Today is the 20-year anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and memories from that time.
As with a lot of people living in the Bay Area, I was all set to watch Game 3 of the World Series between the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants, also known as the Bay Bridge Series. Looking forward to the game all day, I had finished working and was on my way back home. My place of work was in the same city (Concord) as home, and I was driving down one of the main avenues just after 5 pm when the car I was driving, a 1968 VW bug, started moving violently from the rolling wave. My first reaction to all the shaking was "What's the matter with this car?" Although I've lived in California my entire life, my first thought was not "Earthquake!" And as I looked around me, the other drivers weren't reacting much differently than me. After the shaking was over, I just drove home as usual. I don't recall any of the street lights or anything else being amiss.
When I got home, he house was fine; we were far enough from the epicenter that there was no damage. I started watching the television to watch the game, and that's when I first learned of what had happened. There were reports of the Bay Bridge having collapsed, which was a horrifying thought. I immediately pictured a portion of the bridge had completely collapsed into the water. They also showed footage of the collapsed portion of the Cypress Freeway in Oakland, and for awhile I didn't even realize what I was looking at because both levels of the road were so flat against each other. I saw what looked like a single level of raised highway with smoke snaking out of the middle.
As for the Bay Bridge, no part of it completely collapsed into the water, but a section of the top deck had fallen at an angle upon the bottom deck. I was fortunate that I never had to deal with the consequent detours that resulted from the bridge being out of commission for awhile.
A couple of days ago, I saw on the television news the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle for October 18, 1989, and the headline proclaimed "Hundreds Dead." As it turns out, there were 63 deaths that resulted from this tragedy.
I'm also reminded of a commercial that was running way back then for one of the local newscasts that showed appealing, vibrant scenes of the Bay Area, and said something to the effect of: "Millions of people in the Bay Area live on top of a fault line, and they don't care." Needless to say, after Loma Prieta I never saw that promo again.
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I was in the living room and mom was in the kitchen or family room. I remember that the lamps over the dining table were swinging back and forth. I had just come over for a visit.
ReplyDeleteAnthony
I was in Modesto - pregnant with Jessica. I was so scared to hear about family in the Bay Area. And it was so hard to get through as all the phone lines were busy. . . pre cell phone days!
ReplyDeleteTrisha