Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim B.
I felt nothing. But I am about 180 miles away.
Different story for the BIG one, October 17, 1989 at 5:17 pm...the 7.2
I really felt that one. I was living in the city, back then, and had just got off work, and was at 7th and Bryant.
As the ground roared, and the street undulated and broke up in giant waves you could see the telephone poles swaying violently as the transformers on them blew up in blue flashes and explosions.
For about 10 seconds I was certain I would be killed, lurching around in the street trying to keep my balance. Maybe the longest 10 seconds I ever felt.
A colleague of mine was a SF Assistant District Attorney.
She had stopped off on the way home to buy wine and cheese on Chestnut Street, in the Marina District ("Yuppieville", which was built on dirt fill) When she walked around the corner onto Fillmore Street, it happened right then.
She watched in horror as her apartment building (at Northpoint, a block away, straight ahead) crumbled to the ground before her very eyes.
Had she not stopped off to buy the wine and cheese, she would probably have been inside, at the time, and maybe perished.
She was damned lucky.
Others weren't.
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Jim, do you realize that you, Carl and I had dinner on the same day as the 20th anniversary of the quake?
My family and I were on vacation in Monterey when it hit. Although people think of it as the San Francisco-Oakland quake, the epicenter (Loma Prieta) is actually closer to Monterey.
There was strong shaking in Monterey, but because large parts of Monterey sit on hard bedrock, the shaking was less intense and caused far less damage in Monterey.
As in all things, location, location location is the key.
Hope all you guys up North are doing OK.
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