Thirteen years ago today. Yes, on January 17, 1994 at around 4:30a.m. the ground beneath LA shook in the Northridge Earthquake. We didn't have massive loss of life, but property damage was extensive and needless to say, the nerves and psyche of the whole city were pretty messed up for a good while. The fact this quake happened on a day off for most people and so early in the morning probably contributed to a lower death rate.I had just flown back from my parents' homeland after visiting extended family and I remember it being Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The roar of the quake was loud indeed; felt like a thousand people pounding on the walls of my house. I was still in my late teens; a young innocent horny virgin awoken by the shaking. About a minute after the initial temblor, we had another strong jolt. Yeah, the neighbors stopped by crying and scared. They had shattered glass, appliances, and other stuff on their floors while we luckily had no damage, which is astounding, considering how old the house I used to live in was. Power was out. I remember going outside into the cold dark morning just as the sun was about to rise, and looking up at all those stars; heavenly bodies one never sees up in the sky in a big city like LA, unless the power has gone all out. You could hear the car alarms going off here and there. Dogs barking. Hydrants and pipes were broken. Walls were cracked. No power for us for a good twelve hours, which is actually quite good considering the circumstances, and I do remember there being running water. I often worry about a huge quake doing real damage, where our basic comforts would go away. That would be purty scary, but a real possibility; always hoping we won't have a massive 8 pointer, but thank God for strict building codes at least.
As the sun rose, the damage began to be assessed, and lots of houses near the epicenter here in the SF Valley were heavily damaged. The classic cool mall near my house, Laurel Plaza was destroyed. Much of our local university CSUN was torn up, as were many buildings in Northridge, incuding the popular mall there. The worst death toll was at the Northridge Meadows Apartments, where the upper floors caved into the lower one killing over a dozen that were sleeping below. They say the magnitude was 6.7, but many still contend it was at least a 7.1 earthquake.
It was the largest most destructive quake so far here in LA. It's been over a decade, and I constantly worry when the ground will move again. After all, this is earthquake country. There is no getting around it.
It'll be either us or San Francisco.
6 comments:
we are long overdue. i remember that 4:30 am morning. I just got in from binge drinking and all sorts of shit. My head was already throbbing from a hangover and then my glass mirror in my bed flew across the room. funtimes for all
I lived in San Francisco for a year.....waiting to feel my forst earth quake. But it never happened. I was dissapointed. It was the only time I have lived on the West coast.
yeah we are long over due, well ya'll in LA. I am by the border now so who knows what's in store here for us.
I have been having REALLY bad earthquake dreams. I wonder if it is because this is the anniversary? I remember I was outta town in Vancouver working on commercials. I remember getting a call from my friend Luke saying that the local phones are down but long distance works. He wanted me to check with everyone to see if they were ok. He said it was BAD. I missed all of it with the exception of one very large aftershock a few weeks later. We drove back from Vancouver BC and came into town at 3a.m. just in time to get the aftershock. You could hear the aftershock coming. A freight train coming straight for you. I cant imagine what the main quake sounded like. I'm waiting, shoes by the bed, sleeping in my jeans so they dont find me pantless under the rubble.
BTW the same section of freeway you feature in you picture is the same section that came down in the 1971 quake. I was just a kid but boy do I remember that one.
This is the one major reason I want to avoid living in California. I really want to live in Cali, but this scares me. I lived through a destructive earthquake (my family and I were living in Kobe, Japan) during the '95 earthquake. I have a lot of terrible memories from that, but like you, we were fortunate, didn't lose much of anything, and most of all none of my family was hurt.
I hope California remains unscathed from any future earthquakes, hopefully the buildings are built with good technologies and potential destruction will be somewhat curbed...
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