Today is the 35th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
It happened on October 17, 1989, and measured 6.9 on the richter scale. It killed 63 people and injured thousands more.
Do you remember the quake, and if so, where were you when it happened on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m.?
Was just getting off work from the Berkeley police department.
We were on our way to my Parent’s for my Birthday dinner, … Lasagna!
Thought the dog or are daughter were messing around in the car.
Then saw the trees & telephone poles sway, …. Wow!
Backed the car back to our driveway to check on the house, … Everything O.K., just power out.
Listened to the News in the car to my Parents.
Was shocked to find out what was going on and how bad it was, … OGM!
Hard to believe it’s been 35 years now.
I remember the quake well, although I wasn’t in the Bay Area.
I was stationed near Tacoma WA and was driving a friend to pick up his girlfriend and to buy some beer. We were all going to watch the game in the barracks day room with a crwod.
My friend was getting his gf from her apartment while I waited in the car while listening to the pregame. Suddenly, they cut in to say that a massive quake had struck SF! The friend and gf got into the car and we raced back to the barracks. Along the way the announcer claimed that the Bay Bridge had collapsed and that fires were raging throughout the city. All I could envision was the whole bridge falling into the water and an inferno consuming SF. I pictured something from a Godzilla movie, minus the giant monster.
We got back to the barracks and watched the news. The bridge was damaged but virtually intact. The fires were bad but nowhere near awful as the reporter made it sound. The collapse of the freeways and numerous buildings was the true horror.
I could not get through to my friends or families because the phone lines were either messed up or over stressed from the call volume. When I finally got through, I discovered that none of my family or friends had been injured or sufferer any loss or damage. That was a big relief!
I was at the Port of Oakland, not far from the Bay Bridge.
We all ran outside, and we could see the where the bottom
deck of the bridge collapsed. The worst part was on the
drive home to Concord. It took over 1/2 an hour just to drive
through the Caldecott Tunnel, all the while listening to the radio,
and hearing that freeways, the Bay Bridge, and houses were
collapsing. Here I am stuck in a tunnel, wondering if it too will collapse.
Oh, I remember!
We lived in Pittsburg at the time, and I was home with the kids, waiting for my wife to come home. My older son and I had just turned on the TV to watch the Bay Bridge World Series, and the announcers were just sitting there with shocked looks on their faces.
Then we got the rolling, but we didn’t have any damage. The younger kids were out playing on the swing set, so they didn’t notice anything until waves in the neighbor’s above-ground pool started splashing all over the place. I had to keep telling them that I was sure that Mommy was fine, even though it took hours for her to get through traffic.
I couldn’t call out, but eventually, one of my sisters-in-law from Nashville got through to us and passed information to everyone else.
Just leaving work – glass walls were swaying a good 18″ in and out – thought they would break any second – later found out they were mounted in rubber or something to be EQ proof – got in car to come home down 680 – there were maybe 40 telephone poles that had transformers on them smoking black billowy clouds – looked like a war zone, people driving on freeway like a Mad Max movie… Wife was on BART in the tube on the way home… stopped the train in the tunnel and they all had to walk back to SF in the tunnel with lights only from flashlights. Once back in SF they found only one phone that worked – my landline at home did so I was the go between to call employees families to let them know their family members were safe…. looooooong night
I remember it well. We were at Candlestick waiting for the World Series to start. The rest is history…
I thought it was my wife walking down the hall at first – the first part of the quake was just some creaking from our wooden floor. Then the rolling really hit – trying to walk down the hall, I kept being thrown from side to side and bouncing of the walls like navigating a ship’s companionway in a storm.
I just got home from classes at DVC and getting ready to watch the World Series. I remember our swimming pool looked like waves in the ocean. Fortunately nothing was damaged at our house.
I’ve answered this question at least 18 of the 20 or so years I’ve been on Claycord. And I like that. I was in Germany running around the woods and didn’t hear about it until we got back. Red Cross got hold of my mom and dad finally and they were fine. We got pictures of it in the Stars &Stripes maybe 3-4 days later.