Hi C,
When the Loma Prieta Quake hit in the Bay Area in '89, I was .3 miles from the S.A. fault in Millbrae. The P-wave took the building I was standing next to and moved it about 2-3 inches out of plumb on a one story eight foot high section. This was followed in about 2-3 seconds with the S-waves which created "waves" in the sidewalk I was standing on. Other than some interest in the unusual physical phenomenon, I suffered no immediate ill effects of the quake. As luck would have it, my van's radio was in the shop to be repaired, so as I 'repaired' back to San Francisco and my apartment, I had no idea of the extent of the damage. From the 280 Freeway I could see a lot of smoke on the Oakland side of the Bay and surmised that there was some problem in the Port of Oakland. Little did I suspect that the 980 had collapsed. As I got into the City, I stayed on the freeway up to the Franklin St. exit into the heart of the city. Traffic was a nightmare and I was caught in a seemingly interminable traffic jam on the exit ramp. On the lower deck. And that's when the aftershocks hit, and the bridge (because that is exactly what it was) started to shimmy and sway. THAT got my attention. It was another 24 hours before I realized that the structure I was stuck on/under was exactly the same structure that had failed in the muds of West Oakland. A very chilling thought about just how close I came to willing driving into my own demise. Of course, when I got back to my place in the Upper Fillmore, the only 'damage' I suffered was 2 cassette tapes tossed of an etagere. While 6 blocks away in the Marina a version of Dante's Hell was playing itself out.
Moral of the story, 1)don't let anything get between you and blue sky in an earthquake or its aftermath. 2)build or live on good ground and 3) for the threaders up Seattle way, do not, I repeat, do not live in the shadow of or on the old debris paths of Mt. Rainier. One day people will say about the victims of the Great Rainier Landslide, "Who do these guys think they were kidding". Nuff sed.
Ciao, A Survivor |
