California is overdue a major earthquake, so it is understandable that news of any tremor would be met with alarm.
But residents of Los Angeles shrugged off reports that a 3.6 magnitude quake hit the west of the city on Monday night with a series of tongue-in-cheek memes.
Some were unimpressed by the size of the tremor having stayed up to feel it, while others claimed to have slept right through it.
Californians were not impressed after a 3.6 magnitude earthquake struck Los Angeles on Monday night and was felt across the west of the city
The US Geological Survey said the tremor would have caused shaking severe enough to stop clocks and break loose items, which was a common theme in memes posted online
This being Hollywood, even TV shows decided to get on board with the mockery, including this tweet from The Walking Dead
Some jokers paid tribute to the fallen in their tweets – with tipped-over objects including water bottles and back yard furniture
A common theme among online jokers was the caption ‘we will rebuild’ alongside pictures of minor damage, such as a tipped over chair or fallen water bottle.
Seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey said shaking would have been felt by those living in the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, the LA Times reports.
The tremor measured between 4 and 5 in intensity on the scale used by USGS, with 5 described as ‘felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.’
Seismologist Zachary Reeves told the Times: ‘We get these size earthquakes fairly frequently. Any severe damage would be pretty unlikely.’
Experts warned back in March that a section of the San Andreas fault which runs north of Los Angeles is roughly 60 years overdue for a catastrophic earthquake.
The quake struck shortly after 11pm in Westwood, seismologists said, and was powerful enough to shake people awake
While some claimed to have been woken up by the quake, others said they slept through it
Experts warned earlier this year that California is overdue a large earthquake, so perhaps Californians can be forgiven for getting nervous
Some tweeters vowed to rebuild their shattered lives after the quake caused bottles to fall over and small objects to move out of place
Analysts from USGS reported that the ‘Big Bend’ section of the fault near Tejon Pass has experienced a major event roughly every 100 years – and, it’s been 160 years since the last one.
The last earthquake to occur along the fault measured magnitude 7.9, a similar magnitude to the 1994 Northridge earthquake that hit a different fault northwest of Los Angeles, killing 60 people.
Any future earthquake in the region would likely be far more destructive, potentially cutting power and water to large parts of the south of the state, and killing up to 14,000 people according to state contingency plans.
Scientists said that while gaps between earthquakes along the fault have often measured more than 100 years, eventually a large earthquake always turns up.
‘There’s no getting out of this,’ USGS research geologist Kate Scharer said.
Those elsewhere in America couldn’t resist poking a little bit of fun at the reaction such a small quake generated across social media
Hiding under the bed covers seems to have been a popular method of dealing with the scare
Though analysts said shaking should have been felt across much of west Los Angeles, some people completely missed the tremor
While this tweeter was awake through the quake and failed to feel it, others said they stayed asleep and only realised they had missed it later