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Earthquake Memory

Exactly 18 years ago this morning, I had no plans to be awake.  As a young lawyer in a busy firm, I needed all the sleep I could get, and this was a national holiday.  But before the sun began to rise, everyone’s plans changed.  My words, scrawled in a journal, from that day:

Monday, January 17, 1994, 5:00 a.m., Los Angeles, California: A few minutes ago I awakened into utter terror. The biggest earthquake I've ever felt. All power and phones are out. I have no idea how big it was. I'm writing by flashlight, being interrupted by small aftershocks. Outside in the dark, people are talking and crying.  My apartment is a mess.

I can't go to sleep again. I'd be far too afraid of waking to another nightmare, and I want to find out how bad it was.

I hope it wasn't just a foreshock!

Monday, January 17, 1994, 10:49 p.m., Los Angeles, California: When I woke up this morning, I was aware only of pitch blackness and total chaos. There was a tremendous shaking and (as I was only dimly aware) a very large amount of noise.  I was aware that it was an earthquake. I was convinced it was The Big One: the long-anticipated San Andreas Fault quake that would devastate Los Angeles. (It wasn't). I was certain that buildings were collapsing and people were dying. I couldn't imagine that it wouldn't be so, given the unbelievable shaking.

I climbed out of bed in a rush of adrenaline. I just knew I had to be ready to get the hell out of the apartment. I got some clothes on, started to look for a flashlight, remembered I had one in my car. Somebody outside shouted, "How big was it?" An answering voice deadpanned, "Big." There was nervous laughter. My heart was pounding.  I stepped outside.

It was extremely dark. (The news later reported that it was the first citywide blackout in L.A. history). The stars looked different (and far more numerous) unobstructed by city lights. I walked to my car. There were people out there in the dark. I got the flashlight, and went back to my apartment. There was an incredible silence (except during the aftershocks), in which I could hear everything being said by the people in the street.

The lamps in my living room had tumbled to the floor, as had my compact discs and a stereo speaker.  An award had fallen from a bookcase, and a picture had fallen 3 feet from the wall to my desk, near my bed. Other debris also littered my floor. I was actually surprised that so much had fallen, because I had no specific memory of crashing sounds.

I was afraid to stay in my apartment (for fear it would collapse), but afraid to stay outside (for fear of hostile people and the unknown). I chose to stay indoors. I tried to call my parents' home, but the line went dead.  I crouched with the flashlight and wrote the preceding entry.
[My friend] Barak called--he was in town, at Gabrielle's place in Hollywood.  They were also confused and in the dark.  [Another friend,] David called.  I sat in the dark listening to people outside of my building.  I still had no idea how big the quake had been, or how much damage it had done.

I finally got an outside line and tried my parents, my grandmother, Barak and David.  I got busy signals and system overload warnings.  I tried the calls repeatedly.  Then I called my aunt and uncle, and got through.  They told me they had lots of damage and couldn't get through to my parents or grandmother by phone.  I worried that my dad might have had a heart attack.  My heart was still pounding!

It was still pitch black.  I tried to call other friends, to see if they could get through to my parents or grandmother.  I tried my grandmother, parents, Barak, David--and got nobody.  Then my brother called.  It was about 6:15 or 6:30 a.m., almost two hours after the quake.  He gave me my first news of the magnitude (6.6) and epicenter (Northridge).  He was getting his information from stations showing footage from L.A. local news, which I couldn't see because the power was out!  (He's in New Jersey).

The sun began to rise (to my great relief).  I considered driving into the Valley to check on my parents and grandmother.  I heard from my aunt that my grandmother was OK, pulled from amidst the rubble of her furniture by her apartment manager.  My uncle said he'd go check on my parents.  He did, and they were fine but suffered lots of damage.

I spent all day in my apartment, napping occasionally.  The power came on at 9:55 a.m. and that's when I first saw and heard TV and radio news.  I first spoke to my parents at 4:00 p.m.

I went in to the office at 5:30 p.m., just after the announcement of a darkness-to-dawn city-wide curfew.  I had to get some documents. I'm supposed to be in court tomorrow morning!  The office was a shambles: furniture tilted over, floor-to-ceiling bookcases tipped, drawers thrown open.  The phone system was knocked out, as was the computer system.  I didn't stay long.  Later I spoke to Ty.  We're both amazed that there has been no announcement that the courts will be closed tomorrow.  It looks like I'll be driving across Los Angeles in a few hours; probably a difficult task, since the Santa Monica Freeway is closed.

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Posted: January 17, 2012, 7:45 AM

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