Written by Brianna Duarte / Staff Writer
A swarm of earthquakes recently hit Southern California, the first being a 5.3 on Mar 28, creating uneasiness among Southern Californians, especially since they have all been in the same vicinity.
Over a hundred aftershocks have followed since the 5.3 magnitude earthquake with a range of magnitudes above 2.0.
Many Southern Californians have neglected the fact that there may be a large earthquake until now, and they have been taking it more seriously as well as taking a number of precautions to ensure the safety of themselves and their homes. Students at Bishop Amat High School are realizing just how prepared they are for an earthquake.
“I guess I’m generally prepared for earthquakes but in the exact moment the earthquake was happening, I just sat there just noticing it becauses it caught me off guard,” said senior Kyle Jardinel.
Many students were not prepared for the earthquake at all and some did not even know what to do.
“I just stood there, I had no idea what else to do and no thoughts of getting to safety came to mind,” said senior Xela Quintana.
Though the majority of people felt these earthquakes, others didn’t.
“Usually when an earthquake happens I’m usually asleep or just don’t notice. I barely felt this one,” said Jardinel.
Earthquakes are never expected and can not be predicted, taking many people off guard when they are going about their daily activities. A group of students at Amat, however, were in the middle of a musical when the earthquake hit.
“Luckily the one on Friday was during an intermission and not during the actual musical,” said Andrea Lizarraga. “I was backstage when the earthquake hit and I was really scared but Ms. Srisamai kept us all calm.”
Quintana was also backstage during the play and recalls what she was doing at the time the earthquake hit.
“I was backstage re-applying my makeup and I thought it was the guys playing a joke or something but some girls started holding on to each other because the ground was moving,” said Quintana.
Following the earthquake on Friday, one of the larger aftershocks hit on Saturday night as well, also during the second showing of the musical.
“I first noticed because the audience was looking nervous and talking and I was like ‘wow rude.’ Chris Lawenko was in the middle of his solo and he did not miss a beat,” said Quintana.
Though the earthquake hit in the middle of the performance, nothing went wrong with the musical.
“The performers on stage paused slightly for it to pass and waited out the earthquake.”
There have not been any other major earthquakes in Southern California, however there was recently an 8.3 earthquake that struck the coast of Chile, causing officials to issue tsunami warnings for the surrounding areas.
