Alyssa Milano, Jordin Sparks, Wil Wheaton, Khloe Kardashian and Larry King were among the concerned Twitter-loving celebs to reach out to followers and friends in the minutes following the quake.
And of course, L.A.'s digerati checked in, as well. Social media-ite Alana Joy was fatalistic and profound, while MySpace VP Sean Percival and photographer Jonathan Nafarrete were simply funny.
The quake, which originated in Borrega Springs and was felt from San Diego to L.A. itself, was a fairly large one for the area. Over the past decade or so, most residents have been relatively unaffected by earthquakes; in fact, most tremors have been small enough to sleep through for the more quake-calloused of Angelenos. There hasn't been a truly devastating earthquake in L.A. since the 1994 Northridge quake.
Because of its immediacy and reach, Twitter is fast becoming a good medium for spreading the word about natural disasters of all kinds. Earlier this year, Twitter was used to locate a missing person after a Chilean earthquake. Twitter was the first source of information when a meteor hit Wisconsin recently, too. And who can forget the images spread via Twitter when earthquakes wracked Haiti and Baja California?
Ponder the meaning of and uses for Twitter as a disaster reporting and response mechanism while you check out these amusing tweets, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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