Twenty Years ago..

October in my neck of the woods can be ...well... frightful! From the Hell Rides of long ago ( a topic for another post) to Earthquake and Fire. It is nearly ( but not quiet)Biblical. 

Twenty years ago, my hubby and I were just settling down on the couch to watch the big game- The Worlds Series.The Oakland A's and the San Fransicso Giants were about to square off in one of the most highly anticipated games of the century. 

 It was about to start in famous Candlestick Park, San Francisco. Suddenly the screen went all wonky and the signal quit- but we didn't have time to ponder that because our house was beginning to shake. I mean really shake! And it was on a slab foundation- no room to really rock and roll. 

I think I must have said something like Shit Earthquake- and then THE KIDS!

Lil Momma was about eleven, her sister, OD  five.  OD was outside under the big trees playing with the neighbors, I can't even remember where Lil Momma was- but I jumped up and tried to run outside. The sharp jolting nearly knocked me off my feet. When I finally got outside my neighbor had OD, her daughter and baby son tucked underneath her body-protecting them from any falling debris. 

We all crouched on the lawn waiting for aftershocks. There were five that we could feel, I have been told that there were actually over one hundred. 

Because we are about 30 miles East of SF, our house only suffered minor cracking, but in The City and Oakland, the damage was much worse. We had just survived the Loma Prieta Earthquake. 

Here in Earthquake Country we name our quakes like other parts of the country name tornados or floods or hurricanes, usually the point of origin or fault line. 

The Loma Prieta Quake was a massive one, measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

63 people were killed.

 Buildings in SF fell and caught fire, The one part of the upper Bay Bridge actually fell onto the lower. 

But the worse damage was caused by the Cypress Freeway falling for miles, pancaking on top of the lower deck killing anyone unlucky enough to be driving there that afternoon. 

 One man made it through that ordeal- lasting ten days trapped inside a car,legs crushed. He was rescued only to die later. 

Californians are used to Earthquakes big and small. We all keep extra food and water, are versed in the ways to maintain support systems in our homes,know how to drill, know how we are suppose to survive. As a matter of fact, most of us don't think earthquakes are all that big of a deal. 

But the Loma Prieta Quake shook us all up pretty good. And the worse part about it is that we all know that it isn't the BIG ONE. We are overdue for that one and we all know it! (Every 150 years we're suppose to get a HUGE quake like the one that leveled San Francisco in 1906.)

God Bless the Firefighters, Police and citizens that helped everyone else on that fateful day, and God Bless the souls that didn't make it that day. 

I think it's time to check my earthquake supplies.