In the News: Northridge Quake of '94

"I feel the earth move under my feet,
I feel the sky tumbling down, tumbling down..."

Well, not exactly. I mean I remember where I was when I heard about the earthquake. I was hundreds of miles away - in Vegas. It was the MLK holiday, a long weekend and I was woken up by my best friend, Silvia. I had taken the trip with her family and we had stayed with them at their house. I was 4 weeks shy of my 18th birthday.

What they showed on the television was absolutely terrifying. Buildings crumbled, freeways collapsed, people trapped. It was awful. In a time where cell phones were almost non-existent, I was unable to contact my family for hours. I mean HOURS. Because of everything going on with the earthquake, a trip that should have taken us 6 hours, ended up being 12. The traffic was horrendous. I just remember seeing everything and as we got closer to the Valley and prayed, prayed, prayed that my family was safe.

Thankfully, everyone was. My mom had told me about it - how it happened in the morning while it was still dark. How it felt like someone picking up a box and shaking violently, and about how everything in the kitchen jumped out of the cupboards and broke. She also left my room how it was, so I could see the damage done. Good thing I wasn't in bed, I would have drown. My goldfish that were in the aquarium across from bed - I found them laying in it when I got home.



I suppose the aftermath was the worst of it. The aftershocks, the sleeping in the camper in our front yard, the fires, and the countless families left homeless. School was canceled for a while - could have been a couple of weeks or so...I don't remember. But I do remember the tents. Schools and parks became temporary campsites - and Birmingham High was no exception. They were on the baseball field, the football field, and in our courtyard. I would pass them everyday going to class. That must have lasted a month. I do not remember exactly.



I find it interesting that one of the most significant things that happened in L.A. - I was not in town. Weird. I always think about how different things might have been if that Monday was not a holiday - the countless live that would have been lost in businesses, schools, on the freeways. CRAZY. Anyways, we left L.A. for Colorado soon after that - my mom was seriously and traumatically affected by the earthquake and jumped at the chance to move away. Changed our lives forever.

My kids, born and raised in Colorado, have never experienced. We recently visited the Science and Technology Museum in L.A. (its FREE!) where they have a exhibit where you can experience a rather large earthquake. We took our kids on the exhibit hoping they could gain an appreciation for what it is like to be in one. After we finished the "ride", my son turned to me and said, "Is that it? That was lame."

If he only knew....