Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisLA
I really don’t think about earthquakes until one happens. Even when there is one, usually I just calmly make sure we are not near anything that can fall on us. The last one I felt was several months ago and we were in bed. As usual it was small and didn’t even get up. My wife on the other hand freaks out, but she didn’t get up, she just squeezed my hand so tight like she was trying to crush the bones in my hand. Usually she takes off running and screaming, she from the mid-west so I give her pass.
On the other hand I live through the 3 big ones as well, slept through the 1971 Slymar quake. I was 7 and never knew what an earthquake was until that day. Because I didn’t feel anything in a weird way I felt like I missed out on something.
The Whittier earthquake in 1987 I didn’t feel that one either, I was driving to work on the freeway when it happened. It was when I walked in to my office complex in Fullerton down in Orange County people were running around in a sort of a panic mode. There was very little damage other than some tiles had fallen from the ceiling. Yet no damage or anything out of place at my apartment, but a lot of historical Uptown Whittier was badly damaged.
The Northridge quake was on a whole different level, now that one was the first time I felt something that hard and made me realize a big one is no joke. I think what was worse for me was I was awakened what sounded like an explosion, and then this very hard rocking. I remember not even being able to walk. I immediately yelled at the top of my voice for my mom to get up. Now that scared the crap out of me. It took at least a year for me to be anxious about another one happening. At the time I was actually living in Fresno and was just down in LA for the weekend. I think that was a good thing, because it’s understandable after experiencing something that hard would have you wanting to move away. Believe it or not not one of these did my family have any damage. The kitchen cabinets came open but everything stayed in place.
Even with all that said, my fear in this city are those crazy youngsters racing down the streets and on the freeways. It’s really bad in the San Fernando Valley, and the other is idiots driving the wrong way on the freeways.
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For the Sylmar and Northridge quakes, I was living in the central San Fernando Valley, so they packed a wallop, especially Northridge. The Sylmar quake in 1971 destroyed some of the multistory veterans home buildings in the north valley, and also the hi rise Olive View hospital. Most of the fatalities were in the veterans home buildings when some of them collapsed. In the Northridge quake, most of the fatalities were in multistory apartment buildings with underground parking garages, a few of which just pancaked down. The L.A. Times ran a whole series of articles on the hazards of "soft story" buildings with underground parking garages.