Loma Prieta: 20 years later

[the Dagman]

Today is the day that marks the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that shook the Bay Area, made the World Series come to a standstill, and amazingly brought out the best in all of the area's residents.

At 5:04pm, just as the World Series was about to start Game 3 of the "Bay Area Series" between the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants, the San Andreas fault slipped near the town of Loma Prieta. That slip sent a shockwave across the entire area, registering officially at a 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

This resulted in catastrophic damage to many buildings in and around San Francisco, Oakland and the surrounding cities. A section of the Bay Bridge collapsed onto the lower deck of the bridge. The section of interstate 880, a dual level concrete elevated freeway built across the slums of West Oakland and now formerly known as the Cypress Structure, collapsed entirely onto it's lower deck. It crushed all the cars underneath and was accountable for 42 of the deaths on that day by itself.

Power went out for virtually the entire area. Buildings were on fire and collapsed on themselves. Many people who weren't killed were hurt badly, in need of help, and emergency services were stretched beyond their breaking point. And what happened? Friends, neighbors, and complete strangers just passing by all banded together to help each other. There was no looting. There was no violence. Average Joes were risking their lives to help complete strangers. And their efforts saved many lives that day.

So, were any of the rest of you here in the Bay Area on that day? Let's hear your stories.

 

[Arthur Frelling Dent]

I was on the bus on my way home from high school cross country practice. We were stopped at a red light when the quake hit. At first I thought it was kids in the back jumping around, but then the driver yelled, "Earthquake!" All I could do was look around and watch buildings and vehicles rocking back and forth. The fuel tanker unloading at the gas station across the street was particularly of concern. I didn't see it, but just a few blocks away a water tank on top of a hotel collapsed and fell down the elevator shaft. Fortunately, no one was injured. Other than that, there wasn't much damage at all in my town on the peninsula. My school was closed the next day as a precaution. Life returned to normal fairly quickly. I even went to Game 4 of the World Series.

 

[the Dagman]

My best friend has a great story about that day. He got a call from his very pregnant girlfriend. Just as she told him her water had broken and she was going into labor, the quake hit. To this day I jokingly tell his son Ben that his birth was literally earth shattering!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I was on the road with a jazz band, we were sitting in our hotel rooms watching the news coverage of this.

Can't imagine what it must have been like for World Series fans, for the quake to hit during the freaking game... I heard talk that fans could actually see Candlestick Park move.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I was 3 years old, living in our old house in a town about an hour away from San Francisco. I actually remember it pretty well...my mom was sitting on the couch watching the game and folding laundry. My 1 year old sister was sitting on a blanket on the floor. I was standing up near the wall, leaning against it. The quake wasn't as strong for us but still definitely noticeable and scary. The whole thing was...strange.

 

[Michael_One]

I wasn't there... but one consequence was the Auto Club stopped campaigning to double deck all the freeways after I 880 collapsed.

My notable quakes are San Fernando '71, Whittier Narrows '87 and Northridge '94. During the Northridge one I remember bolting awake, grabbing my girlfriend out of bed, and pulling her over to the doorway. Now the advice is to avoid doorways 'cause the door might hit you and the doorframe might splinter.

I was driving in downtown LA for an early meeting during the '87 quake. The federal jail in downtown LA was under construction at the time and some of the wall panels came off and fluttered to the ground like falling leaves. Thirty thousand pound reinforced concrete falling leaves. Not ever gonna forget that one.

 

[Captain Ice]

I was on the road with a jazz band, we were sitting in our hotel rooms watching the news coverage of this.

Can't imagine what it must have been like for World Series fans, for the quake to hit during the freaking game... I heard talk that fans could actually see Candlestick Park move.

If you watch the footage from the game, the stadium does seem to move a bit. That could all be the camera moving, but I don't think so.

 

[M'Sharak]

So, were any of the rest of you here in the Bay Area on that day? Let's hear your stories.

I wasn't in the Bay Area and didn't live there until close to a year after the quake. I did have business contacts in the area, though, whom I was unable to reach for about three days. I was also affected personally, even though I was on the East Coast at the time the quake occurred.

I had just boarded a United Airlines plane at Newark and while people were still being seated, someone trying to check to see if the game had started learned that an earthquake had knocked the TV broadcast off the air. The plane departed the terminal and had taxied nearly to the where the end of the takeoff queue was and they were having problems with the cabin air conditioning. The plane was turned around and went back to the terminal, where they kicked everyone back off the plane for about two hours while repairs were made.

Finally got the word to get back on the plane and, once on board, had to wait almost another hour while someone figured how to generate a voucher manually for the jet fuel they'd used to re-top up the tanks after all that taxiing -- the quake had knocked out power to United's computer at their hub at SFO, so the regular automated systems were out to lunch. In the end, my flight scheduled to arrive at LAX at 8:30 PM got in at about 1:30 AM, long after the last airport bus had run.

Turned out also that I had a meeting at work, first thing in the morning, the next day.

When I moved to the Bay Area in the summer of 1990, there was still a lot of damage evident, particularly in San Francisco's Marina District, where building fronts were braced up to keep them from falling into the street, scaffolding was everywhere, and a lot of buildings were unoccupied because they were unsafe or had been condemned. Repairs and seismic retrofits would continue for several years afterward, and in some cases remain incomplete.

...the San Andreas fault slipped near the town of Loma Prieta.

Minor correction: there is no town by that name. The quake's epicenter was near Loma Prieta Peak, in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Jose.

 

[auntiehill]

My notable quakes are San Fernando '71, Whittier Narrows '87 and Northridge '94.

Ah, yes. The Whittier Quake. I remember that one very, very well. I was a freshman that year....at Whittier College!

Luckily, having grown up in Marin, earthquakes were not new to me, and I was able to cope. I just shrugged it off. Some of my classmates, however, did not. They packed their bags, drove to the airport and never came back again.

 

[1001001]

I remember it well.

I was living in Davis at the time. Like most of America, I was getting ready to watch the World Series.

I'm standing in the kitchen, and all of a sudden, the cabinet doors start swinging, and the blinds start swaying back and forth. I felt a little nauseous for a second.

My roommate was upstairs, and called down "Did you feel that?" I was glad he did. That meant it wasn't an acid flashback.



The TV went blank, but we still had no idea what had happened. When we finally saw, it was terrible.

Having grown up in Los Angeles, earthquakes are part of the deal. I was 6 during the Sylmar quake, which was much closer to home. I still have very vivid memories of that morning.

So, yes I felt it, but we were far enough away to be out of harm's way. We were lucky.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I was living in Monterey at the time which is about 115 miles south of San Francisco. I was in my room switching back and forth from the Series pre-game and Dance Party USA. All of a sudden the TV went dead and I remember thinking oh perfect timing my dad, who was a huge baseball fan and had waited over 30 years for the Giants to be in the play-offs, is going to be pissed, but then the earthquake starting rolling in. You could tell it started from up north and was just kind of rolling across the land. In California you get used to tremblers lasting a few seconds, and don't even respond to them, but this one continued. I'd say a good 15 seconds. For the first time ever during an earthquake my dad and I got in the doorway. When it was over my dad just looked and me and said "whoo that was a big one", and then he went to check on an elderly neighbor. It was hard getting information for awhile. Usually you turn to KGO the big AM radio station in SF, but they weren't coming in too well. At first people didn't think it was too bad and spectators at the game wanted the game to start. After awhile though news rolled in of the Bay Bridge collapse and the fire in the Marina district. Still the biggest quake I have been in.

 

[Data Holmes]

I was six. I remember we had the game on the tv when the quake hit. Being on the east coast though it didn't really directly effect me in any way. I remember the made for TV movie that cam out some months later that dramatized the events while using actual news footage more than the actual events of that day. Except that one news copter kept showing footage of a white house on a corner that was smashed to bits and had flames shooting out the side of it.

 

[tomalak301]

Can't believe it's been 20 years. I was coming home from a swimming class and a hair cut (I was 5) and my Mom and I felt the rattle and ducked for cover. I don't think we even had the game on, and I actually wasn't that scared. I guess being 5 gave a bit of a clueless perspective, but afterward we watched the news about it and saw the collapse of the Bridge.

Later on I was able to really understand the damage caused (Like on the cypress freeway, Marina District) and it was just really crazy. Earlier this week my local Fox affiliate had a half hour program (A series called "A Second Look) detailing the Quake, and ESPN ran an interesting outside the lines segment (12 minutes I think) on the sports aspect of it.

We've had storms, and terrorist attacks, and other tragedy's in this country, but nothing has directly affected me as much as the 89 Quake.