Hit By or Hit With

Question

What's the difference between "California was hit with an earthquake." vs "California was hit by an earthquake."? I see news articles writing "California was hit with an earthquake." which is different.  

Answer 1

By = propositional noun, delineates exactly what is occurring (in this case, an earthquake)

With = proposition, usually links phrases or nouns

With the above definitions, which makes more sense? By!

Why?

Because, what is California hit with?

It's hit by an earthquake.

Answer 2

"Hit with" is slangy. "Hit by" is professional, correct language. But still sensationalist -- since tectonic-plate-boundary regions experience multitudes of smaller quakes, which go unnoticed by the casual observer. I myself missed an otherwise perceptible temblor when bicycling once.

For general distribution of number of earthquakes vs. magnitude, see graphic at: https :/ /www. jkgeography.com /measuring-earthquakes 1. html (remove spaces in the link, before following it -- spacing defeats an automatic filter for websites in Wyzant).

--Cheers, -- Mr. d.