Thursday, July 22, 2010

Writer's Workshop: Earthquake!


It's been a few weeks sense I've done one of these and as soon as I saw this week's prompt, I knew which one I wanted to do.

5.)Earthquake! Where were you when it happened?

So without further adu....

It was October 17, 1989. I was in the 10th grade. I was home sitting at the kitchen table doing my homework. My mom was probably making dinner, don't recall. I don't remember where my brother was but my dad was watching (and recording) the World Series...S.F. Giants vs. Oakland A's.

All of a sudden, while my dad is watching the game, it became static and you can hear a bit of chaos there at the game. Then.........we felt it....the Loma Prieta Earthquake! I immediately got up and stood between the kitchen and the living room. In the living room, the front window curtains were open and I literally saw the street moving like a wave. It was amazing! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. To actually see the street moving like that and not be affected by it after. No big cracks, holes or anything. Amazing!

Once the moving and shaking stopped, that's when we started to watch the news and realizing the damage the earthquake had created. It was 6.9 in magnitude and the epicenter was in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

{All photos via}

It severely damaged parts of San Francisco,





Bay Bridge,



Oakland, the Nimitz freeway and the Monterey Bay regions.





We lived (currently still do) approx. 45 minutes east of San Francisco, so we felt this earthquake very well, especially considering the wave it created with our street. Even as far as Sacramento felt it.

The chaos this earthquake caused and the deaths, especially from the Nimitz freeway collapsing, this is truly something I will never forget. It's still vivid to this day. Being from California though, I'm not afraid of earthquakes. Even after this one, I'm still not scared of them. I actually enjoy them. Probably cause I've never really been affected by one {knock on wood}. I do however, try and avoid being stuck in traffic under an overpass. I don't want a street collapsing on me.

For stock footage of the aftermath, go here.

You can also check this video out of the earthquake as it was happening.



Now head on over to Mama Kat's and see what others are writing about.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I would have saw that curling street and peed my pants then beg my parents to move to a part of the country where the ground didn't shake! you are brave.
thanks for visiting Marlie and Me

Denise said...

I remember it like it was yesterday too! I remember being at a friend's house and she was moving one way and I the other (we were standing across the hall from each other). It was so surreal.