Earthquake + Unreinforced Brick Building = Not Good

Ralph Tollett looks at the damage to his son's building in Pomona, Calif. on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

We can't emphasize enough that this earthquake is considered a "moderate" one and caused relatively little damage throughout the region. However, with that said, some damage and a handful of minor injuries did happen. Today's quake, a 5.4, was just one percent of the energy of the 1994 Northridge 6.7 earthquake, according to CBS2.

In the above photo, an unreinforced brick building after this morning's quake in Pomona between 2nd and 3rd streets off Park Ave. Unreinforced brick buildings are really scary buildings to be inside, in our opinion.

Update: An anonymous e-mail tipster shares thoughts on why this might have happened. The e-mail alleges... "I know the building which you posted on LAist. It was being remodeled. The owner Perry accidentally took out the bearing wall and the roof started to collapse two years ago. He did not repair it before the quake. The roof caved in then a wall fell in because he'd taken out the bearing wall. It was about to collapse anyway which is why he stopped working on it."