Northridge quake memories

It has been 10 years since the Northridge earthquake struck Southern California at 4:30 AM. Unlike most people I was still awake at that time, although Sarah and the boys were sound asleep. I had been working on some code for Norton Utilities 3.0 that needed to be finished and then had begun tinkering on something else (I'm not sure what at this point).

When the earthquake first hit I was sitting at my desk. I had been through several earthquakes before, so I initially didn't think anything about it. However as the quake continued to roll and the world continued to shake more violently around me I realize that this was much more serious than I had initially anticipated. By the time I realized how serious things were I ran from my office winding up in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Just as I cleared the door to my office there was a loud crash behind me as several bookshelves fell over and the door to my office was slammed shut from inside (which later required some major work to fix).

In the hallway I met my wife and sons as they came piling out of their rooms. Immediately afterward a large crash was heard outside, a bright light flashed and the house went dark. We ran towards the front of the house and bolted out the front door. Luckily, it wasn't too cold and of course we weren't alone.

Most of the neighborhood was out on the street in front of their homes. Everyone on the street was asking the same questions. Can you believe it? Are you OK? Is your house OK? Everyone was babbling at the same time about how powerful the shock had been and how long it had lasted and was amazed by the fact that all of our homes appeared to still be standing.

After getting everyone together and making sure we were all OK, I proceeded to check out the house. The gas line looked fine, and despite poor bracing the water heater was in good shape (it had moved some but not torn free). We went digging around to find a portable radio to listen to KNX and find out what was happening and I started across the street talk to our neighbor. Everything was good with their home but he was concerned about his elderly mother. She was pretty much bed ridden and was in no shape to leave the house after the earthquake. He and I stood in the middle of Avenida de Los Arboles talking for about 15 minutes. We never saw a car. Yes, it was nearly 5 in the morning, but it was weird. With no electricity and no cars, it was very quietly and lonely out there.

By the time I finished chatting with our neighbor, Sarah had brought the boys back inside, found some candles and was setting things up for us to listen to the radio. We spent the rest of the dark hours of the night sitting around three or four candles, listening to radio reports, running outside each time the earth started rumbling again.

Our electricity was out, the phone was not working, but we did have running water. So we filled the tub with as much water as it would hold. Once daylight arrived we had a chance then to check out the foundation and walls of our home. No major problems there, although we had a pretty big crack in front of the house (later characterized as 'normal'). We had a number of smashed glasses and crockery, but no major losses in the kitchen. Amazingly the China that I'd brought back from Hong Kong was still in one piece. Once we had phone service again, I started making some phone calls. We let the folks back east know that we were alive and uninjured. Later in the day I was finally able to get in touch with some friends from work and make sure that they were OK. Our friends Stuart and Connie, over in Simi Valley, had lost their gas main when the water heater was ripped out its mount but were otherwise undamaged.

During the day we picked up many reports from around the city of major damage. The 10, 14, an 101 in Newbury Park all had major road closing damage of some kind (although the 101 was quickly repaired and opened). We also learned of the terrible event in Northridge where an apartment building had collapsed and had buried 16 people inside. It was late in the day Monday when power was finally restored and we began to see what had happened around SoCal.

The Symantec offices of the Norton Group were (and still are) located in Santa Monica in what had become the MGM Plaza. MGM itself was located on the 4th floor of the same building, and a water main burst during the earthquake. Our offices on the second floor were covered in 4 inches of water while most of the monitors and many systems had fallen to the floor along with papers, CDs and various typical office materials. They sat in puddles for at least a couple days and most were later replaced. It was such a mess that it would be two weeks before we get back into our offices. Luckily for most of us, we were already accustomed to working remotely and used the email to arrange one-on-one telephone meetings during the next couple of weeks as we got back up to speed.

The most interesting aspect of the earthquake, was the aftershocks. Both from a physical and a psychological aspect. It was weeks before I slept through the night again. Every little shake woke me up. Was this another big one or just another aftershock? I'd wait until it passed, getting more nervous if went on for more than a few seconds. Afterward, I would be ill at ease and not really ready to go back to sleep. We talked to the kids a lot about it. From talking to others, they all had much the same response.

Another end result of the earthquake, was my taking the tour of the subterranean parking in Santa Monica. I would never again trust that parking lot. They were too many cracks in the foundation posts holding up the parking lot and the building itself. I still wonder from time to time about that place (and still have friends working there).

Ultimately, even though there wasn't much damage to myself or to people I knew, the Northridge earthquake profoundly changed me. I'm much more sensitive today when the world starts shaking.

Posted by Dave at January 17, 2004 09:34 PM