Chino Hills Earthquake Rattled Nerves

The 5.4 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Southland yesterday had its epicenter in Chino Hills. KPCC's Steven Cuevas was in Riverside when the quake struck and has this report.

Steven Cuevas (with interview in background): 11:42 a.m.; I'm on the second floor of the old Riverside Metropolitan Museum in the middle of an interview.

Steven Weissman: ... kind of funny, like one of my– [shaking] Wow!

Cuevas: Wuh oh. [second jolt] Big earthquake. [more shaking] Come on, lets go... hang on! [shaking slows]

Weissman: Great to be in an old building.

Cuevas: Yeah. That was a big one. Well why don't we try to make our way out of here?
Weissman: OK. Should we wait?

Cuevas: I ease down the museum's wide, stone staircase with Los Angeles comic artist Steven Weissman. In the lobby, receptionist Lucy Morin tries to catch her breath.

Cuevas: Wow. You all right?

Lucy Morin: Oh! Ah! (laughs) I think so. I was trying to unlock the door, and I almost went flying! Oh! Oh! That was a big one for me! Oh! (laughs)

Cuevas: Out on the street, dozens and dozens of people stream from stores and office buildings in Riverside's historic downtown district, cell phones clutched to their ears. Larry Guelick hangs up his cell phone to talk to me. He's on a jury. It was in deliberation when the quake struck. A voluntary evacuation is in place while the county courthouse undergoes inspection.

Larry Guelick: Well, some of the jurors that don't particularly like earthquakes, which I'm sure were the majority of them, didn't really care for them that much, so there was a little bit of apprehension on some of their parts, but I think there was a calming effect by those of us that were not terribly concerned about the earthquake.

Cuevas: You must be a long time Californian then?

Guelick: Loooong time California resident, yes sir! (laughs) Almost 60 years worth!

Cuevas: You'd never know Chino Hills was the approximate epicenter, unless someone told you. An hour or so after the quake, it seems more like a city that's the epicenter of a typical summer day.

[Sounds of Chino Hills library]

At the Chino Hills public library, patrons read magazines, kids work on an art project. Julie Hummel is the library's Young Adult specialist.

Julie Hummel: No books fell down, everyone was really calm, pretty much. We didn't have time to react; we all kind of stood here for a couple seconds, and then it was over.

Cuevas: So you cant tell me about how you rescued people from underneath pinned bookshelves or anything?

Hummel: (laughs) I wish I could! No, it was fine. We went outside and made sure everyone was OK. So, besides a couple babies crying, that's about it!

Cuevas: First responders in Chino Hills did get a lot of calls after the earthquake struck – but fire captain Jeremy Ault says they were pretty much all false alarms.

Jeremy Ault: They were for alarm systems that were resetting; if they lose power or whatever, when it resets, will sometimes indicate a fire alarm. But fortunately, the reports have come back with no major damage or injuries.

Cuevas: What do you attribute that to, though?

Ault: Could possibly be due to newer construction in the area, or just the type of the earthquake, of which I'm not an expert, so I couldn't exactly comment on why there wasn't damage, just fortunate that there wasn't.

Cuevas: Seismologists warn that Thursday's quake should serve as a reminder, and a test drill, for the big temblor that probably won't let us off so easy.