BREAKING NEWS: 5.8 Earthquake hits Los Angeles

[Verily]

Not really news. 6.5 is pretty much the over-under for a significant earthquake in a developed country at least for a well prepared earthquake zone.

Fixed it.  If a 6.5 hit New York, Memphis or Chicago it would be utter disaster.

Memphis gets earthquakes with some degree of frequency, actually. NYC is in a super stable zone, though.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Minnesota is also very stable.. one of the most geologically sound places on earth.. so we're not used to anything shaking unless we're doing the shaking.

But yes.. the strength and damage caused by earthquakes gets exponentially bigger for each number you increase on the Richter Scale.

A 5 would be noticed, but no damage would really occur.  A 6 there'd be some light damage and it would definitely make the news.  A 7 would be quite bad and there would be widespread damage.  Anything above that would be pretty catastrophic for any city in the U.S.

[AkSaber]

No biggie. The Pacific states are part of the Ring of Fire. 5.4 earthquakes are things we're all used to.