We were just north of the Northridge epicenter. My husband had to get our large shovel to shovel out the entire contents of our kitchen. Everything breakable in the cabinets was broken and on the floor. The pictures in this story of the grocery store damage are almost laughable. Northridge was two 6.8’s, back to back. In between the two, we were able to get our young son into our bedroom, where we all held onto each other for dear life. I have never been so frightened. Luckily our house didn’t suffer structural damage, but our son’s 1st grade teacher lost her house. It cracked in two.
It looks like most buildings held up pretty well. Stuff on the floor is no big deal, but structural damage from broken water pipes is.
I’m very glad most folks faired well. That house near the cliff needs to be moved backwards a bit, me thinks!
Thanks for making my point. Within the first hours of the AK EQ I was dubious of the reports. Then all the news began broadcasting the same images, taken at deceptive angles. The posted aerial shots today outline the isolated nature of the damage, limited to liquefaction of fill, and exposing the deceptive nature of the prior imagery.
Glad you were all safe at Northridge.
I’ve heard other hair-raising stories about Northridge as well. It’s all about geology. A 7 in SF would have resulted in damage on a massive scale.
The following winter I was riding on Amtrak from Southern California to Illinois (the old Santa Fe route). There was an elderly lady on the train who had decided to leave LA because of the earthquakes and was headed to Fort Worth. Apparently she had not contacted anyone there, but her wedding had been in Fort Worth in 1911 and there had been a lot of people at the wedding, so she was sure she would find someone she knew.