Can any one give me info on the 1989 earthquake in s.f.?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : San Francisco History : One Thread

can anyone give me info on the 1989 earthquake in san fransico earthquake?

-- jaclyn (silveri411@cs.com), August 27, 2002

Answers

I don't know exactly what kind of information you're looking for, but when the earthquake hit I was on the top deck of Candlestick Park during the World Series.

-- bill cassara (bcmpatrol@aol.com), August 27, 2002.

The best start is in Galdys Hansen's "San Francisco Almanac"--1995 edition.

Good luck in youir research.

-- Kurt Iversen (iversenk@aol.com), August 28, 2002.


The Loma Prieta Quake was the most devesttating event in S.F since the 1906 Quake. It Caused a small portion of the bay bridge to collapse and destroyed the cypress freeway in Oakland. The Marina District ground liquified and caused houses to collapse and a fire. The Embarcedero Freeway in S.F. was extensively damamged and therefore removed. It measured 7.1 on the Richter scale and lasted 12 seconds at 5:05 P.M. ON oCTOBER 17TH, 1989, THREE MONTHS BEFORE I WAS BORN...

-- Sean M. Hall (seanmhall@hotmail.com), August 28, 2002.

I'm not sure if it's still available, but there was a wonderful benefit book published by The Tides Foundation right after the quake called ":15, Fifteen Seconds." Not a lot of scientific information but a great photographic essay that will give you a sense of the experience.

For whatever it's worth, I was driving on a side street heading toward the Daly City BART station. To see pavement actually undulating in waves was quite a surrealistic experience!

-- Linda Lou (wattybear@yahoo.com), September 03, 2002.


no answer

-- lal lolo (koko@hotmail.com), November 04, 2002.


I was in S.F. when the eartquake hit. It was longest 90 seconds of my life. I was in a building that was 2 stories and on rollers. Watching something that was supposed to be solid was out of this world. I don't know what kind of info you seek. But, e-mail and I can probrably give you first had experience.

-- Marla Diaby (mkdiaby2@yahoo.com), July 13, 2003.

The majority of stories revolve around the San Francisco & Oakland areas, where granted the most horrendous effects of the quake occurred. My story is from the perspective of the South Bay Area; I am a native of Santa Clara, CA where I can assure you the quake was felt just as strong as it was in the North. It was a day I will never forget, I was 14 years old at the time & had just returned home from school, I was the only one home at the time typing a report on my computer when I heard the window rattle, suspecting that the kids who lived behind were playing in my back yard as they sometimes did, I stood up from my desk & walked to the window, I looked out into the yard & was surprised to see that no one was there, I shrugged it off & turned back towards my desk, I took about two steps when I saw the computer screen blink & shut off, again I was puzzled, I took another two steps & that's when it happened, the whole house began to rock & shake, there was a tremendous noise that sounded like thunder below the ground, being a Bay Area native who is used to, & actually somewhat enjoys the occasional shake up, I headed for the doorway as the structure of the door frame makes it one of the least likely points of collapse, I heard later that the quake only lasted about 12 seconds, but standing in that doorway, watching our porcelain dishes & my parents wine glasses fly from the cupboards & shatter on the kitchen floor, it felt more like 12 minutes, when the quaking finally stopped I ran to the phone hoping to be able to contact the rest of my family, the phone lines, however, as well as the electricity were completely dead, I decided to grab my bike & head to my grandmother's house a few miles away, as that is where my two younger brothers went after school & I also knew that my Uncle had a generator, I headed through Central Park, where in a fenced off area where the City Parks Dept office is there is a main transformer that feeds power to the surrounding neighborhoods, the transformer had been badly damaged by the quake & was spitting sparks & flames all around itself, in front of me as I rode by the tennis courts there was a power pole on the ground, the wires were sparking & jumping about, right in my path, people who had been playing tennis were scrambling to get out of the courts & away from the metal cyclone fences, I cut through the baseball field to avoid the out of control power lines, as I got to the other side of the park & back on the city streets the chaos was abundant, street lights were out, stores & shops were dark, even though it was just about the middle of the afternoon commute, the traffic was more packed then I had ever seen it, none of the cars were moving & most people were out of their vehicles gossiping with each other in disbelief, I can remember seeing at least five or six fender benders that I can only assume had occurred during the quake, I arrived at my Grandmothers to find the two ton flatbed truck that my Uncle kept parked in the driveway with large 4 x 4 blocks behind the tires to keep it from rolling, had been catapulted over the wooden barriers that had held it in place & rolled into the middle of the street, the truck was broken down at the time & my Uncle was outside trying to round up enough neighbors to help push it back into the driveway, inside I was relieved to find my brothers had gotten home safe & with the generator cranking a small group of neighbors had assembled to watch the news coverage of the aftermath, it was then that I learned of the horrible collapse of the double deck Cypress structure of the 880 freeway, & the fiery destruction of San Francisco's Marina District, later on one of the local news stations acquired amateur video shot on the Bay Bridge, we were all horrified to see the images of cars tumbling into the collapsed section of the bridge, the angle of the fallen slab was such that drivers were not able to see the missing section of road until it was too late. I'll never forget the overwhelming feeling of sadness that came over me that day as I watched the chaos & devastation that followed those 12 short seconds of the Earth quaking, it was a sadness that stayed with me for quite awhile after that day, a sadness like I had never felt before & had not felt again until the day of September 11th 2001, another I will never forget.

-- JT (lizardking75@comcast.net), May 02, 2004.

heres some info. I am doing a report on this too.

The focal depth was 11 miles, which is unusually deep This earthquake was the largest earthquake to occur in the San Francisco Bay area since 1906. The earthquake caused the Cypress Viaduct to collapse, resulting in 42 deaths. The Viaduct was a raised freeway which was part of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland, which is Interstate 880. The Viaduct had two traffic decks. The earthquake resulted in 63 deaths, 13,757 injuries On October 17, 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale 5:04:15 p.m The earthquake occurred when the crustal rocks comprising the Pacific and North American Plates abruptly slipped as much as 2 meters (7 ft) along their common boundary-the San Andreas fault system.

-- Elena (hi @yahoo.com), October 31, 2004.


By the way if you find more information, tell me.

-- Elena (hi@yahoo.com), October 31, 2004.

Hey Jaclyn heres more info on the 1989 SF earthqake. Elena The focal depth was 11 miles, which is unusually deep This earthquake was the largest earthquake to occur in the San Francisco Bay area since 1906. The earthquake caused the Cypress Viaduct to collapse, resulting in 42 deaths. The Viaduct was a raised freeway which was part of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland, which is Interstate 880. The Viaduct had two traffic decks. The earthquake resulted in 63 deaths, 13,757 injuries On October 17, 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale 5:04:15 p.m The earthquake occurred when the crustal rocks comprising the Pacific and North American Plates abruptly slipped as much as 2 meters (7 ft) along their common boundary-the San Andreas fault system. The focal depth was 11 miles, which is unusually deep This earthquake was the largest earthquake to occur in the San Francisco Bay area since 1906. The earthquake caused the Cypress Viaduct to collapse, resulting in 42 deaths. The Viaduct was a raised freeway which was part of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland, which is Interstate 880. The Viaduct had two traffic decks. The earthquake resulted in 63 deaths, 13,757 injuries On October 17, 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale 5:04:15 p.m The earthquake occurred when the crustal rocks comprising the Pacific and North American Plates abruptly slipped as much as 2 meters (7 ft) along their common boundary-the San Andreas fault system. The final death toll of 63 was well below the 300 expected deaths. Over 3,500 people were injured and 100,000 buildings damaged. The reason for the lower-than-expected death toll was put down to the fact that most people had left work early to watch the third of the World Series baseball games which was being shown on television. Over 12,000 people were made homeless by the earthquake. Some were eventually able to return to their homes following extensive repairs. Extensive structural damage meant others were given 15 minutes to collect their belongings before their houses were demolished.

-- Elena (hi@yahoo.com), October 31, 2004.


god

-- sarah (hales_babe@hotmail.com), November 24, 2004.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ