Pasadenans’ reactions to Friday night’s temblor – this time, the strongest shaking in a trio of quakes over roughly a 34-hour period epicentered about 155 miles away — ranged from cavalier indifference to mounting concern. The quake caused no damage in Pasadena, City officials said.
The magnitude 7.1 quake struck near Ridgecrest, California at 8:19 p.m. It followed a 6.4 earthquake on July 4, and a 6.9 earlier on Friday, all epicentered near Ridgecrest.
“This must stop,” commented one local on Pasadena Now social media.
Another described crowds fleeing from movie theatres at ArcLight Cinemas in The Paseo at 300 E. Colorado Blvd.
“We were prepared to stay and finish watching the movie…but a few minutes later they stopped running all the shows in all the theatres. People poured out into the lobby,” Cynthia Woodman said. “No panicking, but a lot of tense crowds trying to leave.”
Pasadena City College officials decided to close all evening activities and evacuated the campus as a “safety precaution.”
They said that all classes at PCC’s Main Campus, CEC Campus, and Rosemead Campus will resume as scheduled Saturday morning. Lot 4 will be closed until further notice.
Pasadena City spokesperson Lisa Derderian said the long holiday weekend hopefully will give locals free time to focus on putting together earthquake preparedness supplies and plans.
“I hope people take advantage of time off and put together their kits, update their supplies, talk to the kids about what to do when we have an earthquake,” Derderian said, “because Mother Nature’s definitely letting us know that we’re well overdue for a large earthquake.”
To help you, the City of Pasadena has prepared this online guide:
https://www.cityofpasadena.