Following most present day damaging earthquakes , teams of investigators from institutions such as the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute are sent to the affected region to set up instruments to capture strong motion records , and to study the damage and other effects of the event . This has not always been the case , and the 1954 report from Steinbrugge and Moran that thoroughly detailed the effects ( especially to buildings ) of the 1952 shocks put in place a model for how modern earthquake reconnaissance reports are written . The strong motion record that was obtained from the 1952 shock , as well as the accelerogram from the 1940 El Centro earthquake , were the most widely used data sets until the 1971 San Fernando earthquake
1971 San Fernando earthquake
1971 San Fernando earthquake
1952 Kern County earthquake