Okay, okay, some sensitive souls did notice.
But the general – and we say entirely admirable – Shanghai response to yesterday's earthquake was a resounding... meh.
The details: at 1.54pm yesterday, Wednesday, November 17, a 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck in the Yellow Sea off neighboring Jiangsu Province. The epicenter was monitored at 33.50 degrees north latitude and 121.19 degrees east longitude, with a focal depth of 17 kilometers.
The fact it struck in the Yellow Sea makes it a seaquake rather than an earthquake, which sounds cool. So we have that.
Some Shanghai residents reported that they felt dizziness, a slight trembling and buildings shaking, and those working in taller office buildings were evacuated as a safety precaution. There have been no immediate reports of injuries or loss of property.
People also took to WeChat moments to share their experiences. But, in terms of earth-moving social media events, it wasn't up there with, say, WeChat Pay suddenly being frozen.
READ MORE: With WeChat Money Frozen, Exasperated Expats Light Up Groups
It is not the first time Shanghai has been shaken by seismic activity; back in July 2014, two earthquakes struck in the space of a month, the first with a magnitude of 2.0 and the second of 1.3.
READ MORE: Shanghai 'Rocked' by Second Earthquake in a Month
A quick, yet thoroughly scientific search on Google – which took us to a site called sciencedirect.com, no less – came back with this:
"In general, the seismic hazard of Shanghai is low to medium, with a PGA value of 25 cm s−2 for a 90% probability of non-exceedance in 50 years."
That sounds reassuring, right? Non-exceedance is surely a good thing. We're choosing to take it that way.
Sleep easy, Shanghai.
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