Left Coast detainees: where were you October 17, 1989 @17:04?

I was walking to my acupuncture appointment, when I heard a high-pitched whine coming out of nowhere. I knew what P-waves were, the high-frequency vibrations that travel faster and sometimes precedes a tremor. I said to myself, "We're about to have a bad shaker".

I hunched down in my best horse-riding stance just as the big one hit. I was still nearly thrown to the sidewalk. You know it's bad when you see a sidewalk waving. And a large blocky apartment building swaying. I actually made it to my acupuncture, though it was scary having someone poke you with needles as the ground was shaking.

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A fairly strong (4.5) quake hit the Bay Area a few days ago. A gentle reminder from mother nature.

Sitting in a Safeway parking lot. Thought someone was jumping up and down on the bumper of the car until we saw all the other cars bouncing up and down too.

I was in my apartment in Boston watching the start of Game 3 of the World Series.

Sitting on the couch, watching TV. I worked 2300-0700 that morning, and just woke up. Power went out, and a second later it "hit."

Was back at work an hour later and didn't come home for two days.

Side note, I became a lifelong Chick-Fil-A fan that week.

At a voice lesson in Davis near Sacramento.
We got slow swaying, no sharp shaking. Life teacher’s husband was waiting for the Bay bridge series to start; then suddenly the bridge was out.

Turned on the TV for the World Series and started dinner as I just got home. Then it started shaking.

I was in my apartment in Atlanta, making dinner with my girlfriend, getting ready to watch the World Series.

Toilet. In Sacramento and my senior year of high school. Buttoned up and went to the family room to see the 5 o clock news. KCRA 3 had vertical blinds behind Stan Atkinson which were swaying. Looked to the backyard and the pool’s water sloshing around pretty good.

My parents were supposed to fly into Oakland the next day. They were delayed one day and landed in San Jose instead.

I remember the Bay Series becoming trivial with all the devastation in the area.

At home, waiting to watch the World Series. We visited 2 years later.

I really don't remember, but I may have been preparing to go to the local gun range for an IPSC/USPSA match. I think they were on Tuesday evenings way back then. Since I was here in Dallas, I don't think I gave a lot of thought about the earthquake in California.

flashguy

I graduated from the Coast Guards EMT course in Petaluma the week before. From what I was told, the next class was sent to SF to help with rescue and lend help in anyway.

Crazy, the military took a normal college class of six months and crammed it into a month, I left with my national certification and was happy to go, it wasa grueling course

I was walking on the sidewalk to go to a corner store to buy some medicine for a cold. Seemed to me that the concrete sidewalk was rolling in a wave before me so I thought I must be sicker than I realized. As I got to the store the glass blew out onto the sidewalk and the owner's liquor bottles flew all over the store. He yelled for everyone to get out. I walked home and two girls came running down from a second floor onto the street, yelling. I thought they were being silly. I turned around and walked home. Then, while inside my home there were after shocks and I understood why the women were freaked out. It sure is different when one is inside.

quote:

the concrete sidewalk was rolling in a wave

That is something weird to see.

I was employed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard at that time. I also had a FEMA ID as an emergency responder. We convened the emergency command center which I was a member of. We had employees in the immediate area of the worse damage and it took us some time to confirm they were all okay.

I still have a binder containing the after action reports from federal, state and local agencies involved in the response.

I was driving home from Oakland to San Jose on 880 and on the Mission flyover ramp listening to the pregame broadcast from the toll booth on the Bay Bridge...Then the radio went dead.

I was fiddling with the radio and cut over to the slow lane and I thought to myself that the semi's had rutted the road, but it was the road moving below me.

I still didn't know what was happening. I was pissed the radio went dead. Finally the radio came back on and said we just had an earthquake as I came to an intersection with the lights out and the signal arms swinging up and down big time.

I had no idea how bad it was until I got home about 30 minutes later.

What sucked was the A's got to pitch the 2 best pitchers in baseball for games 1,2,3 and 4 as they swept my Giants

^^How did you cross the Bay with the bridge collapsed?

I stayed home sick from school that day. I was lying on the couch feeling grumpy and waiting for the game to start. House started shaking and rocking and rolling. I thought about getting up and standing in a doorway but I was 15 and invincible, cold aside, and rode out the quake in comfort on the couch. I didn’t think it was that big.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
I was employed at Mare Island Naval Shipyard at that time. I also had a FEMA ID as an emergency responder. We convened the emergency command center which I was a member of. We had employees in the immediate area of the worse damage and it took us some time to confirm they were all okay.

I still have a binder containing the after action reports from federal, state and local agencies involved in the response.

My dad worked at Nightmare Island from the mid 70s until it closed. He was home or just about home when the quake hit.

Holiday Inn bar in Albuquerque, visiting Sandia Natl Lab. Boss contacted me to tell me to get next available flight to the Bay area.

Sitting in the living room of my parents house (Arizona), getting ready to watch the game.