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Friday, January 17, 2014

20th Anniversary of Northridge Earthquake



It is hard to believe that today marks 20 years since the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake hit the Los Angeles region.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was living in North Hills (in the San Fernando Valley) at the time. My daughter Amber was asleep in her room and I was asleep in mine when the quake hit at 4:31 in the morning. I tried to get out of bed to get Amber but the shaking was so violent that I was kept from getting out of bed. It was jumping like Linda Blair's bed in The Exorcist (1973).

Eventually, we got out of the building and headed to the parking lot in back. All the other tenants of the apartment building were there. I had the only working television set, a battery-operated Sony Watchman and we were able to see the news coverage of the quake. The quake knocked out all power to the city and it was strange seeing so many stars in the sky.

We put all of the building's children in one car so that they would be kept warm and they would be comfortable being with their friends. It was weird seeing the building shake when the aftershocks hit. Several of us went into the building to check for residents who may have needed assistance in getting out.

I had about $2,000 in property damage that FEMA took care of. They were quite efficient during those days.

The quake came almost 23 years after the February 9, 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. We are due for another big one as we seem to have major ones in 20-year intervals.

We had a small quake centered near Universal City last night in "celebration" of the Northridge Earthquake.


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