Fifteen Years
I woke up in the middle of the night a little while ago. I was sitting here looking at my desktop date book and wondering why the date (January 17th) was bothering me. Then I realized it.
It's the 'anniversary' of the Northridge earthquake. In fact, it's 4:17 am.
Here's some info I found on it:
The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:30 AM Pacific Standard TimeReseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6.7, but the ground acceleration was the highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America.[1] Seventy-two people died as a result of the earthquake with more than 9,000 injured. In addition, the earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in damage, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. in [2]
If that sounds creepy, try living it. Honestly, it was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I've been in a horrific fire, been held at gunpoint, locked in a closet at a psycho pre-school and none of these experiences comes close to how insanely scared I was. I truly, truly believed I was going to die. The ground acceleration was such that I could feel my triplex literally moving up and down off the ground. All the power immediately went out. I couldn't find my flashlight. I couldn't get to the phone. I will NEVER NEVER NEVER forget the sound of car alarms going off, and the utter pitch blackness of my neighborhood.
I think I actually woke up at my front door. I was going to Cal State Northridge at the time - fifteen years later and the school is STILL involved in construction from the effects of the quake. It decimated the art history building; we finished our classes in trailers. An apartment building pancaked near the school and many CSUN students died. So young. So sad.
I despise it when people say they like earthquakes or think they're fun. They're either insane, have a death wish or don't know how truly terrifying and how much damage they can do.
What's funny is that I distinctly recall another of the worst earthquakes in So. California. It was 1971. I can't remember but I think that was close to 6.9 or something and also centered somewhere in the valley. My mom and dad literally grabbed me, my baby brother and we all flew down the stairs to stand in the front door.
It's 4:27 a.m. and I'm creeping myself out here writing about this. Going back to bed.
Photo: One of the many sections of the freeways that collapsed. I remember a motorcycle cop was responding to calls for help immediately after the earthquake and in the dark he had no idea that a major section of the freeway he was on had collapsed in front of him; he just sailed off to his death. :(