Page 1
Lurking Nexus click an active object to see its explanation

There is no accounting for the whims of Fate.
January 17, 1994 proved that to be true...

As the terrible events of September 11 have clearly shown, there is no discernible rhyme or reason to the pattern of life or death in the tragedies we face. Even a change of a couple of feet in location or a few seconds of hesitation or action can mean the difference between who walks away from a disaster and who is never seen or heard from again.

Living through an earthquake can be an experience that varies as wildly as the wind in a hurricane. Some people experience only tangential versions of an earthquake's destructive force, depending on how far away they live from the epicenter or what kind of soil their dwellings sit on. Since moving to Los Angeles from Pittsburgh, PA in 1979, I could easily count 20 earthquakes that I've felt from some distance. There are so many faultline systems and the topography in California differs within geographical areas so much, that the extent and types of damage can literally vary like night and day. When subjected to the type of ground movement generated by a large earthquake, soft, sandy soils undergo a process called "liquefaction" whereby the kinetic energy being transmitted through the soil turns loose materials into a quasi-liquid state, similar to purée in a blender. Material that seemed solid looses cohesion and whatever is sitting on top of it gets sucked right down by its own weight. Other materials have different effects. Mountains tend to reverberate the seismic energy back in the direction it came from, also adding to the vertical pitch of the ground movement. Think of it as being akin to when you splash in a pool and the rebounding waves mix with waves that came from the original source, making them all choppy and unstable. In the case of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, there were many kinds of soil that produced many different kinds of damage to property and belongings.

Experiencing an earthquake teaches a person a lot in a very short period of time. Once again, the proximity factor can either make the event seem like a calamity on par with any in the Old Testament, or like having your windows rattled by a sonic boom. Once you've gotten used to smaller earthquakes, or earthquakes that are 70 miles away in the Sonoran Desert, you feel very much used to how earthquakes act and affect you. That is until one of the really big ones hits almost from almost right beneath your feet. The sonic boom you think will pass is just the introduction to another version of hell on earth.

This story is my own personal account of what being through a 6.8 earthquake feels, looks and sounds like. I was awake when it hit and it left a mark on me that I will carry for the rest of my life. A lot of other people were affected in much the same way. This story of life at 4:31AM on January 17, 1994 is for them as much as it is for myself.

©1994,2006 Anthony Harmon