Taken from the 1990 Decamhian...
"On Tuesday, October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m., an unexpected earthquake ravaged a 150-mile stretch of the northern California coast with a tremor that registered 6.9 on the Richter Scale. Destruction, devastation and numerous injuries marked the cities ranging from the Santa Cruz mountains epicenter to San Francisco. Although authorities predicted many more fatalities, only 57 deaths occurred as a result of the quake.
This natural disaster produced inspirational stories of courage and universal, heart warming concern of human kindness. Rescuers found one of the lucky survivors, Buck Helm, beneath the rubble of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland, who managed to stay alive for 90 hours before they discovered him.
'It amazed me that they pulled people out of it, when I realized the cement that fell was heavy enough to flatten cars to mere inches,' senior Kevin Kunkle said.
Around Sacramento, students were also affected by the earthquake. 'I looked outside in the backyard and the pool started moving and began waving,' senior Karen Giorgi said.
Tension-filled hours followed the quake for many who had relatives within the Bay area and the towns surrounding the epicenter. Concern for family members and friends caused jammed phone lines as speculative and periodic news flashes attempted to keep everyone up to date as to the latest events.
'My grandmother lives in Watsonville where the epicenter was, and the news kept talking about San Francisco, but they didn't give any solid information about Santa Cruz county and even though they told us not to call, my grandmother lives alone so I felt I had to,' senior DeAnna Tibbs said.
The earthquake left northern California in a state of shock as the citizens prepared to rebuild and reconstruct the segment of their lives, destroyed by the quake."
No comments:
Post a Comment