Saturday, October 17, 2009

Remembering Loma Prieta

October 17, 1989...a date that residents of the Bay Area (California) will never forget - a day tens of thousands of us thought we would die. When the death toll was finally confirmed, there were 63 casualties on the list and 3,757 were injured. Thousands found themselves homeless.

But these numbers could have been significantly higher. It was 5:04 p.m. when the 7.1 earthquake hit. For the majority, it was the largest tremor they had ever experienced. Major League Baseball players had just begun their warm-up in preparation for their World Series championship game - the Oakland A's vs. San Francisco Giants. It was this very game that may have saved the lives of hundreds.

CALIFQUAKE




The Nimitz Freeway in west Oakland was the site where most of the deaths occurred. A portion of the Nimitz bridge - a double-deck section named The Cypress Street Viaduct - collapsed as a result of the shaker. The top section crashed down onto dozens of motorists. Those who were not crushed, found themselves trapped.

During rush-hour, the Bay Bridge would have normally been congested. Because Series game was taking place in the Bay, and both Bay Area teams were playing each other, this meant that many folks had left work early to either attend the game or catch the competition on television at home or in local sports bars. There was little traffic on the freeway at the time.

A rescue effort commenced immediately. Residents near-by and factory workers used ladders and forklifts to rescue victims from the buckled freeway through four-foot gaps in some portions of the bridge. A mostly volunteer operation continued day and night for the next three days until halted by former President George Bush and Governor George Duekmejian. 42 perished.

CALIFQUAKE


My Personal Story
It was a Tuesday afternoon. Along with my sister and best gal pal, Tomoe, we headed over to hang out on the front lawn of our middle school to watch our friends play football as we often did after school. The boys, tired and ready for a break came and sat with us girls for awhile. Right before the earthquake struck, my friend Victor had sat and leaned up against my back. We were chatting when I felt the initial movement. I thought he was pushing against me and actually told him to stop before the ground suddenly jolted beneath us.

There were shouts and screams and we all ran, sometimes tripping to the center of the lawn. Earthquake safety is something we had been taught several times a year at school since kindergarten. Having gathered in front of the school, we were in danger of being in the path of broken glass from the large windows on the face of the building. I initially buried my face into the grass as the ground rolled in random motion. As it started to fade, I turned my head and saw how the utility poles took on an appearance of being made of rubber, service lines swaying back and forth. It was then that I noticed my sister, Kristi, and Victor's brother, Frankie, were too close. I stood up and called for them to move when suddenly another jolt knocked me to the ground.

The quake lasted 15 seconds. At the time, it felt like a minute. When things settled, most of the boys jumped on their bikes and headed home. Kristi, Tomoe and I lived the furthest from the school. Victor and Frankie lived the closest. Some of the other boys, like John and Hector, headed to Victor's house with us thinking we should all take cover there. When we walked into the house, there was a terrible mess. Nearly everything was on the floor. We decided it was not safe to stay.

The boys did not want to send us girls off on our own, so they escorted us the 1.4 miles to where we lived. Along the way, we came across many people outside, everyone asking each other if they were okay. During that trek home, there were several aftershocks (subsequent earthquakes). Just before we reached Cahalan Park, the halfway point, we came across an off-duty police officer pedaling his bike. He advised us to stay off of the sidewalks and to walk down the center of the street to keep us as far away from structures and power lines as possible.

CALIFQUAKE


We arrived home to find our place in disarray. Confused and scared, we weren't sure it was best to stay inside. We decided to head out to the guest parking lot which was just a few feet from our house. That was when Mom arrived. She immediately headed home after the quake, as thousands of others did to check on their families. We were so relieved when we saw her minivan pulling in from off of the main street. Even though a couple of the boys had brought their bikes, she insisted that everyone pile in to be driven home safely.

Afterwards, we were invited to stay at the Armendariz house. They were like family to us, so we all huddled at their home until the next day. We were without electricity for several hours. A trip to bring Kentucky Fried Chicken home took nearly two hours due to the number of customers needing to purchase a hot meal. Our nerves were never quite calm, though we tried to laugh and distract ourselves. The aftershocks continued through the night.

We did not attend school the next day, as many others didn't. We learned of the deaths, destruction, and fires by watching the news non-stop once the power had returned. We saw numerous replays of cars mangled beneath the Cypress Structure and even a live shot of a car falling through a broken section of the Bay Bridge.

It took several weeks for things to feel almost normal again -for many of us, anyway. Others were forced to demolish their homes or businesses and re-build. There are those like me, who still feel a small twinge of anxiety when crossing any one of the bridges that connect the San Mateo/San Francisco/Oakland counties over the Pacific Ocean.

Now that I have left earthquake country, I wonder if I will always be sensitive to the earth's vibrations - as many Californians are. While small earthquakes do occur here in Indy, they usually go undetected by the public. My sister however, says that she does feel them. I suppose it comes from living on land that did shift and rumble beneath us more often. The Loma Prieta was the largest seismic event we had ever experienced in our lifetime. Up until then, quakes had only been strong enough to make us jittery for a short period.

CALIFQUAKE


Amid jokes of California breaking off into the sea and serious scientific studies that suggest the Big One is still to come, I can only hope that technology and wisdom allows the residents of the Sunshine State to prepare to take the next hit. While man has made a habit of tampering with Mother Nature...there are certain things far beyond our control.
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake: Then And Now

We have learned alot since 1906. Hopefully that knowledge, combined with that acquired on October 17, 1989, will give us the opportunity to prevent tragedies like those experienced around the world where even smaller events can steal the lives of many.

1 comment:

  1. That was an awesome story!! It must be really scary to experience an earthquake.
    Great pics too.

    Have a wonderful Sunday!!

    ReplyDelete

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I am a 30-something year old mother of three. My eldest is about to complete his first year of school...Kindergarten! I thought that was going to be the most difficult challenge this year. I was wrong. I am also mom to Two in Diapers (hence the name of this blog). Balancing life is a struggle, and most often, I have had to put many of my passions on hold. My husband is an angel, and if it weren't for him (he being who he is), I don't know how I would survive. Little by little, I am trying to put everything back in order. The last 24 months have been very rocky. It started with my baby sister being diagnosed with cancer, shortly followed by my father's death. Over the months, we have been slammed time after time by devastating news, but we are surviving as a family. I hope you will join me as I try to piece the story together, both past and present.