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"In the Imperial Valley California we use 5.5’s to stir our coffee in the am."

Huge difference between an earthquake in Cali rock strata and an earthquake in silt and sand and water where the earth turns to liquid. A 5.5 in Cali remains localized while a 5.5 in the east coast could travel for 100s of miles and cause more damage.

Sand and silt? That is the definition of the Imperial Valley topography. An unseen consequence of our 7.2 on Easter and our hundreds of aftershocks measuring over 3.5 is liquefaction and undermining of roads and other structures. There are several roads out here that are still closed due to that very process. Your point is well taken.

Cyman, this native Californian who's been through a zillion earthquakes (had one the other day, that one that moved San Diego something like 31 inches, that only got a casual glance at swaying hanging pots from my husband and me) and all of the major ones of the last three or four decades, was sitting here giggling at your comment:

"In the Imperial Valley California we use 5.5’s to stir our coffee in the am."

THAT SAID ... a 5.5 is pretty respectable. You folks over there in the East who felt it, don't let anyone tell you it was a candy-ass quake. It was big enough to make one get the picture fast: a human being is about as significant as a bug on this Earthly plane when nature's sh*t hits the fan. Nature calls the environmental shots, not us.

And Cyman, is Imperial Valley rock strata? I don't know. I do know that there are plenty of areas in California that get shook like jello in a decent quake. The Chino Hills quake, for example. That was a pretty ho-hum quake, yet it rocked the bejeebers out of places on flatter ground.

Ya just never know. What you do figure out is that everything, and I mean everything, that happens on this planet is temporary.