bay area Loma Prieta earthquake 20 yrs ago today

[Diane]

I was on the Golden Gate bridge; watched the city go dark, and fires start all over; I took many pics of Marina fire; city had to bring in the fire boats, and people jumped in to help everywhere

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it took hours to get back home to Sunnyvale later that night, all street lights/signals were out; everyone pitched in to help

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I think of that earthquake often, especially re our viaduct; the bay area’s east bay viaduct collapsed during that earthquake; many were trapped pancaked inside, some died; I seem to be in the minority of WS who has wanted our viaduct torn down since the day after the 2001 earthquake here; I’m much more concerned about saving lives than how fast we drive through our city

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there was so much damage from the 89 earthquake, in SF and Santa Cruz, many deaths/injuries and fires; 20 yrs later many parts of both cities torn down & rebuilt

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the Golden Gate bridge where I was during that earthquake just swayed; I didn’t even really know there was a problem til the fires started and at dusk the city lights were not coming on

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one section of the bay bridge upper lanes also collapsed sending cars crashing onto the lower part of that bridge; it was all so sad

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20 yrs and the visions, feelings are all still very fresh

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[DBurns]

We were there too, Diane. What a sad day.

I was in Oakland, on my way from work to pick up my sister across the Bay Bridge in SF. I had stopped by home to put in a VHS tape to record the SF/Oak “world series” :)game for my husband and had I not stopped to do that I would have been on the bridge. I would have been fine, but those people stuck on the bridge had a heck of a time that night, and of course, no cell phones so everyone was out of touch and so worried… The days that followed were the worst for us – the smell from the decaying bodies in West Oakland crushed in the freeway is one I have never forgotten. My sister had a catering company at the time and we went down there every day and brought food and coffee for the rescue workers and hundreds of volunteers. Watching them pull bodies out of the wreckage was too much for me, I had to stop going. I reminded my husband after seeing your post and he and I revisited the day together – I appreciate the reminder, as we were among the lucky ones and need to be grateful. Glad you were okay too.

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[miws]

Can’t believe it’s been 20 years! And for you to experienced it firsthand, WOW! Glad you’re here to talk about it! :-)

I was *totally* engrossed in CNN’s coverage. I stayed on the station, and glued to the TV, well into the late evening if I recall. Just essentially, watching the same thing over, and over. The Embarcadero (sp?) collapse, and that section of the bay bridge, are what I recall most vividly.

I remember seeing where the transit bus stopped just short of the collapsed section of the bay bridge, and the car that fell there. I was so mesmerized from watching for so long, I almost felt like I was there, and felt that, even beyond the obvious similarities, that the Embarcadero was actually our viaduct.

I was so wired, that I had trouble sleeping that night, and kept playing what I had seen through my mind, as I was trying to get to sleep. May have even dreamt about it.

Mike

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[miws]

Glad you’re still here too, DBurns!

I remember thinking, that if it hadn’t been for the World Series happening at the time, many more people would have been on those freeways and bridges, on their normal commute, and the event would have been even more tragic.

Mike

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[Diane]

thanks so much for sharing your experience DBurns, and for reaching out to the rescue workers/volunteers; that gives me tingles and makes me cry; I wish more folks here understood the real danger of the viaduct and the power of earthquakes

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yes thank god we survived, and perhaps it’s important for us to remember and share in memory of all those who died, to prevent such a tragedy from happening again

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I had my vcr running, taping the news for days; it was very much like 9/11, in the bay area there was nothing else on tv for many days after the earthquake; I still have all the tapes but have not yet been able to go back and look at them; the worst I remember is the child trapped in back seat of car under pancaked freeway, his mom dead in front seat; workers had to crawl in, amputate the boy’s leg to get him out; wasn’t he in there a few days?

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[sacatosh]

I remember it very very well. I went to UC Santa Cruz the following year, and the downtown area was still just decimated. You think our “Hole Foods” is bad? Downtown Santa Cruz was full of giant holes, buildings who had only 1-2 walls or just some facade standing, propped up with beams. Nobody could fix anything due to lack of FEMA funds (obviously the big $$ went to San Francisco where the damage was more widely reported) and yet they couldn’t tear half of the stuff down, because so many of the buildings were historic landmarks.

It was a sad place to be, like a ghost town at times.

Any of you internet sleuths – can you find anything on Edith Dominguez, who was rescued from Fords Dept store downtown Santa Cruz? Her picture was all over the news. I still wonder if she is ok.

Related picture is here, but warning it is VERY VERY graphic if you are medically squeamish. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=13579324&siteId=6&startImage=1

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[Diane]

thank you for sharing sacatosh; and thanks for the link

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I moved to San Jose for grad school in 88, and loved going over the hill to the beach (Santa Cruz); loved The Cooper House; went over to see it prior to demolition; huge loss

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of course the worst losses were the people; hundreds of people died, countless injuries; they should be remembered

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there was also lots of news about another woman who was trapped under piles of falling bricks from buildings in downtown SC; do you remember her name?

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[miws]

Something I just rememebered.

Wasn’t there a man, trapped under the rubble of the Embarcadero, or one of the other freeways, that was found alive, like, 5 days later?

I believe he passed away though, within a few days after being rescued.

Mike

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[Diane]

DBurns said how there were no cell phone and everyone was out of touch

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I had also just bought my first ever computer for grad school the week prior; was such a thrill to no longer have to type all my papers and literally cut/paste, retype

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[Diane]

yes miws, that’s exactly what I’m talking about; it was the east bay viaduct freeway; completely pancaked and trapped people inside for days; that’s what DBurns was saying where she and her sister brought food to workers, and she smelled decaying bodies that were trapped inside; and they pulled out the little boy after several days

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[miws]

Here’s a link to the Wiki article: http://tinyurl.com/yj3nyy

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[Diane]

thanks for the link miws

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42 people died instantly when the viaduct collapsed; built same as ours and on marshland; how can anyone seeing those photos really want to keep our viaduct?

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[WSB]

20 years? Wow.

I was in the control room at KNSD/San Diego, where the World Series broadcast was under way. I was the 11 pm producer there. Needless to say, we were in continuous coverage from the network before long.

Though that was too far for us to feel, I’ve been through my share of big quakes … 1971 San Fernando Valley (we lived in Studio City, I can still remember hearing the dishes crashing out of our cupboards downstairs), 1994 Northridge – we were visiting San Diego at the time but it shook us there, 2001 Nisqually – I was interviewing at KCPQ when it hit; ended the interview rather abruptly.

And of course there are always aftershocks.

Which brings me to a public service reminder – please familiarize yourself with some of the neighborhood preparedness info around here – particularly, the neighborhood gathering places that have been set up – this is a completely volunteer effort but it’s had some great accomplishments, and this is going to lead me to put up a story about last week’s radio test. Anyway, the preparedness site (also a volunteer effort) is:

http://westseattle.bepreparedseattle.info/site/page1.aspx

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[Diane]

just found info on the worst story I remember from the viaduct collapse:

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“The 1989 earthquake is never far from Dr. James Betts’ mind. But he’s not usually thinking about how he had to chainsaw a dead woman in half to get to a young boy so he could slice off his leg and extricate him from the crushed Cypress Freeway in Oakland. He’s thinking instead about how the next quake could rupture tomorrow. Or in the next hour. And how he believes virtually nobody is ready for that.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/10/17/MNUU1A3RPF.DTL

I grew up in So Cal, been through MANY earthquakes, many more scary for me during the shaking, but none caused as much damage as the 89

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[Diane]

oh, they just showed footage of SF during 89 earthquake on ch 4 news, for about 10 seconds

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[DBurns]

Hi, Just checking back in but now am flooded with more memories – I had forgotten those graphic specifics about the Cypress victims; perhaps for obvious reasons. I had also remembered less about the Santa Cruz piece which was, so incredibly depressing I remember now. Growing up we had a small summer house in Aptos (beach town bordering Santa Cruz) and how different it all was after the quake. The news coverage was all that we watched for days – mesmorized with footage and reports by people in jeans and t-shirts; covering 24 hours a day. And yes, waiting for the next quake to hit or the aftershocks to happen and exaggerate the damage. It was an awful time.

I’ll be reading a little David Sedaris now. Escape.

And the reminder for preparedness and safety is a good one – thanks for that; we should know first hand how bad it can be.

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[Diane]

fascinating set of videos, looking back at what happened, how to prepare, and #7 & #8, show what would happen to our viaduct in an earthquake, and the fantastic results of what San Francisco did, taking down the Embarcadero viaduct, opening up their waterfront

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2009/10/02/Loma_Prieta_Video.DTL

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[Diane]

thanks everyone for sharing your stories

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[JoB]

Like most people, my experience of the Loma Linda earth quake was restricted to the images on my television..

but i was living in Minnesota when the freeway bridge over the Mississippi fell and saw firsthand the devastation that caused.

We don’t want to end up telling stories about the day the viaduct failed… there will be a lot more than windshields lost if that happens.

The viaduct has been an failure waiting to happen for some time… as much as i love it, it needs to come down.

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[Diane]

Re “Wasn’t there a man, trapped under the rubble of the Embarcadero, or one of the other freeways, that was found alive, like, 5 days later? I believe he passed away though, within a few days after being rescued.”

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Hey Mike; one of those videos tells story of guy who was trapped for days in his truck in a crawlspace of about 2 ft; he now works in the Oakland fire dept with his rescuer; it’s video # 7; “Tim Peterson, a driver trapped in the Cypress Structure collapse during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, now works alongside Victor Cuevas, one of the people who saved his life.”

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another very endearing story about firefighter who rescued woman in Marina who was trapped under building; they became best friends; she just died this June, he believes from injuries from earthquake; after 20+ surgeries to her legs, circulation still bad; she got gangrene, “pieces” had to be amputated; so this story is bittersweet; the heartwarming deep friendship that came out of tragedy, and just like 9/11 and many wars, deaths years later as result of injuries 20 yrs ago; it’s the first video; “October 17, 1989 changed San Francisco firefighter Gerry Shannon’s life when he spent hours crawling into one of the Marina District’s crumbled buildings in search of the woman he could hear calling for help inside. The Loma Prieta Earthquake caused plenty of damage but also formed a friendship that endured 20 years.”

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2009/10/02/Loma_Prieta_Video.DTL

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[sacatosh]

One year after the quake, when I was in Santa Cruz at the University, we had a medium-sized quake. Maybe a 5-ish, not too big (in California terms anyway — here a 3 is big news, there a 5 doesn’t even get reported half the time)

A girl who’d been through the 89 quake FREAKED out the moment the ground started shaking, and she jumped off the 2nd story balcony to get out of her dorm building. She landed safely, but it was very frightening to see how dramatically PTSD affected her, to the point of completely irrational and unsafe reactions in a smaller quake.

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[miws]

Thanks for the update Diane.

I haven’t looked at the videos yet. I’m on dial-up, so vids take *forever* to load, and sometimes they stop loading about 2/3 the way or so. :-(

Glad to hear the (under the circumstances) good outcome about Mr. Peterson.

I also seem to recollect the exeprience of the woman, from that time.

Mike

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[sb in ws]

I was watching the World Series, lying on the floor of my Fremont apartment when it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath me. A huge jolt then the rolling. I had been in many quakes growing up in the BA, but this one was really scary. I could not sleep for a week after. I felt so sad for the people who lost their lives that day and seeing the anniversary article brings it all back.

I was here in Seattle for the one in 2001 which brought back a lot of the same frightful memories. I used to think the quakes were fun, but now I am scared as hell.

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[Diane]

sb in ws “I was here in Seattle for the one in 2001 which brought back a lot of the same frightful memories. I used to think the quakes were fun, but now I am scared as hell”

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yes, I totally agree; I rode out the 2001 earthquake in the doorway of my house, riding it like I was on a surfboard, and all the PTS of 89 came back, scared the hell out of me

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actually not sure I ever thought they were fun; in my youth in Southern California, with many earthquakes, I had not yet witnessed in person the destruction; it was always the same ole stories of stuff dumped off shelves and folks talking about how/when they felt the shaking

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but I was impacted enough that by the time I was 21 and moved to Sun Valley ski resort in Idaho in early 70’s, that I often joked with people it would soon be oceanfront, as I half expected the entire west coast to drop away in the “big one”; still could happen if you listen to all the earthquake experts

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I moved back to So Cal (Newport Beach & Laguna) in 81; believe it or not all the beaches flooded one my first years back; people were rowing boats down the entire peninsula of Balboa in Newport, which is all flat

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I had calmed down a lot about earthquakes by the time I moved to bay area in 88 for grad school; then whammy

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ever since, I’ve always lived in 1 story house or in top floor apt; it may fall down, but at least I won’t get crushed

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yep, I think being witness to the 89 earthquake has truly impacted many of my life choices; and the main reason I’ve been screaming since 2001 to take down the viaduct; I’ll say it again, saving lives is much more important than seeing a pretty view on your drive to work or a getting to work faster; I’ll take a bit more temporary traffic over death/injury any day

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[Diane]

miws “I haven’t looked at the videos yet. I’m on dial-up, so vids take *forever* to load, and sometimes they stop loading about 2/3 the way or so. :-( “

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I’m with you Mike; you and I may be the only 2 left on the planet on dial-up; so I don’t watch any videos on my home computer; when I started this thread, I was watching the videos at a friend’s house where I was cat-sitting and had access to high speed internet; other option is library with headphones

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