ready as one can be. But it beats shoveling out a driveway or memories as a child hearing tornado warnings over the radio. And a plus to living at the coastal region.....clean air everyday, no smog. No place is immune to weather/natural disasters....my prayers go out to those facing Hurricane Issac right now.

This is obviously due to evil Republican fracking..

Dang,I hated having to leave all the shimmy-shaking earthquakes, neighborhood riots, senseless,random, running gunbattles and the unexpected mudslides every spring. To think I gave up all that wonderfulness for boring, quiet,rural Iowa where we can still leave the keys in the car in the driveway,leave all the windows and doors open at night and not worry about getting gang-raped or murdered in our sleep . When was the last time one of your So-Cal neighbors brought over some soup because they heard at the grocery that you were under the weather. Car broke down 30 miles away from home? No problem. The neighbor fires up the truck and comes with the trailer,loads you up and tows you home. Yeah, I sure do miss San Diego. (note sarcasm) The bonus? Iowa has more miles of racetrack per capita than the next three states combined!! Gotta love dirt track racing every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and Sunday afternoons occasionally.

@LorraineH

People are funny that way. They get an image in their head and can never really shake it (pun). Growing up I said I would never go to New York. I would get robbed,people are jerks, it is dirty,on and on. I found it to be completely the opposite when I visited there.

However, I think you should change what you say about Southern California. SoCal has the worst weather, the dirtiest air, it takes forever to get to the polluted beaches, the mountains are ugly and the deserts are bare. It sucks like Seattle where it rains 362 days out of the year, the average temperature in the low 50's. The skies are gray and never blue, everything is moldy, seriously it's true. ;) ;) One things for sure, I want to visit you. Just stop telling people how nice it is. Otherwise me and every other Seattleite will overpopulate the neighborhood.

I was up at 3am (darn those good books that keep you up all night!) and felt a small earthquake here in West L.A.

Some of you sound like you live in Allentown, PA from years ago before the steel mills went away.

Why live there? I guess for the views, the weather, the availability of fresh produce, the ease of access to beaches, wine country, hiking... I lived in OK for a while. Had a great view of an Applebees. LOL

sprintcarpilot

Dang,I hated having to leave all the shimmy-shaking earthquakes, neighborhood riots, senseless, random running gunbattles and the unexpected mudslides every spring. To think I gave up all that wonderfulness for boring, quiet, rural Iowa where we can still leave the keys in the car in the driveway, leave all the windows and doors open at night and not worry about getting gang-raped or murdered in our sleep. When was the last time one of your So-Cal neighbors brought over some soup because they heard at the grocery that you were under the weather. Car broke down 30 miles away from home? No problem. The neighbor fires up the truck and comes with the trailer, loads you up and tows you home. Yeah, I sure do miss San Diego. (note sarcasm) The bonus? Iowa has more miles of racetrack per capita than the next three states combined!! Gotta love dirt track racing every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and Sunday afternoons occasionally.

IOWA= I Oughta Went Around

Dude, Sounds like you should have been living in my neighborhood in San Diego. Born and raised in San Diego and wherever I've moved in the world, I always end up home and I'm never leaving again. "You can take off anytime time you like, but you can't never leave." Until global warming raises the sea levels, I'm home on my island to stay!! EARTHQUAKES ROCK, literally!!

Kornfed "This is obviously due to evil Republican fracking.."

The only 'fracking' company I know of is owned by a staunch Democrat.

California.

Can't find a job there because of sky-high unemployment.

Can't afford to live there because of high taxes to support the welfare structure there.

A good place to learn to speak Spanish though.

Ha,Ha,Ha, these people always make dumb jokes, I guess it eases their anxiety over the realization that the Democrats will be around many more years before they (GOP) even have a chance to ruin the rest of our country.

Some on here have said that living in the So. Cal area is like living in Paradise. But it doesn't seem like paradise when you are always wondering when the Big One will hit. If anyone wants to live where nothing ever happens, move to the Central Valley of California. Granted, it is not Paradise, but there are no natural disasters (knock on wood) and the worst that happens is the tule fog in winter and the heat in summer. The plus side is that there is the best and freshest fruits and veggies in the USA!

Well at least the people in SoCal are smart enough to know the Big One is coming. I guess with this repetitive reminders it is hard to forget. If you live in the Pacific Rim it is a matter of WHEN NOT IF. You'd be surprised how many people here don't have a clue. Not that I worry about it but scientists say someday relatively soon Portland and Seattle are going down. Well, you have no control over it so you live your life. Be as prepared as you can be. No telling when it will happen. I can't wrap my head around living in a place where they have a "disaster season" though. Like hurricane season, tornado season, fire season, etc. I'll take my chances with the off chance of a Big One or a Tsunami. To each their own.

These quakes are actually a god-send for all the info the scientists will glean from them. They'll see faults and structures in the area in better detail.

But let's hope these aren't precursors...

I can't believe someone just described Iowa as the utopia of America. It would be hilarious if not so preposterous.

ROY WILSON-336103

The only 'fracking' company I know of is owned by a staunch Democrat.

Anything bad involving nature is to be blamed on Republicans! Dont you know the rules?

"Several glasses and a bottle of wine crashed to the floor and shattered at Assaggio, an Italian restaurant"

Here a bottle of wine breaks in a moderate quake. In Iran entire cities crumble. I guess they just don't care.

If you want to get away from throngs of people and enjoy nature, the less populated states are wonderful to live in.

SD for 3 yrs

MN for 26 yrs

IA for 3.5 yrs

WY for 12 yrs

Yes, Iowa, Idiots Out Wandering Around....a favorite MN joke but then I lived in Iowa for a while, ha!

I like Wyoming, good stuff, high desert, no earthquakes ever since its founded on solid granite and close to so many places of natural beauty and activities. It is cheaper than CA too.

California living needs a little spice, every so often. Lived there many years and miss the little quakes.

Southern California, like all of California is naturally beautiful country. If this was not true, Highway 1 would not be one of the most beautiful highways in the world.

For those with lesser money than more, Los Angeles is a city with no community spirit, unless one belongs to one of the many ethnic groups. This could have been changed by city management, but never was. For a variety of reasons, San Diego and San Francisco are much friendlier. Those who are happiest in L.A. are up on the money; live very sheltered lives; or are able to live while perpetual remembering a smaller L.A. from decades ago, when management was better and less significant, i.e. living in the past.

"11/2 hours from the desert 1 1/2 hours from the mountains" Yeah if you leave at midnight on a Tuesday.
And don't even think of getting out of town on a 3 day weekend!

meh? ok whom loves eric cartman on south park? it is just a matter of time before california sinks into the pacific ocean.

Chri cox, you know nothing about geology if you think California sinking into the ocean is even possible. When someone says that, I know they are just trying to be clever without any understanding.

Is there FRACKING or INJECTION DRILLING anywhere within 200 miles? swarms of small earthquakes have led to larger ones in OHIO VIRGINIA MIDWEST - Is it mother nature or manmade? England and many European countries banned this type of drilling after experiencing earthquake swarms and earthquakes in the same areas: no more earthquakes.

These people live near the Andreas Fault. They have been having 2.4 's or less up and down the coast. These quakes are significant as oppose to what California has been having. Maybe it might be all those drug cartel tunnels that are causing this action. It is not frackling. Frackling is seismic activity is cause from usinging CO2 to bring the trapped gas and oil up from shale or limestone deep under the table water level.

@ Margaret:

No, there is no Hydrofracking anywhere in the State of California. It is just the San Andreas Fault slipping again. I would rather have a bunch of 5.3's relieve the pressure off the fault than have it build up to something serious.

Yes people Calif.is a very dangerous place please stay away at all costs earthquakes, murders,drug gangs,wild dogs,crazy hippies,even a few Republicans !! Please let the rest of us stay out here and try to make it safe ...

Yes, if by close you mean 1,500 miles or so.

I was in Brawley today during the quakes and they were pretty intense. As far as being close to the fracking, yes geothermal plants 10 miles north of Brawley, several of them

Ugh, geothermal isn't fracking. Using mantle-heated water, called steam, to power turbines to make electricity isn't the same as injecting water and chemicals into the bedrock to fracture it so as to release hydrocarbons. And fracking doesn't cause earthquakes in any event. At least not in the small amounts so far it is in use. It would require a massive effort to cause fault slippage, and to the earth we just aren't that massive.

Apparently Rich is an expert in geology. When the mantle is disturbed there is a reaction. Elemental physical science does not change on whims and guesses. Pump out or in to the earth and the earth reacts: 1 mile away or 10,000 miles away.

It is not that simplistic Drew.

separate quakes in the San Andreas southern extension fault zone could mean stress is building along the fault and the USGS are probably closely monitoring.

There was no mention of what was felt in Yuma AZ which is only 65 miles from the area.

What did people blame earthquakes on before there was hydro fracking? What a bunch of tools.

No, but they did hear that your mother was entertaining the 5th fleet again.

<sarcasm>

Thank you for specifying your sarcastic intent; I would have never known.

<hungry>

The area has been known to deliver a 6.2.

Thanks for showing you have no grasp on how historical data can sometimes be fallible. Just because it usually does not produce large earthquakes does not mean that the TBSZ cannot. It is called covering all of the possibilities, I can understand why that might be foreign to you, many in this country seem to have lost the ability to accept that an outcome other than the one they desire can happen.

Ya never know, a million things could happen and it could be true that the Mayans really did have communications with Aliens that are better than us at knowing the future, but a million other prophesies of doom have come and gone, we are still here, and there is no certainty the Mayan calendar wasn't intended to start all over or wasn't based on their knowledge of science and math so they couldn't reconcile the calendar w/going further, or a million other reasons.

We have lots of other things to deal with, like global warming climate change, too many people, political divisiveness. If the end is near, will hope it is quick, otherwise will try to adhere to old Al Anon thing about those things you have some control over.

Richard: Saturday, December 22nd, 2012, will dawn the same as any other day has for the last 4 billion years, give or take.

On that day there could also well be earthquakes, tornados, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and all other manner of natural disaster somewhere in the world. And they will all have one thing in common. Not a one of them will have ANYTHING to do with the Myan calendar what so ever.

But think of what an excuse that whole weekend will be to have a party. Friday night, it will be the "It's the last night party". Saturday night will be the, "We're still here party!!" And then New Years is only 9 days away from there.

After all, if December, 22nd comes and we're all still here, then hey, it's not the end of the world ya know ;-)

Nor should you have any sympathy for those who choose to live in areas where hurricanes or tornados occur.

We really don't give a S.h.i.t wheter you have any simpathy or not M.F.

Wayne, where is it you live since last time I checked, EVERY place on Earth has the potential for some natural disaster (earthquake, tornado, hurricane, volcano, etc).

Take a break. The BIG ONE has been predicted as "due" every year for the past 50 years. In the meantime, everyplace else has tornados, hurricanes, fires, and christian/republicans. Wanna make a choice, douche bag? I know mine!

Mike430, so you think all of the East Coast should move, along with a huge section of the South? What about the Midwest? There is a huge fault in southern IL. Get real, pal. No place is without dangers.

I guess I take something radically different away from comments like these. I care about the people living there just as I care about the people living here--Sacramento, btw, is about as safe a place from natural disaster as one could ever create--but I think the people living in SoCal, or along the northern faults, or in tornado country, or hurricane territory, should work together to cover the costs of disaster.

That is, people in, say, Maine, shouldn't subsidize the people in Los Angeles simply because they might care about them. In doing so we end up with more people in an unsafe area, with more real estate development, and higher costs when (not if) a disaster happens. So live where you want. But pay for your own disaster-related costs. If that means accumulating large amounts of cash held in trust for future pay-outs, then so be it. When Isaac causes damage, and we all hope it is minimal if at all, the people who live in and around the hurricane-prone areas ought to come together without people in Nevada, or Wyoming, or Michigan being forced to. If they want to volunteer their own money, well great.

Wayne, with an attitude like that, you are beyond trying to educate, but I will still point out that the Mississippi Valley, Washington DC, Charleston and New York City are ALL on earthquake faults. Also, please use language more carefully. No place in California is "quake ravaged" because the Big One hasn't happened yet. No doubt it will happen, sooner or later, but whether the next large one will be southern or northern California is anyone's guess. Exactly where do you expect the population of California to relocate - and will you volunteer to operate our ports, grow the food that feeds most of the country, and otherwise keep one-sixth of the nation's economy going if Californians stop living near earthquake faults?

"Waynes World, Waynes World" Not havin much fun making new friends tonite are ya Wayne?

I'll be your friend. No,really I will.

Dem californains iz sum interestin peoples four shure. I gotz no sypathy four them neether. Dey git wuts common too dem to. BIG ONE is coming too many in a short time, and itz gonna raveged dem californains too cingdum comm. Hearz my emale adress wayne. . @hotmail.com I rote the first part in white so no one else can see it. just change the faunt coulor to black so you cun se it. Pretty cool huh, top secret

Rich- In 1938 after the no-name hurricane that year, Franklin Roosevelt determined that disasters like that storm were overwhelming for communities and states and actually could damage the national economy ( esp. hurricanes that go through more than one state). That's how we started paying taxes to help other states. I can see taking issue with a lot of other expeditures. We all have our targets. But disaster relief? Come on, have a heart for crying out loud it could be you and your community some day.

You are so right about the kids. They don't feel very secure if mom and dad are freaking out. Check for damage to your home if you think it's neccessary. It keeps you from losing it.

they must have set the bottle down on the edge of the table.......these are baby quakes.

wine bottle ...middle of table...no problem

Sumatra was a subduction fault not a strike slip fault like the San Andreas. The big one isn't likely to be above an 8.0 though nothing in life is certain. If the subduction fault off the pacific northwest should go off, that would be more like Sumatra.

You want a tv show to slide into the ocean? How bizarre.

A lot of us reading this post have friends and family living there, so your comments are very offensive!

Best place I have ever lived was in California. And for all you folks so stuck on the hate, Cali is a big state, is more than a couple of cities. A big chunk of the state is as conservative as you, and the state is loaded with natural resources.

I thought Californication was a song.

Once again, self-centered jerks showing the bad side of this great country. Really cool that someone thinks not newswothy unless half of the state is gone(sarcasm).

Started out fun, is ending up depressing that there seem to be so many really sad people out there. No problem, I will give my kids and wife a hug in a minute when I go to bed, and forget all about it.

Now, California won't slide into the sea. But L.A. and San Francisco might be just a few miles from each other in the distant future, being on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault.

Why does such a large portion of our society (typically have nothing worthwhile to say) seems to hate California? I understand that maybe not everybody would love it, but it is a vast and beautiful state full of resources and diversity. I think most people who wish California to be gone have never been there.

Pat, They just wish they could live here !! I love it here !! Surf in the morning snowboard in the afternoon !! No rain till the middle of winter sunny all year !! Major Mt. ranges deserts forests just the best of everything ...

Dominator (dominates Dominator with a pimp smack so hard that he chaged their name from Dominator to Submissive Slut)...THAT is for talking smack about my friends and family who live in that state.

thetruthteller-3478699

The "truth" is you are a wacko and make no sense whats so ever!

Don't worry about the government, Hurricane Wall Street (the Bankers, brokers and oil cartels) is the one's that produced our Richter scale 10 economic cataclysm. Of course, the government was pushed out of the way by the Wall Street deregulation forces so that Wall Street could "rape" at will. Two former Citibank CEOs, Jim Reed and Sandy Weill, have stated that their successful effort at repealing the Glass-Steagall law was the reason(epicenter) for the world-wide financial collapse and that Glass-Steagall should be reintated. But keep on spitting on the government and kissing up to Wall Street because they hold the real power - they can revoke your loan, increase your credit interest rate, mess with your credit rating, keep you from getting a job and a hundred other things all without worrying about your constitutional rights.

Well dominator there are some people ( like you !) who probably just love being ass raped !!by the Republicans or the teabaggers . But the rest of us out here are happy well adjusted people who are kind enough to let the sickos ( like you again..) hang around for the entertainment value ...troll on fool !!

I'm thinking more about the southeast right now, with Isaac closing in. Stay safe and dry out there!

I hate to burst your bible bubble, but if a couple of earthquakes in SoCal indicate the end of the world...we would have been doomed a hundred years ago!!! This is normal, not prophecy. When it starts occurring all over the world, get back to me.

It is ocurring all over the world! "With data obtained from the National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, supplemented by a number of standard reference works, a tabulation was made in 1984 that included only earthquakes that measured 7.5 or more on the Richter scale, or that resulted in destruction of five million dollars (U.S.) or more in property, or that caused 100 or more deaths. It was calculated that there had been 856 of such earthquakes during the 2,000 years before 1914. The same tabulation showed that in just 69 years following 1914 there were 605 of such quakes. That means that, in comparison with the previous 2,000 years, the average per year has been 20 times as great since 1914

LOL

the really curious thing about prophecy is that people won't really notice until it is too late, when a few hundred thousand people are zipped up in body bags, the churches will be overflowing with those seeking guidance and redemption, it's like all the gears in a very large machine, all coming to a certain piont, or better, if you had a big wheel, and all the spokes, like that of a bicycle wheel, all converged at the same point and at the same place, then, as if it were planned, the central axle, was removed.

if that wheel, was supporting the entire population of the entire planet, oh my, the systems of corruption and deceptions would all come crashing down, this is 2012 after all, relax, cook up some popcorn, the show appears to just be getting started.

Isn't anybody paying attention to this! It fulfills prophecy!

Only to those that want it to.

Only on the big screen; science says otherwise.

Science? Blasphemy!!

hawaii has a big volcano out there, i was in the military years ago, and on a day when the work was done, me and a few freinds walked out near a volcano that had just started to erupt, that lava was going 500 feet in the air, and the only sound it compares to is the sound of a jet engine. twenty something years later, it is still going on, when the planet wants to intervene, things are going to start happening, from all angles and from every side.

Just out of curiosity, did you ever spend any time in an English class?

DO you spend any time leaning to be an AMERICAN?