Manic Monday with Mo - Quake
Posted: Monday, April 21, 2008 by Travis Cody in
Welcome to another Manic Monday with Morgen. Don't forget to cruise by MM HQ at It's A Blog Eat Blog World. Today's theme is Quake.
On 17 October 1989, at 1700hrs, I put the leftover mac & cheese in the microwave while listening to Tim McCarver and Al Michaels go through pregame, waiting for Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's.
At 1704hrs, the tv cut out and I heard a large bang followed by a major jolt that nearly knocked me off my feet. Then the ground started to roll. I got my balance and started to move out of the kitchen, which is never a good place to be in an earthquake because of the large appliances and all the glass and cabinetry.
As I started moving toward the dining room, I realized that the ceiling fan was swaying violently and looked like it might come down. I didn't want to go that way. But when I turned around I saw that the cabinet doors were banging open and shut, and I had to duck real quick to keep from getting brained by a potted plant that jumped off the top of the frige.
Just about that time, the ground quit shaking. That initial quake only lasted about 15 seconds, but it seemed like it went on forever. And I was about 90 miles east of the Loma Prieta epicenter. Some articles still list the magnitude at 7.1, which was the first report I heard. Officially, the quake measured 6.9.
The tv reception came back on at some point. Like many others, that's when I began to understand the scope of the quake. I knew it was a hard shake, but as they started to show pictures of Bay Area landmarks I knew so well, I realized that my family was there. And I had to resist the powerful urge to get on the phone. It was so hard, but I knew they would call soon enough.
So my first call was not to my family...it was to my boss. I was a courier in 1989, driving bank materials from the valley to San Francisco. What was I supposed to do that night, when my route was directly impacted by the quake?
Do you recall the images of the I-880 Nimitz freeway, more popularly known as the Cypress Structure? How about the Bay Bridge? Well friends, that was my route and I was due to drive it between midnight and 0100. Just seven hours away.
I didn't go that Tuesday night, or Wednesday. It wasn't until Thursday that I heard from family...everyone was fine, though shaken quite a bit. We were lucky that there was only minor property damage for my family, who lived in South San Francisco. So many others weren't that lucky.
That Thursday night, I made my valley rounds and headed toward the Bay Area. I had to take the San Mateo bridge, which turned into 7 miles of tension. I could see the construction lights across the water to the northeast, where I knew a slab of the Bay Bridge was down. But that was about the only light there was, as almost the entire southern penninsula was dark. Power hadn't been restored in all areas yet.
From San Jose to San Francisco, there were small pockets of light surrounded by darkness. Few lights at the airport, no lights at any of the ballparks or soccer fields, no street lights.
No beautiful San Francisco skyline.
Driving in the blacked out downtown was unnerving. I knew where I was going...I'd driven the route for over a year. Besides that, I'm basically from the Bay Area and I spent a lot of time downtown and on the wharf. But I nearly got lost that Thursday night. The darkness pressed in. And in the back of my mind, there was that nagging thought that another quake could hit. Or a large aftershock.
What else might collapse?
I love The City, but I was never so happy to get out and back across the San Mateo bridge, and then through the Altamont pass to more stable ground.
About a week later, we found that plate of mac & cheese still in the microwave.
A month or so later, I was able to drive back through Oakland and re-route around the collapsed Cypress Structure to cross the repaired Bay Bridge...and see that beautiful skyline, lit up once again.
They say location and timing are everything. And it's true. The freeway and bridge collapses all around the Bay Area could have claimed so many more lives. But the Giants and A's were in the World Series, and there weren't so many commuters out on the roads. Just 67 people were killed, a sad number but much fewer than it could have been.
And I got lucky with timing.
A scary time. We had an earthquake in the UK a few weeks ago. I felt the ground shake, but as I recall only one person was injured in the whole country.
Simply not on the same scale, but a reminder over here of how lucky we are.