Has California learned its lesson about earthquakes? Sometimes it almost seems that whenever the ground shakes because of anything less than a 6 on the Richter Scale it's no big deal to your average Californian. Maybe that's because the state's building codes have made buildings so very safe.
Southern California was slightly rattled by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday, July 29, 2008. No deaths and only a few minor injuries were reported but even those were unconfirmed. The epicenter was in Chino Hills where most of the buildings and real estate were constructed after 1995. Since the 6.7 Northridge earthquake in 1994 buildings codes have been beefed up and newer structures can handle quite a lot of pounding.
Though scientific experts think in geologic time, thousands and often millions of years, they all agree that the "Big One" is bound to hit California someday, maybe within the next 30 years. Really, it could happen anytime so it's a good thing that building codes have been so strict for the past 13 years.