Lived between San Jose and San Fran for about 4 years and felt enough earthquakes for my lifetime. I'm a midwesterner by birth. In the biggest I felt (5.0) I was on the 5th floor of a building. There was a large bang, but several folks explained that was just the building moving....nothing to worry about.
Nothing to worry about? Sheesh!
I’d bet your large bang was from the fault moving. A couple of years ago, we were awakened by shaking followed by a large boom. It was a 5.1 earthquake with the epicenter about three miles away. All our neighbors had the same experience.
“Nothing to worry about? Sheesh!”
Exactly right. I never got used to them, or did not NOT “worry,” primarily because once it starts, you are poised, waiting, because you do not know how long it is going to last, or how intense it is going to be. I was in San Diego when the Northridge quake hit, and it literally rolled me out of bed. Which was okay, because I was getting up to go skiing anyway! LOL (it was probably stupid to go skiing, I admit)