By Mary O’KEEFE

I think you can call yourself a true Californian if after an earthquake you speculate its magnitude with people around you.

“I think it was a 4.3.”

“No, it felt stronger maybe even 4.8.”

And heaven forbid someone adds it was a 6 or 7 magnitude when it was a smaller tumbler! Those people obviously haven’t been in California that long; they are novice earthquake scorers.

Maybe this is why Californians, for the most part, pay such close attention to the environment because every once in a while it kicks us in our butts to remind us who is actually in charge.

I have been lucky enough to hear Dr. Lucy Jones, called the “Earthquake Lady” by Smithsonian Magazine, speak on several occasions. When I first started writing for newspapers she would come to small gatherings in La Cañada Flintridge. Her warnings of what a large earthquake would be like if it was centered on the San Andreas fault were enough to make anyone sit up and take notice. Prior to establishing the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills, Jones spoke of the nightmare scenario of a strong earthquake striking at the same time as a Santa Ana wind event and wildfires. Once the Great ShakeOut drill was organized, and is now an annual event, there should be no doubt people need to get ready for “not if but when” a strong earthquake will occur.

Luckily, Mother Earth continues to remind us we must be vigilant; for example, on Monday when a 4.4 magnitude earthquake was felt by people from as far south as Chula Vista to north of Bakersfield, according to USGS.

Monday’s earthquake was centered south/southeast of Highland Park. So in answering “Did you feel it?” (another Californian native question), I was in Pasadena on Lake Avenue when my ShakeAlert app went off. Immediately I felt the earthquake. I was in my car at a stoplight and it was weird. There was a bounce, then it felt like all four tires were low on air. I looked around to the other drivers and we all seemed to know at the same time what happened. We looked at each other and just smiled. Some people on the street seemed to stop for a second, analyzed the situation and then kept going – others didn’t seem to miss a beat.

There is something about an earthquake, no matter the size, that brings Californians together. As I walked into the building where I had a meeting everyone was sharing stories of what they thought of the earthquake and of course adding their guess on the magnitude.

According to USGS, the Earth has four major layers: the inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. The crust and the top of the mantle make up a thin skin on the surface of the planet.

“But this skin is not all in one piece – it is made up of many pieces, like a puzzle covering the surface of the earth. Not only that, but these puzzle pieces keep slowly moving around, sliding past one another and bumping into each other. We call these puzzle pieces tectonic plates, and the edges of the plates are called the plate boundaries. The plate boundaries are made up of many faults and most of the earthquakes around the world occur on these faults. Since the edges of the plates are rough, they get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an earthquake,” according to the USGS.

Okay – so that’s the science; but to be honest I heard the myths of earthquakes long before I heard of the science. One myth is earthquake weather.

Nope, according to USC San Marcos, this misconception of earthquake weather dates back to ancient Greeks but they were wrong. Earthquakes can happen anytime and in any weather.

And then there is the myth that earthquakes happen in the early morning hours. Well that was true of the Northridge Earthquake but it is not a hard and fast rule. The 1940 Imperial Valley Quake was at 9:36 p.m., the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake was at 5:02 p.m. and the one on Monday was at about 12:20 p.m.

“California could fall into the sea because of an earthquake.” This is a myth I heard even as a kid in the Midwest.

“The San Andreas Fault System is the dividing line between two tectonic plates. The Pacific Plate is moving in a northwesterly direction relative to the North American plate. The movement is horizontal, so while Los Angeles is moving toward San Francisco, California won’t sink. However, earthquakes can cause landslides, slightly changing the shape of the coastline,” according to the CSUSM.

And one of the myths that can be traced to photos from past earthquakes is standing in a doorway for safety during a quake.

If you live in an unreinforced adobe home then yes this is good place to stand other than finding a big table to get under. Photos from the earthquake in Imperial Valley in the ’40s showed houses that had crumbled after the quake. In many structures the only thing standing was the adobe doorway – hence the assumption, the incorrect assumption, was all doorways are the place to stand.

The one thing that is not a myth is the best time to prepare for any disaster is before it happens. Like preparing for a wildfire people should make an emergency plan that includes a communications plan with family members.

Protect your home by securing heavy items like bookcases, refrigerators, water heaters, televisions and objects that hang on the wall. During the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, my cousin’s cabinets opened and all of her cooking oils flew across the room and shattered on the floor. Cleaning that oil up took forever … just saying maybe secure your cabinets as well.

For a complete guide regarding what to do before an earthquake visit https://www.ready.gov/earthquakes.

The weather this week will be pretty much like days past with highs in the high 80s or low 90s but then on Tuesday we will see a jump to 97 degrees, according to NOAA.