Los Angeles, in all its glory, is a wonder to behold. Its finest days (high 70s, sunny, breeze whispering through the palm trees) can make one believe it is impervious to disaster.

The unfortunate truth that lurks below the earth is thus easy to gloss over or even forget. Until it reminds you with a jolt.

Suddenly there is no denying the shaking, the rattling, the swaying — and one’s memory is jogged: Folded into the landscape, forever and always, is a force that no one can predict.

In recent months, Los Angeles has experienced a smattering of earthquakes that were just powerful enough to make residents stop in their tracks. One morning last week, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake was felt across all corners of the city.

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“You think you’re crazy when one happens,” said Kevin Holloway-Harris, 31, who was sitting in his car at a gas station at the time. “I felt the car rumble. I thought, ‘Do I have vertigo, or did I just wake up wrong?’”

For some, the recent quakes have amplified the underlying dread of “the big one” and prompted many to wonder if the shaking is a prelude to a disaster. (The short answer is: it’s up for debate.) But for much of Los Angeles, the general response after being jostled awake, after floors and shelves have vibrated, is apathy.

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